At Wadleigh State Park, you can walk around Kezar Lake or rent boats. Sutton combines this focus on the lake with year-round recreation at King Hill Reservation, views across the Lane River wetlands, and traces of rural local history. When planning your trip, it’s worth distinguishing between these themes: Are you more interested in water, outdoor activities, or historic buildings and collections? This can help you decide which focus should be the deciding factor for your stay.

At Kezar Lake: Trail and Boat Rentals

Wadleigh State Park is on the southeast shore of Kezar Lake in North Sutton. There, you can rent boats or follow the three-mile trail around the lake. Both options are based in the same place, but offer different experiences: the trail loops around the lake on foot, while renting a boat lets you enjoy an activity on the water. Its location on the southeast shore situates the park by the lake; the trail circles Kezar Lake.

King Hill Reservation: Activities and Land History

King Hill Reservation provides access to trailheads where maps are available. Its year-round recreational opportunities are suited to hikers, snowmobilers, skiers, and snowshoers. The options therefore go beyond a single type of recreation: getting around on foot is represented, as are skiing and snowmobiling. Compared with Wadleigh State Park, the focus here is on several types of recreation rather than solely on Kezar Lake. The available maps are a useful point of reference when planning a hike.

The Town of Sutton manages the reservation to preserve its suitability for recreation and as a wildlife habitat. Its land history includes the transfer of 441 acres of the former King Ridge Ski Area to the town in 1999; Ausbon Sargent holds the conservation easement. The former use as a ski area and the reservation’s current recreational opportunities are distinct aspects of this land history from different periods.

Views Across the Lane River Wetlands

The Loop Trail in Webb/Crowell Forest offers views across the Lane River wetlands toward South Sutton. Unlike Wadleigh State Park, where the trail and boat rentals make Kezar Lake the focus, the emphasis here is on views across the wetlands. This lets you distinguish between a focus on a lake and a landscape view of wetlands.

Insights into Sutton’s Local History

The Dist. 9 South Village Schoolhouse is a well-preserved example of a small, rural, one-room schoolhouse from the mid-19th century. The Old Store Museum contains unsold goods from more than a century, as well as early farming and woodworking tools that are more than two centuries old. The contrast shows different ways to explore local history: the schoolhouse represents a type of rural one-room building from a particular period; the museum’s collection includes goods and tools spanning much longer periods. The schoolhouse dates to the mid-19th century, while the tools that are more than two centuries old reach further back in time. Together, they present a particular type of building alongside a collection of older working tools.

Discover more destinations: Bradford, Pembroke, Loudon, Hooksett, Wilmot, Andover, Bow, Henniker.

For the broader travel overview: Merrimack County.