Conservation Properties
Auburndale Park and Flowed Meadow
Auburndale Park has a wide variety of attractions including river frontage (with ice skating in winter), fields, wooded areas, ball fields, basketball and tennis courts, horseshoe pits, a 1.3 mile
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Avery Woods
Woodland with vernal pool, old oak forest, hilly terrain, and stone memorial to Avery family.
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Awtrey Dell
Hyde Brook runs through this woodsy hollow surrounded by back yards. Wildlife include deer, coyotes, wild turkeys, and warblers. From a Conservators board member: “That’s my old neighborhood. I first
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Brook Farm Historic Site
This National Historic Landmark is a diverse mix of terraces and knolls covered by fields, forest, and a cemetery whose adjacent marsh and wetlands include a small brook on the
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Bullough’s Pond
Walk around the lake, or sit on a bench and watch the ducks. A dredging completed in 1992 was intended to slow down the eutrophication process that’s common in shallow,
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Charles River Path – Bridge Street
Walkway is similar in feel to the Bridge Street to Galen Street stretch, with dirt and gravel trails, boardwalks, split log benches, and riverside overlook decks. Native plants reintroduced for
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Charles River Path – Galen Street
The Riverwalk features vestiges of one of the oldest dams on the Charles River, with remains of raceways built by David Bemis in 1778, and scenic views of the Charles
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Charles River Path – Quinobequin Road
Wooded trail along Charles River shoreline. Signs of beaver activity. Trail crosses several small streams via bridges and logs. Southern end of trail may be impassible in summer due to
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Chestnut Hill Reservation
A popular 1.5-mile circular path with pleasant vistas of Back Bay skyscrapers, the Reservation was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted’s son and constructed in the late 1860s to give Boston
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Cochituate and Sudbury Aqueducts
You can walk a 7 mile circuit within Newton on both aqueducts. Or, you can take a 5 mile walk (returning by MBTA) from Waban to Chestnut Hill that begins
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Cold Spring Park
The park has ample wooded areas, fields, a brook, and wetlands. A weekly farmers’ market is held each summer on the parking lot off Beacon Street. Many activities are enjoyed
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Crystal Lake
People come here to swim, fish, and boat. The bathhouse is open during the summer. Shoreline path and sidewalks allow for walks along three sides of the lake. Because Crystal
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Cutler Park
The 800 acres known as Cutler Park include the largest remaining fresh water marsh on the middle Charles River. The marshland and the small lake attract over 100 species of
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Dexter Woods
Steep, wooded slope with wildflowers and ferns.
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Dolan Pond
A wetlands area traversed by paths, boardwalks, and foot bridges. There are four small ponds in all. Walking, bird watching, nature study, and ice skating. A biodiversity study in 2000
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Edmands Park
Surrounded by stone walls and bordered by Boston College Law School on one side, this park contains woods, small clearings, wetlands, Edmands Brook, and a glacial esker. Its open oak
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Frank Barney and Martin Conservation Areas
Pocket parks with trails rising through wooded slopes. Frank Barney has Roxbury Conglomerate ledges and benches. Martin has old stone walls.
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Heartbreak Hill Park
The former MWRA “Waban Hill Reservoir” is located on a hill overlooking Boston College (and not in the Waban neighborhood). Newton acquired the property in 2015 and turned it
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Helen Heyn Riverway
This section of the Blue Heron Trail runs along the border of wetland vegetation through a wooded floodplain. It was constructed through a cooperative effort involving the Parks and Recreation
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Hemlock Gorge and Echo Bridge
A National Historic Landmark, the handsome stone bridge contains the Sudbury Aqueduct, with a pedestrian walk on top. Visitors standing under the arch can make a fine echo and view
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Houghton Garden
This wild garden is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its gracious paths, overhung by azalea and rhododendron, wind around a stream and lagoon-like pond. Water features were
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Hunnewell Woods and Park
Park featuring wildflowers, deciduous trees and typical suburban wildlife. Path along wooded slope leads to a playground. The park includes an off-leash dog area.
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Kennard Park and Conservation Area
This is a post-agricultural forest grown up on 19th century farmland. The mixed and conifer woodlands reveal colonial stone walls, a red maple swamp with century-old trees, and a Sensitive
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Kesseler Woods
One of the last large, privately owned pieces of open space in Newton, Kesseler Woods was threatened with development in 2003. At the urging of the Newton Conservators and other
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