At Ellisville Harbor State Park, the gravel lot off State Road and the trail through the red pines look the same in November as in July. The rules at the bottom of the trail do not. From April 1 to September 15, the Department of Conservation and Recreation keeps dogs and other pets off the beach, with an exception for service animals. That window closed eight weeks ago. The harbor seals stay through the change. DCR describes the park this way on its Ellisville Harbor State Park page:
"You can see fishing boats and even harbor seals from the shoreline, even in the winter months."
For people who live in Ellisville and along this southern stretch of Cape Cod Bay, the off-season is when the shore is most open to them. The summer pet ban is over and the seals are still on the rocks. Over five days starting this Saturday, Whale & Dolphin Conservation and Wildlands Trust will host two guided walks and a talk about the seals and the marsh that most visitors only see in August.
What changed on September 15, and what didn't
The pet ban was the main seasonal rule at Ellisville Harbor, and now it's lifted. DCR lists the park's hours as sunrise to sunset, with free parking in the on-site lot. The year-round restriction on that page is no alcohol.
The same page lists hunting, fishing, hiking and cross-country skiing as park activities. In late fall, hunting matters most to a dog walker. The park isn't a quiet backyard. It's shared ground, and the people using it change with the season.
Sunset now comes early, so the sunrise-to-sunset hours leave a much shorter usable day than in summer. A weekday walk after work is mostly over by now. Weekend mornings are when the beach, the dogs and the seals overlap.
The seals have a second address on Center Hill Road
Ellisville Harbor isn't the only public shoreline in this corner of Plymouth where seals turn up. Center Hill Preserve, at 158 Center Hill Road, is a 98-acre town-owned property on Cape Cod Bay. The North and South Rivers Watershed Association's listing says to watch for both harbor seals and gray seals there, swimming or resting on the rocks off the east side of the property.
Center Hill is split in two, and the halves suit different kinds of outings:
- East side, 28 acres: a short, winding trail through open woods, along a marsh and Center Hill Pond, then a boardwalk to sand dunes and a rocky beach with half a mile of public coastline. The listing asks visitors to be mindful of the private property nearby.
- West side, 70 acres: white-blazed trails over rolling hills and around a former cranberry bog, next to a wind turbine.
- Logistics: dawn to dusk, free, leashed dogs, and limited parking in two small lots on Center Hill Road.
The preserve has some history behind it. It was protected in 2015 with Community Preservation funds and grants from DCR and NOAA, and Wildlands Trust helped with the acquisition. It holds the easternmost point in Plymouth. Henry David Thoreau walked across this land on the trip he wrote about in Cape Cod. The Southeastern Massachusetts Pine Barrens Alliance Discovery Center sits on the west side, among the pitch pine and sassafras.
How close is too close
The Center Hill listing tells visitors to stay at least 150 feet from the seals at all times, citing the Marine Mammal Protection Act. It also points out that seals and sharks tend to use the same water. NOAA Fisheries' marine life viewing guidelines work out to the same distance. They recommend keeping people and pets at least 50 yards from seals on shore, keeping dogs leashed, moving away if a seal shows signs of disturbance, and never feeding or touching one. NOAA states that seals are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and that the public must not harass, pursue, harm or interact with them.
This is the downside of the September rule change. Dogs are back on the sand at Ellisville Harbor at the time of year when the seals are easiest to find, so a leash is what keeps the 50 yards intact.
