The view you see is largely what Richard and Ruth Taylor saw when they first came to this then isolated farm in 1639. The Chapin Beach dunes are to the west and beyond them, Cape Cod Bay. The Town of Dennis, once part of Yarmouth, is on the far side of Chase Garden Creek running through the marsh.

In the spring and summer, you may see osprey nesting on a platform in the marsh about 100 yards from the boardwalk.

The marsh has been a contributor to the success of the farm. In 1896, when the farm was purchased by the Bray brothers, it comprised 50 acres of uplands and adjacent marshlands capable of producing six tons of fresh and salt hay. Earlier, saltworks were maintained along the edge of the marsh in the 19th century. A section of the back interior wall of the barn is covered with salt infused boards recovered from these saltworks.

This salt marsh ecosystem is more than something to look at. All along the coast, marshes provide wildlife and fish habitat, filter pollution preventing it from entering the watershed, and can protect nearby areas from flooding and storm surge. Salt marshes are able to store more carbon per unit area than forests because they spend much time being wet and when things are wet, they decompose more slowly releasing carbon more slowly.

Salt marsh ecosystems need to fluctuate between wet and dry. Standing water kills plants, allowing mosquito breeding areas to expand and destroying habitat for endangered birds. Those strait narrow ditches, called runnels, you see in the marsh are designed to drain standing water between tides. The Town of Yarmouth clears the runnels near the farm frequently to maintain good drainage.