Falmouth Rod and Gun Club

Address: 203 Carriage Shop Rd, East Falmouth, MA 02536

The Falmouth Rod and Gun Club was ahead of the game in land conservation.

In 1978, the club was one of the first private property owners in Falmouth to permanently protect its land with a conservation restriction: 100 acres of the club’s 130 acres on Carriage Shop Road will forever remain open space. By preserving this land, the club plays a key role in the protection of Childs River and Waquoit Bay.

Club members maintain the woods, fields – 17 of them – and marshy pond to ensure a wide variety of habitat for the fish and wildlife that live and pass through their land. Their work includes an annual cleanup of the Childs River to keep the passage free for herring.

The club’s property is also valuable for its linkage to other protected land: the Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge, Cape Cod Beagle Club, a town-owned cranberry bog, and the town wellsite at Fresh Pond.

The Cape Cod Beagle Club’s 149 acres nearby, off Old Barnstable Road, were also protected by a conservation restriction in 1978.

Because of hunting, there is no public access.