Massachusetts Park List

Open year-round, dawn to dusk. A peninsula on the Hingham/Weymouth line at the mouth of the Back River, Stodder's Neck was once an unsightly gravel pit. Reclaimed and landscaped in a manner reminiscent of Frederick Law Olmsted's work at World's End, Stodder's Neck provides harborside walking trails and a ...

Adams National Historical Park is located in the City of Quincy, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, approximately ten miles south of Boston. The Park comprises 11 historic structures and a cultural landscape totaling almost 14 acres. The story encompasses five generations of the Adams family (from 1720 to 1927) including ...

Open year round, dawn to dusk The 120-acre Alewife Reservation is among metropolitan Boston's largest urban wilds and provides habitat for an array of indigenous and migratory birds including Osprey and the Great Blue Heron. The anadromous Herring migrates each spring from the Atlantic Ocean to the Reservation's Little ...

Ames Nowell is a year-round day use area with recreational activity centered around Cleveland Pond which is popular with boaters and fisherman. Development includes a picnic area, ball field and several miles of trails along the pond edge and the surrounding ...

The Appalachian National Scenic Trail (AT) is a passive recreation footpath that runs 2175 miles from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine. Ninety miles of this long-distance trail are in Massachusetts, running along the ridges and traversing the valleys of Berkshire County. Conceived in 1921 by ...

Ashland State Park has 470 acres including the 157 acre Ashland Reservoir. The park is operated seasonally and provides opportunities for swimming, picnicking, boating, fishing, bicycling and hiking. Beach improvements at the park include facilities for wheelchair access to the boathouse and by ramp into the ...

The Ashuwillticook Rail Trail is a former railroad corridor converted into a 10-foot wide paved, universally accessible, passive recreation path. The Ashuwillticook runs parallel to Route 8 through the towns of Cheshire, Lanesborough and Adams. The southern end of the rail trail begins at the entrance to the Berkshire ...

Assabet River NWR, formerly referred to as the U.S. Army's Fort Devens Sudbury Training Annex, is a 2,230-acre parcel of land located approximately 25 miles west of Boston, and 4 miles west of the Eastern Massachusetts NWR Complex Headquarters. It is located in portions of the Towns of ...

Barre Falls Dam, in the midst of the Ware River Watershed and Wildlife Management Area, is attractive for canoeing, fishing, hiking, hunting, picnicking, watching wildlife, and winter sports. The project is crossed by the Mid-State Hiking Trail. A picnic shelter in the picnic area at the dam ...

In the extreme southwest corner of the state is a cluster of state parks noted for their spectacular scenery and breathtaking views. Located here is Bash Bish Falls, one of Massachusetts' most dramatic and its highest single-drop waterfall. Cascading water tumbles through a series of gorges and a hemlock-hardwood ...

Beartown State Forest has two distinctly different worlds between the summer and winter. During the warm months the pristine 35-acre Benedict Pond attracts swimmers, boaters and fishermen. An extensive network of trails on over 12,000 acres offers visitors a chance to glimpse deer, bear, bobcat, fisher and other wildlife, ...

The first reservation established by the Metropolitan Parks Commission (later the MDC) in 1893, Beaver Brook Reservation is 59 acres of open fields, wetlands and woodlands. Ponds, fields, marsh, and a cascading waterfall make the park's north section a delightful place to walk or picnic. The more developed south ...

Open year-round, 9:00 a.m. to dusk. Belle Isle Marsh Reservation preserves 152 acres of the 241-acre Belle Isle Marsh, Boston's last remaining salt marsh. A unique place to explore, the reservation exemplifies the type of wetlands that once lined the Massachusetts Bay shore. Centuries of flourishing plant life have ...

The Lake Denison Recreation Area, on an 82-acre natural lake, offers campground, swim beach, and picnic area. Reservoir lands are managed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for hunting, fishing, and ...

The Blackstone River and Canal Heritage State Park recalls the role of canals in transporting raw materials and manufactured goods between emerging industrial centers. Walk along restored sections of the Blackstone River Canal and Towpath from the River Bend Farm Visitors Center. This park is operated in conjunction with the ...

