Friends of the Blue Hills |

Discover the Blue Hills Blue Hills Reservation Guide and Maps Friends of the Blue Hills PO Box 416 Milton, MA 02186 [email protected] Original edition produced by David Hodgdon and Thomas Palmer www.FriendsoftheBlueHills.org Friends of the Blue Hills 1 www.FriendsoftheBlueHills.org Introduction Whether you are a frequent sojourner in the Blue Hills or a new glimpse of the unusual mating dance of the American woodcock. visitor, there is always something new to be explored in this inspiring You can spend your summers swimming at Houghton’s Pond, a landscape. Among the 7,000 plus acres, there are opportunities to hike, kettle pond formation, gift of the glacial age, or pack your rod for some bike, ski, swim, climb and contemplate the simple beauty of nature. One fishing at Ponkapoag Pond. In the warmer months, try launching your can take a serpentine drive through the reservation, stopping to admire canoe on the Neponset River at Fowl Meadow. When the precipitation views along the way or accept the challenge of hiking the Skyline Trail turns to snow, revisit Fowl Meadow for flat, easy cross-country skiing from beginning to end. or, alternatively, speed down the slopes at the Blue Hill Ski Area. For adventurous souls, there’s the challenge of biking Great Blue Hill or rock climbing on the vertical walls at Quincy Quarries in the northernmost part of the park. Those seeking a workout can hike the Skyline Trail from Quincy to Canton, a hike offering much elevation change and wonderful views. Even if you don’t consider yourself a serious hiker, you’ll still find easy rambles on trails that take you around Houghton’s Pond. Any time of year is a good time to take the children to the Blue Hills Trailside Museum to see the creatures that live in the park and learn about the Reservation’s rich history. The lueB Hills Reservation exists to provide recreation and enjoyment for all people and to preserve and protect this precious habitat for all living things that call it home. The Friends of the Blue Hills is a 1,000-member non-profit organization devoted to preserving and protecting the Blue Hills Reservation’s natural beauty, diverse natural habitats, and many recreational opportunities. We invite you to With this guide, you can explore each of the sections of the park. join us in this mission by practicing good stewardship while in the As you explore the Reservation throughout the year you will find new reservation and by becoming a member. Enjoy this special place. delights as each season transforms the landscape. In the spring, bring your binoculars and head to Fowl Meadow in the 000s, where you are likely to spot a pileated woodpecker and other colorful birds or catch a Friends of the Blue Hills 2 www.FriendsoftheBlueHills.org About the Blue Hills Reservation The Blue Hills Reservation encompasses approximately 7,000 to charm each of them. Though it would take a lifetime to explore acres of woods, ponds, wetlands and elevated rock set aside by the thoroughly, much of it is right next to Boston, and it lies open on all Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1893 for its citizens to use and sides. Legally speaking, it belongs to everyone, and it offers a standing enjoy. It is centered on the Blue Hills themselves, a long sweep of invitation to stretch steep, stony ridges rising seven miles from Quincy’s historic granite your legs and walk quarries in the east to the massive dome of Blue Hill in Canton and over the earth as if you Milton in the west. Although none of the peaks is so much as a owned it. thousand feet high, they stand well above the surrounding lowlands, The Reservation and dominate the landscape in all directions. is managed for the The Reservation was conceived by landscape architect Charles Commonwealth by Eliot, as a contrast and counterpoint to metropolitan Boston’s then- the Department of existing parks, such as Boston Common and Jamaica Pond, in that Conservation and Nature, and not Art, would be its dominant theme. Instead of wide Recreation and is open lawns and manicured groves, it would feature