Weymouth Woods Sandhills Nature Preserve

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The Weymouth Woods nature preserve in Southern Pines offers an easy walk in the woods that might remind North Carolina natives who grew up in the Sandhills of their childhood. Longleaf pine trees shade sandy forest floors covered in scrub grass, pine needles and pine cones.

Weymouth Woods is a state natural area comprising some 918 acres on three separate tracts of land. The main Weymouth Woods tract has 4.7 miles of hiking trails and there are 2.6 miles of bridle trail (one way) between the Weymouth Woods and Boyd tracts. (There is no horse trailer parking at the park.) The Paint Hill Tract has 1.3 miles of loop hiking trails.

The visitor center has bathrooms, and auditorium and exhibits about the park, and outsidethere are picnic tables, benches and a small classroom area.

We walked the Pine Barrens and Gum Swamp trails at the main Weymouth Woods site (about 1.5 miles total) and the 1-mile Round Timber Trail at the Boyd Tract (see below) in early January 2026. We saw several families with children as well as adults out for exercise on a cool, overcast day.

We started on the Pine Barrens Trail just behind the visitors center.

The first part of the trail is surrounded by river cane.

The combination of steps, exposed roots and slippery pine needles made Pam wish she had brought her hiking poles.

Here’s a look at the longleaf pine needle, which can grow up to 18 inches long.

Several darkened tree trunks and debris along the trail provide evidence of prescribed burns necessary for the longleaf pine’s natural growth cycle. Fire removes or controls competing hardwoods, provides open areas where longleaf seedlings can germinate and grow, and returns nutrients to the soil, a park brochure says. The hollowed-out area at the base of old pine trees’ trunks indicates work to harvest pine resin to produce turpentine and other “naval stores” products in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Seen along the trail: a small longleaf pine, a couple of remarkable-looking trees and a log.

Gum Swamp Trail

The Gum Swamp Trail is a half-mile loop available at about the halfway point of the Pine Barrens Trail.

The main feature of the Gum Swamp Trail is Mocccasin Crossing, a boardwalk over the creek and swamp. A little bit beyond the boardwalk, Moccasin Crossing connects to the Holly Road Trail, a 1.8-mile loop.

Looking back toward the Gum Swamp Trail.

Notice the birdhouse across the swamp.

Pam pauses to look at a magnolia along the Pine Barrens Trail.

After the Gum Swamp Trail rejoins Pine Barrens, the trail eventually comes out at the parking lot beside the visitors center.

Weymouth Woods – Boyd Tract

The Boyd Tract of the Weymouth Woods preserve is about 3 miles away from the main site off E. Connecticut Avenue adjacent to the Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities. Look for the colorful sign.

The preserve is several yards from the parking lot, and the Round Timber Trail trailhead is across a mown meadow.

The trail is initially covered with broadleaf tree leaves, and walking counter-clockwise, later is thick sand, which made walking a little more difficult.

The map for the Boyd Tract shows two trees of note — the oldest known living longleaf pine tree (dating to 1548, according to the park brochure) and the former state champion longleaf pine tree. They are not marked with signs on the trail to protect them from potential harm.

Here’s a trio of longleaf pine saplings, which Pam said look like “cartoon trees.”