Bradner’s Run Nature Trail at Historic Cold Spring Village – Lower Township, NJ – 0.7 miles

Bradner’s Run Nature Trail at Cold Spring Village – Lower Township, Cape May County, NJ
Distance – 0.7 miles total (including looping back through the village)
Type – out-and-back, can make a loop with the village
Difficulty:  2 of 10

Fees – Area including nature trail may be accessible only with a ticket during events.

Website – https://hcsv.org/

Open –

“As of September 7, 2025

Business Office and Welcome Center:
Open Monday thru Friday 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Village Grounds are open to walk during this time but historic buildings will not be open.

Village Open for Special Event Weekends 
Saturdays and Sundays 11:00 am to 4:00 pm Thru October 5th
Admission Required

Check Event Page for additional dates, details, prices and tickets”

Check website before going!

Terrain – woods and village
Surface – some paved, some crushed shells, some dirt

Trailheads – Trailhead on each end
East end of village, by the rail trail – N 38° 58.517 W 074° 54.685

West end of village, near restaurant and brewery – N 38° 58.617 W 074° 54.805

Directions –
East end parking – Directions to here
West end parking – Directions to here

Parking – Large lots on each end, although some spaces may be restricted, pay attention to the signs:

Dog friendly? Unsure, not listed
Stroller friendly? Yes, most of it is except the very western bit (which isn’t much).  Village is very stroller friendly.
Benches? A few benches on the trail and in the village

Facilities?: None when I was there, there are some when the village is open (may require paid ticket at those times)

Markings – No markings aside from arrows at the trailheads and parking lots, but lots of nature signs.  Hard to get off the trail.
Map –

Description –

As part of my insane first day of teacher convention, I went to the convention, then finally did the new Cape May Nature Trail, then finally finally did Higbee Beach WMA that’s been on my list forever. So I started to head back toward Ocean City and food… except then I passed the sign for Cold Spring Village.  I knew there was a nature trail here… it couldn’t be that long, could it?  I still had a shocking amount of light left for all I’d done that day.  Food is for suckers, let’s squeeze one more hike in!

I parked in the nearly empty parking lot, since Cold Spring Village was closed on a Thursday during the week in November.  The Bradner’s Run Nature Trail trailhead was easy to spot in the southwest corner of the parking lot, so I set my GPS and away I went!

Now I’ve learned over the years that “nature trail” is a meaningless term.  Sometimes, it just means a trail with some sort of nature along the way.  Other times, it means lots of educational signs that teach you as you go along.  this trail is the second kind, with a healthy amount of informative signs near plants along the way.

But it was magic hour in the woods, with some Fall color left, so I might have skipped some signs.  I apologize to my loyal readers for disappointing you.  I hope my 8,000 tree leaf shots make up for it in some way.

The trail is a straight shot for a little under 0.2 of a mile between parking lots, with a small side loop to the left about halfway, which we took of course.

I figured that was about it, and was happy with the stop.  But what is this at the end of the parking lot?  An arrow for more nature trail?  Even though it’s not on the map?  That’s right, bonus nature trail time!

It made a left at the parking lot and followed behind the fence to the corner, then turned right and followed behind the fence some more.  Don’t sleep on the cool trees (or the nature trail signs) here along the edge of the big parking lot.

It was then a left and down a few steps to the end of the nature trail, which was pretty much a short cul-de-sac.  Unlike the rest of the nature trail, this would be a pain with a stroller, and was not paved with crushed shells.

The little bit at the end here did offer a nice resolution to the Bradner’s Run Nature Trail in that it lets you actually see Bradner’s Run, a small stream with a lot of pretty leaves in it.

Out of nature trail, I retraced my steps to the second parking area.  I wasn’t 100% sure at the time I could walk the village, but I saw a family pushing a stroller and decided to go for it.

Thanks to this big, dumb blog, you can know that you are welcome to walk the village during office hours on weekdays (10 AM to 4 PM) or on weekends, as long as there is not a ticketed event going on (or, you can buy a ticket to the event and do it then).

Also, I assure you, I took photos for every single building.  Every.  Single.  Building.  But I won’t post them all here, because I’m not a completely unreasonable man (just mostly unreasonable).

By now it was just past 4 PM (sorry Cold Spring Village, I blame your picturesque historic buildings), so time to get out of Dodge and go find food.  Or, what I actually did, remember that food is for suckers and sunset was in about 40 minutes and I was only 10 minutes from the best sunset spot in the state. So I went to go look for geocaches on my way to Sunset Beach to watch the sunset and (now that I’m posting this after Christmas) get Mrs. South Jersey Trails a present.

Ratings:

What I liked:

Nature signs, lots of interesting trees for such a short stretch of trail, historic buildings

What Could Be Better:

This one is short, but a problem very easily solved with the many, many, many nice trails in this area.

Overall rating – 5 out of 10 – really enjoyed this one!  Will need to come back for an event.

Nearby:

Very close to the trailhead is the Cold Spring Bike Path, which is a paved biking and walking trail (that we haven’t done and reviewed yet) that takes you south a short distance to the main trailhead, or north for many, many miles to near Cape May County Park and Zoo.

Cape May has lots of great hiking including Cape May Point State Park (with the lighthouse), South Cape May Meadows Preserve, Garrett Family Preserve, and the new Cape May Nature Trail. Lower Township also has Higbee Beach WMA with world class birding during migration season.