deep forests, shaggy from dawn to dusk cliffs, and free-running water. He was convinced that no city should daily throughout the be without spacious tracts of dramatic natural scenery open to all, and year. Now more than since this kind of scenery was rapidly vanishing around Boston’s turn- 100 years old, it is the of-the-century metropolis, he chose one of the richest remaining lodes, largest component of the Blue Hills, as the site for his largest park. Other properties acquired Boston’s peripheral under his direction include Nantasket Beach and the Charles River park system, and it Esplanade. has become even more precious as the region’s population has grow significantly and modern Today his vision is largely intact, and the oasis he created in the development has reached out to Rt. 495 and beyond. Thanks to the Blue Blue Hills continues to draw thousands into its delightfully hilly Hills, there is no need to drive to the Berkshires or New Hampshire to woods for an hour or a day. Containing portions of Boston, Dedham, get a sizable helping of the New England outdoors in its natural state. Westwood, Canton, Milton, Randolph, Quincy and Braintree, the Reservation is vast enough to absorb multitudes and intimate enough Friends of the Blue Hills 3 www.FriendsoftheBlueHills.org F . Glenwood Ave. Bates u St r er ALTERNATE Ave. P n v y To Willard a a i a Mullin r c R BOSTON ROUTE TO k e w Mattapan Governor Stoughton Lane Grove St. O’ConnellAvenue w St. B h MILTON HOSPITAL Fore Ave. Willard St. a DCR STONY BROOK g Station To st r i y o Parkway A @ Copeland St. Blue Hills Hills Blue o RESERVATION H (see bus Ashmont v e k Faraday St. nu n schedule) TO HOSPITAL Station e Milton StreetM a Copeland o DCR MOTHER BROOK BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MILTON St. th m Washington St. t Brook e DEDHAM BOSTON RESERVATION u rou REEDSDALE ROAD r r T QUINCY B T rook Neponset Valley Parkway DCR MARTINI SHELL QUARRIES DCR COLELLA ULIN H Wren TerraceHISTORIC SITE Harland Street i MILTON PARK & MOYNIHAN g PLAYGROUND RINK h Avenue RECREATION AREA l QUINCY a Furnace n Randolph Brook Rotary Park Street d EXIT Ave. BOSTON Wakeeld DouglasSt. S Truman Hwy. tr Brush Hill Road ee Hyde Park Avenue t M y @ Wakeeld Ave. Q a Randolph Ave. u a Larry Pl. B w Canton Avenue Ricciuti Drive l ar d n Blue Hill Avenue @ Highland St. r e i e y e e v s n a e e r r S To Quincy QUINCY F l t w G oo y . k P t Bunker Hill r Center Salem St. S a i t r . n P Station e e Lane v k i o West Milton R Unquity Road P o Truman Parkway r Milton T Fu a t MILTON S rn th B Street Street e r a a ce Hyde Park Ave. s e w S ce na e r n c a Fu @ Wolcott Square o u B B t w rook p h cu Willard Street e r t o a t No N o P tc t Helene St. k r h ath Great Dome o P READVILLE Little Dome h ft h h S t West St. ft t a CCC a P k Russell P oot ok St. Road Adele PAUL’S o F P Bro SHEA ro CAMP s ath ace d BRIDGE ter B Pond N ag urn e a Moritz RINK Bals otch Cr F in o d l R l y S DCR k Ponds O k y Harland Street S l i n Ames Street Sprague CAMP C Street e ra ath e g P CAMP SAYRE Prescott Street n s Foot MEIGS i ¼ ½ L Milton Street BOY SCOUTS h Hyde Park Avenue e t Ridgewood Road OF AMERICA p F i a P u MILES P Willard St. Cliord St. N Nahanton Avenue r Rattlesnake y ond k t prague e Indi n @ Ames St. a c h , , P n Hill ft e S p a u Sassamon Avenue Camp p e Meadow Road o c t r r r e a t n P u S e p s F a FEET t M v e o B h m BOSTON i t See bus Dollar d x r a r R Tree o a schedule Pine l SCALE :, DEDHAM t Lane o W l e i s k Pipe Line INCH = , FEET n V B Hi W r ll e a h o o l t ok Wampatuck le a n p y i P P PROJECTION: MASSACHUSETTS STATE PLANE NAD METERS L Randolph Avenue a Hill ft e th Fox Hill P P e N Brush Hill Road ark Pas R wa tu a ft p y i i r d t Sprague e h P d ond C g a P e o e P R a Street d t y Hemenway h r a to s r a r Blue Hills R rg e QUINCY t o u Hemlock r c R Reservoir P P Chickatawbut Road a k u BRAINTREE i Drive u P n n q a CHICKATAWBUT e d t h Skyline a OVERLOOK Carberry Lane e B H Squamaug No th a tc a e l h P u s n t S k e e a Burma Road T s c v r s r am Granite S A e Randolph Ave.

Load more