The Aquinnah estate of former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, known as Red Gate Farm, opened to the public this month after years of anticipation.

Now named Squibnocket Pond Reservation, the 323-acre property has two trails — a north trail that leads to the pond, and a south trail that leads to the Atlantic. The trails make their way through scrubland, pockets of oak trees, freshwater wetlands and windswept dune.

The property is owned by the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank and Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation. In their first joint-purchase, the nonprofits bought the property for $27 million in 2020 from Caroline Kennedy’s family, who inherited the property from her mother in 1994.

“I think people are used to, at least with respect to the land bank, properties of reasonably large size with a good trail system,” said James Lengyel, the executive director of the land bank. “This is going to be that [but] doubled or tripled, and so that makes [the property] a standout.”

The south trail leads down to the beach.

Ray Ewing

The south trail leads down to the beach.

Ray Ewing

The Kennedy-Schlossberg family retains ownership of 65 acres in the center of the property where their home still stands.

The land bank bought an abutting 32-acres for $10 million in 2021 that includes 1,000 feet of frontage on Squibnocket pond and an old hunting camp.

Both trailheads are open to the public, but the nonprofits require a parking reservation in the summer ahead of time, similar to the James Pond Preserve that opened along Lambert’s Cove Beach last year. 

There are 10 reservation slots for the north trailhead and 11 for the south trailhead, which has one handicap space, each day. 

The south trailhead is dedicated to Island lawyer Ronald Rappaport, who died unexpectedly in 2024. Mr. Rappaport helped preserve rare coastal habitat in Aquinnah, served as an attorney for the land bank and as an advisor for Sheriff’s Meadow.

Squibnocket Pond Reservation is ecologically rare, according to Adam Moore, the executive director of Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation. It has a mosaic of habitats with historic landmarks including Spider Hill, Nicodemus Neck, Zack’s Cliffs, Witch Pond, Lily Pond, Black Brook, Amos Place, Solomon Place and Gershom Place.

“We had a guided walk for the public... and an eastern box turtle showed-up at the trailhead beginning,” Mr. Moore said. “[They] are very rare, so to have this friendly box turtle wander out of the woods to greet the people coming to the property was remarkable.”

The former Red Gate Farm property is an ecologically important parcel.

Ray Ewing

The former Red Gate Farm property is an ecologically important parcel.

Ray Ewing

Mr. Lengyel said 75 per cent of the reservation is designated as critical habitat by the state and there are 34 rare or endangered species that frequent the property.

Year-round birds that visit the property include blue jays, gray catbirds, northern flickers, tufted titmouses and white-throated sparrows, according to the site’s management plan. Eastern towhees and yellow-rumped warblers breed on the site in the summer. 

Mr. Moore said he finds the woolly beach heather that grows on the barren, wind-sculpted sand dunes to be the most interesting. He said there are highbush blueberries on the property as well.

“It’s a lovely thing to walk on a trail in the summer and pick blueberries and eat them when they’re ripe,” Mr. Moore said.

Squibnocket Pond Reservation is a sacred site for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah). According to the property’s management plan, the pond at the center of the north property, called Witch Pond, was created by Moshup, a benevolent giant with supernatural powers beloved by the tribe. The pond is said to be connected to the sea to protect Moshup’s favorite pet, a white whale, from hunters.

Since purchasing the land five years ago, the nonprofits have been studying each habitat and building the trails. But their interest in the property goes back decades.

Mr. Moore said the first written record he found of the foundation’s desire for the property was in 1977. It involved longtime Vineyard Gazette editor Henry Beetle Hough, who was approached by the Hornblower family, which owned the property at the time, to purchase it for conservation. Sheriff’s Meadow didn’t have the capital needed to buy it at the time.

The land bank first set its eyes on the property in 1994 when Ms. Onassis died, Mr. Lengyel said. The Kennedy-Schlossberg family had been working with Sheriff’s Meadow and reached out to include the land bank before the 2020 purchase. 

The Kennedy family will retain some of the land.

Ray Ewing

The Kennedy family will retain some of the land.

Ray Ewing

“We were really tickled,” Mr. Lengyel said.

“We’re just honored to be the latest stewards of this land,” Mr. Moore said. 

Both Mr. Lengyel and Mr. Moore said the opening is a celebratory moment for the whole Island, where anyone can go and appreciate the landscape at any time. 

“This is exceptionally beautiful land and now it’s available to the public forever,” Mr. Moore said.