Five days in November with someone who knows the ground
Here is how the guided calendar lines up from this Saturday:
| Date | Event | Where | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat., Nov. 14, 9 to 10 a.m. | WDC Seal Walk | Center Hill Preserve, 158 Center Hill Road | Listed at $1 |
| Tue., Nov. 17, 5 to 6 p.m. | Ellisville Marsh History Talk | Wildlands Trust Community Conservation Barn, Davis-Douglas Farm, 675 Long Pond Road | Registration closes 3 p.m. that day |
| Wed., Nov. 18, noon to 2 p.m. | Ellisville Marsh History Walk | Starts at Ellisville Harbor State Park, 1861 State Road | Full as of Nov. 2, waitlist only; rain date Nov. 19 |
The seal walk. Whale & Dolphin Conservation's Plymouth seal walk listing on See Plymouth describes a guided walk to a secluded beach to watch seals resting and swimming. Guides explain why seals matter to the local environment and which species show up in which seasons. If the weather cooperates, they also bring out LuSeal, an anatomically accurate seal model. The listing says seals are year-round residents off the Massachusetts coast, which explains why this walk runs in mid-November. Tickets are sold through the event's registration page.
The talk. Eric Cody, co-founder and president of the Friends of Ellisville Marsh, leads part one of a two-part program from Wildlands Trust. He's the author of Rescuing Ellisville Marsh: The Long Fight to Restore Lost Connections, which its UMass Press page lists as published by Bright Leaf in January 2023. The talk covers how local fishermen kept the marsh's tidal inlet open for centuries. Restrictive regulations arrived in the 1980s, and in 1991 the No-Name Storm sealed the inlet, which then sat untouched for more than a decade. The Friends of Ellisville Marsh have maintained it since. Each part needs its own registration.
To reach the barn, Wildlands Trust's directions say to take Route 3 to Exit 7, formerly Exit 3, and head southwest on Clark Road. Turn left onto Long Pond Road, then take a sharp right into Davis-Douglas Farm. Park along the gravel road and walk up to the barn.
The walk. Part two is a 2-mile guided route from DCR's Ellisville Harbor State Park to Wildlands Trust's Shifting Lots Preserve. It goes along the road and the sandy beach, over uneven and sometimes wet ground, with possible shallow water crossings. It's limited to 20 hikers aged 18 and up, with no pets.
The route you can still learn from
Even without a spot on Wednesday's walk, the stops on its route tell you what the ground between the park and the barrier beach holds. The walk listing names the landmark Harlow farmhouse, the historic Ellis's Tavern where Thoreau once stopped, and the shorebird nesting area on the barrier beach at Shifting Lots Preserve.
The two properties joined up in steps. DCR acquired nearly 100 acres of marsh and upland in 1991 to create the state park. In 2003, 51 acres to the south were donated to Wildlands Trust and became Shifting Lots Preserve. The Friends of Ellisville Marsh formed in 2007 and have worked with Wildlands on stewardship ever since. Wildlands also restricted vehicle access to Shifting Lots when it created the preserve. That's why the shorebird area at the far end feels farther from State Road than it is.
The Friends of Ellisville Marsh describe their goal as keeping the marsh ecosystem running through natural processes. They point out that a sand-choked inlet restricts tidal flow and damages marsh habitat. When you look at the inlet from the beach this month, the opening you see is the result of that work.
Picking your day
One rule shapes the calendar more than anything else. At Center Hill Preserve, licensed hunters may hunt in season under state and local rules, and the property listing asks non-hunters to be aware of the seasons and wear bright orange. Hunting isn't permitted there on Sundays. DCR also lists hunting among Ellisville Harbor's activities.
That makes Sunday the one day of the week with no hunting on the Center Hill trails. A blaze-orange vest is worth wearing at either property through the late-fall seasons. At low tide, Center Hill's shoreline has tide pools with crabs, periwinkles and seaweed, and on a clear day you can see across the bay to Race Point in Provincetown. The seals are there all year. The guided walks are on the calendar for one week.
The viewing distances and hunting rules above come from the agencies and organizations linked here. This post is general information, not legal advice, so check those sources for current rules before you go.
If you live near Center Hill Road or along State Road in Ellisville, your house is just a short drive from both of these shorelines. When you're ready to find out what that location is worth on the market, Kimberly Dawes and the Selling South of Boston team can give you a Free Home Valuation that accounts for what's down the road.