Located only minutes from the bustle of downtown Boston, the DCR Blue Hills Reservation stretches over 7,000 acres from Quincy to Dedham, Milton to Randolph, providing a green oasis in an urban environment. Rising above the horizon, Great Blue Hill reaches a height of 635 feet, the highest of ...

Borderland is one of the most historically significant tracts of publicly owned land in the Commonwealth. Created in the early 1900s by artist and suffragist Blanche Ames and her botanist husband Oakes, Borderland offers many of the same pleasures that the Ames family enjoyed: walking and horseback riding on ...

Located in the heart of Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood, the site includes 15 pre-Civil War structures relating to the history of Boston's 19th century African-American community, including: the African Meeting House, the oldest standing African-American church in the United States. The sites are linked by the 1.6 mile (2.5 ...

Boston Harbor Islands national park area includes 34 islands situated within the Greater Boston shoreline. The islands are rich in natural and cultural resources. Imagine a place where you can explore tide pools, walk through a Civil War era fort, climb a lighthouse, hike lush trails and salt ...

This 17-island state park is part of the 34-island Boston Harbor Islands National Park Area. They are a wonderful natural resource, only 45 minutes by ferry from downtown Boston. Seventeen of the islands are managed the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). Six of the 17 islands,a 36-acre peninsula ...

Discover the revolutionary generation of Bostonians who blazed a trail from colonialism to independence. Boston National Historical Park is an association of sites that together give the visitor a coherent view of the city's role in the nation's history. In downtown Boston, Old South Meeting House, Old State ...

This 721-acre former estate features pine needled paths, acres of sunny rolling meadows and spectacular rhododendrons which line old carriage roads. Peak bloom is usually in mid-June. Bradley Palmer was a noted attorney of the early 1900s who represented Sinclair Oil in the Teapot Dome Scandal and President Wilson at ...

Open year-round, dawn to dusk. Breakheart Reservation is a 640-acre hardwood forest with jagged, rocky outcroppings, two fresh-water lakes, and a rambling section of the Saugus River. Seven rocky hills, over 200 feet high, provide vistas of Boston, southern New Hampshire and central Massachusetts. An extensive trail system through ...

This rolling, heavily forested property has over 20 miles of roads and trails and is used primarily for hiking, walking, horseback riding and fishing. Dean Pond Recreation Area, located in the western portion of Brimfield State Forest, has a pavilion, comfort station, 100 linear feet of beach and picnic ...

Offering 140 acres in the town of Norfolk, the reservation was once home to a commercial sawmill operation. A large, open field welcomes visitors and an old stone lined cow path leads to Stony Brook Pond and Teal Marsh where turtles and great blue herons are easy to spy. ...

This National Historic Landmark is 179 acres of rolling fields, woodland and wetland and was the location of the experimental society of Transcendentalists who lived on the farm in the 1840's. Tours are offered periodically through the ...

This 200-acre lake in Charlton, MA, offers state-of-the-art facilities for the latest recreational pursuits including BMX-style bike jumps, mountain bike trails and an 27-hole disk golf course. More traditional forms of recreation include fishing, hunting, 7 miles of multi-use trails, group picnic shelters and ice skating. The 200 ...

Callahan State Park is a 820-acre day use area located in Northwest Framingham. Callahan has seven miles of marked trails and is used for activities including fishing, hiking, horseback riding and cross-country skiing. Within the park are nearly 100 acres of open fields, 70 acres of which are currently ...

The gateway to Cape Cod, with many nearby shops, tourist attractions and recreation facilities. State and town-managed campgrounds are located at various points next to the Canal. Area is popular for bicycling and ...

Cape Cod National Seashore comprises 43,604 acres of shoreline and upland landscape features, including a forty-mile long stretch of pristine sandy beach, dozens of clear, deep, freshwater kettle ponds, and upland scenes that depict evidence of how people have used the land. A variety of historic structures are within ...