"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." - Robert Frost

The title of this post is truly what I did today. . . SERC is covered in trails, some of which I have already explored, others I have not. Today I checked another trail off the completion list: the Contee Watershed trail, except I took an alternate ending.

The trail begins by the Contee Mansion ruins. The mansion was built in 1747 and for over 150 years served as the center of the surrounding tobacco farm. Lightening struck the home in 1890, the resulting fire left behind only rubble. The burned down structure has since been abandoned and has fallen into disintegration. All that remains is two chimneys reaching towards the sky. However in 2008, SERC acquired the 580-acre property, and began an extended preservation, remodeling, and archaeological process. The remodeling process is very true to the mansion's original work; it uses bricks with a historically accurate mortar mix made with shells.

After passing by the Contee Mansion ruins, the trail veers sharply to the left passing by this next spectacular view looking down the hill towards Rhoade River which leads into Chesapeake Bay. After the hill, the trail meanders into the woods. I unfortunately did not get a picture of the woods because each time I stopped to try to get a picture, the deer flies attacked me. But in the middle of the woods, there is a clearing with a little wooden bench looking out on the water. Look at how calm and serene it is!

The path makes a curve after this clearing to return back into the woods, but another way than the way it came in. And after its return through the woods, comes the divergence I referenced in my title. The actual trail continues to the right, but I took the left path, which looks very much like a tractor path. In a while I saw why when I ended up in a field. Interestingly,the exact same field I took a picture of from the top of the hill at the beginning of the run. Running down the field took me to a white house by the water, on a road that lead to just outside the SERC gates. Putting my fancy official Smithsonian ID up to the gate key card scanner, and it opened right up, then closed behind me.

Running in the city just does not compare to running through the trees, the fields, and on dirt roads! Having the ground underneath my feet is a fabulous feeling. Not to mention the nature surrounding me. Along my run, I saw white tailed deer, blue jays, prairie dogs, a hawk circling above, and much more. It is just amazing to be in their company!