Vandals damage North Grafton’s ‘fairy trail,’ but fans plan to rebuild

There’s a tiny neighborhood, tucked away beside Pine Grove Cemetery, where families have built a world of imagination.

There are fairy homes tucked beneath tree roots. Tiny fences, structures created from twigs and natural materials mixed with painted rocks and sparkling glass marbles. Walk along the dirt paths in the Weber Conservation Land, maintained by the Grafton Land Trust, and a flash of color will lead you to the next tiny scene.

Visitors over the weekend, however, found several of the homes had been vandalized — sculptures broken, rocks scattered, bird houses left in pieces.

Don’t worry about the fairies — they dish out their own harsh form of fairy justice — members of the Buy Nothing Grafton Facebook group are in the process of gathering materials to fix some of the destroyed houses. Moderator Brit Minichiello said the group member who originally reported it thought the destruction happened Friday night or Saturday.

“We’d like to make the best of a bad situation and believe we can do that with the Buy Nothing community – the outpouring of support has already been remarkable!” Minichiello said. She’s hoping to get an event together after Labor Day.

But there may also be construction crews already at work. Or is it magic?

During a rainy walk on the trail Monday afternoon, the above structure was a mess on the ground, with materials scattered. By the time this reporter returned from photographing other fairy places along the trail — many intact, some in pieces — the sticks were reassembled into a teepee to protect the home underneath.

Maybe there was someone else taking a walk in the rain.

Or maybe, it was fairies.

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