Alton Smith Reserve is a 103-acre retired cranberry bog in Hanson, surrounded by walking trails and wetlands, with a Natural Resource Conservation Service restoration program currently underway to return the…
Duxbury's Ashdod Forest offers trails through 244 acres of dense woodland and wetlands along Keene's Brook, including a section of the Bay Circuit Trail, with occasional stream crossings and old…
Despite its name, Beaver Brook Playground actually sits on the Shumatuscacant River, not Beaver Brook -- that waterway is elsewhere in Abington entirely. This 12.5-acre, recently renovated (2022) property behind…
Plymouth's 4-acre Billington Street Park centers on a charming red wooden covered bridge over Town Brook, with a grassy picnic area, interpretive signage, and two rain gardens. The site marks…
Pembroke's Birch Street Playground and Marcus Ford Park features a large, fenced-in playground with play structures for both younger and older children, plus swings, slides, and a climbing web. A…
Burns Memorial Park is a pretty, 26-acre property with a 0.56-mile out-and-back trail (with a loop at the end) through open woodland -- stone walls, rocky outcroppings, flowering shrubs, wetlands,…
Burrage Pond Wildlife Management Area, spanning Hanson and Halifax, is a genuinely massive property managed by the state as fisheries and wildlife habitat, with 10 miles of walking trails around…
Caddy Memorial Park is a small property on Gull Island, part of the Quincy Shore Reservation, with a shaded 0.33-mile trail -- paved from the parking area to a footbridge,…
Camp Kiwanee is a historic town-owned campground and function venue on Maquan Pond in Hanson, with wooded trails and a genuinely storied past. It opened in 1930 as Camp Kiwanis,…
Camp Wing Conservation Area protects a 450 acre, two mile stretch of stream habitat along the South River in Duxbury. Several rare or uncommon species of plants and animals are…
Kingston's 18-acre Carter Preserve features a 1-mile network of trails, with old bog roads offering views of upland forest, wetlands, and a stream, along with retired cranberry bogs. Also known…
Cato's Ridge Preserve is a 105-acre property in Plympton combining Cato's Ridge, Churchill Park, and O'Neil Marsh into a 2-mile network of woodland trails, most of them named for nearby…
Chapman's Landing was once the westernmost shipping point in the North River system, where the steamship Mattakeesett once delivered iron ingots for Hanover's forges. Today it is a lovely 50-acre…
Clark Bog Trail has several access points -- you can walk in from King Street, or from Forge Pond Park's Parking Lot C, where there is a large green sign.…
The Clear Pond Conservation Area is West Plymouth's only dedicated conservation property, roughly 12 acres of restored cranberry bog with a 0.6-mile circular trail that loops the bog and runs…
This was actually my second visit to Couch - but the first was a failure. I couldn't find the entrance. That might sound crazy but it was the truth. You…
Hingham's Cranberry Pond was once part of a working cranberry bog system, and today this small pond on French Street offers scenic water views along with 0.4 miles of woodland…
Crowell Conservation area is located on Lincoln Street in Duxbury. The area is made up of primarily historic cranberry bogs and nearby ponds. The cranberry bogs were operating for 100…
The 4.8-acre Cushing Memorial State Park in Scituate features a short woodland trail leading to the burial site of US Supreme Court Chief Justice William Cushing, regarded by many as…
Cushman Preserve is a Wildlands Trust property along the Blue Fish River in Duxbury. This property is a hidden gem that is only accessed along a private road to a…
The Daniel Webster Estate was the country home of statesman Daniel Webster from 1832 until his death in 1852, and today the 14-acre grounds are open to the public with…
When I pulled into the Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary parking lot, I was one of two cars and knew that I pretty much had the place to myself. The sanctuary…
The David E. Alper Nature Preserve is a 43.6-acre property at the end of Little Herring Pond Road, acquired by the Town in 2015, and it's the public's only access…
Davis-Douglas Farm, purchased in 2012 through community and public-private funding, serves as Wildlands Trust's Plymouth headquarters and a gateway into the wider Six Ponds conservation area. Trails from the farm…
The Donald Flaherty Trail in Whitman is a 0.7-mile out-and-back path along an old cart-path embankment, with wetlands drained by Meadow Brook on either side and a scattering of old…
Driftway Conservation Park is 334 acres of Scituate Conservation land with a panoramic view of the Herring River and its salt marshes. In the 1930s, Boston Sand and Gravel owned…
Eel River Preserve in Plymouth is the product of a genuinely impressive restoration effort by local, state, and federal agencies: 1.5 miles of the Eel River stream channel and 40…
The primary feature of Hanover's Ellis Baseball Fields is, unsurprisingly, its four baseball fields, but there is also a short woodland trail tucked along the edge of the property. It…
Marshfield's Ellis Nature Sanctuary features 27 acres of conservation land with a half-mile trail around a former cranberry bog, with streams that flow into the South River. It is a…
The 2.5-acre Fee Pond, in the Crow Point neighborhood of Hingham, offers a quiet spot for nature study and seasonal ice skating, with walking trails on two sides totaling about…
One of Marshfield's earliest conservation acquisitions, and also one of its smallest, Ferry Hill Thicket is a 6-acre parcel where birds often congregate, offering a half-mile walk through woodland and…
Fogg Forest is a 40 acre piece of land located off Rt 123 in Norwell. The conservation area is very accessible even if the parking is a bit confusing. While…
Once cranberry bogs, the Folly Hill and Bog Iron Trails now traverse a quiet expanse of woods and wetlands, with Iron Mine Brook flowing through on its way to the…
Completed in spring 2021, Foothills Preserve is a 126-acre former cranberry bog directly across from Mass Audubon's Tidmarsh Wildlife Sanctuary, restored by tearing out the old bog infrastructure and letting…
Forge Pond Park in Hanover, established in 2014, is a well-designed 40-acre athletic complex that hides a network of five intersecting woodland trails along its boundaries and beyond. The Forge…
Foundry Pond formed in the late 1700s when the Weir River was dammed, and the 32-acre property today centers on a small pond, a marsh, and an abandoned quarry at…
Found something incorrect or have a suggestion? Let us know!
South Shore Trails