The Macphail Woods Ecological Forestry Project is situated on the Sir Andrew Macphail Homestead in Orwell, just up the road from the Orwell Corner Historic Village. It's about a twenty minute drive out from Charlottetown on the Trans Canada Highway heading towards Wood Islands. Be careful leaving the highway, as the turn off at Orwell corner is at the bottom of a hill and on a turn. This is in the eastern part of the island. The picture on the right illustrates this point. If you can make it out from the picture, the road leading to the homestead was called the Fletcher Road, but today it is known as Macphail Park Road. If you want to get precise, the The Macphail Woods homestead is located at coordinates (46.161976, -62.824416). Here is a link to Google Maps, which is a great way to explore. It shows both the roads as well as the satellite image of the area.

How to get to the Macphail Woods. Larger Version.

Topographical Map of the Macphail Woods Area. Larger version.

If you have access to fast Internet services, I would recommend checking out the Government of Prince Edward Island Interactive Mapping Website. You may need to download a pluggin, but it is well worth it. Using this service, you can tour the entire island and see roads, rivers, and even forest stands. There is even access to aerial photos of the entire island, as this aerial photo of the homestead from 1935 shows.

Notice the farm is very much in use, with fields under plow and most of the woodland harvested. It was shortly after this time that the farm was abandoned and nature allowed to take it's course. The curved line on the right of the photo is the railway that ran through the area. You can even make out the station at Orwell. It's hard to make out, but the Orwell River runs right through the property with the road following beside. You may be able to make out the dam.

Aerial Photo of the Macphail Homestead in 1935.

If your interested, here is a series of aerial photos of the Macphail homestead and surrounding area. It's interesting to see the changes over the years. This photo was taken in 1935.

This maps shows where the Macphail woods is located within the Orwell Bay watershed.

Map of the Nature Trails. Larger version.

Macphail Woods Nature Trails

• Native Trails Introduction:
• The Macphail Homestead
• The Native Plant Garden
• The Wildflower Trail
• The Streamside Trail
• The Woodland Trail
• The Rhododendron Trail

Other Resources:

• The Atlas of Canada
• GeoConnections