The Deer Run Trail starts at the lower parking lot of Constitution Park, off Conservation Trail Road. It runs 0.23 miles through woods and wetland and ends at a wooden platform looking out over Ossipee Lake. It's a short walk. It is also, according to Ossipee Parks and Recreation Director Justin Chaffee, the only town-owned land in Ossipee with public access to the lake.
The rebuilt boardwalk reopened on October 18, 2025, so it turns one on October 18, ten days from now. If you haven't walked it since the ribbon-cutting, you'll find something new. The trail now has ten displays researched and made by students at Ossipee Central School. On almost every stretch of the walk, you can now point to a particular Ossipee person who designed it, built it, paid for it, wrote it, or is remembered by it.
A quarter mile with names on it
Here is the walk in order, from the parking lot to the water:
- The trailhead kiosk. Tim Otterbach, a volunteer and architect, designed and built it. It holds a sign with his photo set against the lake and a few of his own words about the platform.
- The student displays. There are ten along the boardwalk, made in May 2026 by Ossipee Central School's first and fourth graders.
- The benches. New benches went in as part of the 2025 rebuild.
- The lakeside viewing platform. It is dedicated to Jacob McConkey, who helped the project get its shoreline permit.
The whole route meets U.S. Forest Service accessibility guidelines and ADA standards. Strollers, wheelchairs, and grandparents who skip the steeper trails can all get to the same view. The park is open every day from dawn to dusk at 505 Route 25.
What the first and fourth graders added in May
The signs are the newest layer. Last May, Ossipee Central School's first and fourth graders used their curriculum goals to build the ten displays now along the boardwalk. The first grade focused on local wildlife. The fourth grade covered the region's cultural, historical, and geological features. Their teachers were Samantha Morrill and Lisa Wheeler.
Bob Grazer and CJ Everson designed and installed the signs along the trail. The project was paid for by a $5,000 grant from the Richard A. Ware Family Fund through the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. The Friends of Constitution Park Ossipee announced that grant on June 15, 2026.
These signs have been in the plans for a while. When the boardwalk reopened, the Friends' project page said Ossipee Central School students would take on a set of nature interpretive trails, with the hope of finishing by the end of 2026. The displays went up ahead of that deadline. The group's announcement asked visitors to read the students' projects and "continue the conversation with your family and friends."
Why the old boardwalk had to come out
The signs only have somewhere to stand because the boardwalk under them was replaced first. Chaffee told the Conway Daily Sun that the old boardwalk hadn't been replaced in close to twenty-five years. Its pine pilings were "shifting and sagging with gaps between the boards." The trail had been ADA-compliant back in 1995. Over time it became overgrown and unsafe.
Edwina Boose, an Ossipee resident who founded the Friends of Constitution Park Ossipee, started asking town officials in 2021 for permission to improve the park. Ossipee Public Works pulled out the decaying boardwalk. Then Hermit Woods Trailbuilders, a Vermont trail design and dry-stone masonry company owned by Sam Brakeley, built the new boardwalk and the viewing deck. The work took about six weeks, between August and September.
The Conway Daily Sun's reopening coverage broke down where the money came from during the two-year campaign:
| Source | Amount |
|---|---|
| Town of Ossipee | $75,000 |
| Local fundraisers | $50,000 |
| NH Charitable Foundation | $30,000 |
| NH Charitable Foundation John Vance Access Fund | $25,000 |
| Davis Conservation Fund | $15,000 |
| NH Charitable Foundation NH Gives Challenge Grant | $5,000 |
| Athletic Brewing Co. | $5,000 |
| NH Community Development Finance Authority | $2,500 |
| Total | $207,500 |
The town put in a bit over a third of the cost. Local fundraisers raised $50,000, almost as much as the largest private grant and the John Vance fund combined. According to Boose, the project didn't need any state or federal grant money. The Friends' own project page rounds the total to $207,000. The itemized figure above comes from the newspaper's breakdown.
The two volunteers the trail remembers
Jacob McConkey's part in the project happened mostly on paper. He volunteered his expertise to help the Friends get a shoreline permit. Boose described how it went. She planned to meet him at the park to look for property markers, but when she turned on her computer that morning, he had already found them and emailed her instructions for mapping out the grid. Her volunteers bushwhacked along the shoreline, marked twenty grids, and sent him the measurements. "Within two hours, Jacob had drawn the shoreline map with all the official information on it, which I never could have done," Boose said. The platform at the end of the trail carries his name. His father, state Sen. Mark McConkey, said in a statement that he hoped people who come upon the bench would "reflect on the magnificent view before them, read the inscription on the placard, and choose to make a difference tomorrow by also volunteering in their community."
Tim Otterbach's part is all over the park. Boose called him "probably our No. 1 volunteer." He designed and built the park's kiosks, was head contractor for the pavilion, built the large Constitution Park sign on Route 25, and drew the concept sketch for the Deer Run viewing area. The Ossipee Lake Alliance's tribute also recalls his service on Ossipee municipal boards, his work with Green Mountain Conservation Group, which gave him its High Watch Award, and his documentation of the Ossipee River Dam replacement. He was still building the Deer Run trailhead kiosk less than three weeks before the trail reopened. His words on that kiosk read:
"I took a walk to the new viewing platform near the lakeside. It's going to be a great spot to rest, view the lake and mountains, and provide a great location for some quiet reflection and a brief escape from the realities of the world."
Leaves & Legends, Saturday, October 17
The Friends are marking the first year with Leaves & Legends on Saturday, October 17, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Deer Run trailhead. The event celebrates the students' new signs and remembers Otterbach and his many contributions to the park. Refreshments will be served. That's one day short of a year after the October 2025 opening, when more than 100 people came to the ribbon-cutting.
Deer Run makes up only a small part of the park's roughly two-mile trail system. If you want to keep going after the event, here are a few other things in the park:
- More student work on Green Mountain Trail. The StoryWalk there is made by students and changes every quarter.
- A wind phone on Beaver Trail.
- More trails. The town's Ossipee Area Hiking Trails guide lists Moose and Esker trails from the same lower lot, and Hilltop Trail from Pequawket Road.
- Free disc golf. The course plays as 9 or 18 holes, and pickleball lines are marked inside the tennis courts.
- The fenced dog park. Under the town's dog park rules, dogs stay leashed until they're inside the gate.
Ossipee Parks & Recreation has three more October events on its upcoming events page: Family Fun Friday on October 16, the Annual Family Halloween Dance on October 23, and Trunk or Treat on October 30. If you'd like to put your own name in the park, the Friends also run a Tribute Bench program. The first bench honors Jim and Char Fitzpatrick, and proceeds support park maintenance and accessibility projects. Event updates are posted at fcpossipee.org.
At Ana Freitas, we love finding out who built the places Lakes Region neighbors use every day, and Deer Run's first year is a good example. If you walk the boardwalk on October 17 and want to talk about Ossipee, including what your own home might be worth, an instant home valuation is ready whenever you are.
