Rocky Woods Reservation

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Property Description 491 acres | Established 1942

Seventeenth-century settlers referred to this once wild, inhospitable landscape of tree-clad granite ridges as Rocky Woods. The reservation features over six miles of former woods roads and footpaths through rolling hills of white pine and red oak that are part of both the Neponset River Watershed and the Charles River Watershed. Rocky ledges and glacial erratics are evidence of glaciers that receded some 10,000 years ago.

The area's high water table forms wetlands throughout the reservation. All four ponds on the reservation were created to provide water for fighting fires. Bullfrogs and painted turtles live in the ponds and visitors can enjoy catch-and-release fishing from these shores. Recent landscape renovations have created a scenic meadow, grassy common areas, sandy shorelines, and plantings of ornamental shrubs. Future plans include creating a visitor center and improved children's play area.

In the 1700s, Rocky Woods was common land divided into woodlots from which residents could haul out trees for cordwood and building timber. By the 1800s, a network of logging roads had been cut that were also used to transport high-grade granite excavated on-site. By the late 1920s, Dr. Joel Goldthwait began buying parcels of land that were eventually donated in 1942 to establish the Reservation.

Trails
6.5 miles of trails. Moderate hiking, strenuous in places.