Cold Spring Park
Overview
The park has ample wooded areas, fields, a brook, and wetlands. Before the pandemic relocated it to Newton South High School in 2020, a farmers’ market took place each summer on the parking lot off Beacon Street.
Many activities are enjoyed here: baseball, tennis, soccer, walking, jogging, dog walking, nature study, birding, and cross-country skiing. A life course with exercise stations is situated along the trail. The ball fields may be reserved. The southern end of the park includes an off-leash dog area.
Size: 67 acres    Longest Walk: 1.5 miles    Acquired: 1930s
Maps
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Get here by MBTA:
a 0.5 mile walk from the Newton Highlands Green Line station
Other maps and aerial photos:
Connects to:
Cochituate Aqueduct runs along the edge of the park
Nearby:
GPS Enabled Trail Map
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Owner & Administrator Websites
Photo Gallery
First three photos shown here. Click a photo to view the complete slideshow or click here to browse the complete gallery.
History
1633
Part of 150-acre swamp and peat bog held as common land under a ruling by the General Court.
1848
Construction of the Cochituate Aqueduct, which now runs along the edge of the park.
1910s
The Atlas Film Corp. bought the southern part of the park, and filmed silent movies there.
1930s
Alcock’s Swamp was drained, and the brook was rechanneled, lowered five feet, and partly culverted. The city acquired the land by gift, purchase, and tax taking. City developed south half of the park.
1983
City developed the Beacon Street half of the park.
Features
Birding, Cross Country Skiing, Life Course, MBTA Green Line, Meadow, Off-leash dog area, Sports Fields, Toilet Facilities, Vernal Pool, Woods Trail
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Additional Information
Newton Assessor’s Map ID: 54022 0058 and other parcels
Advocates & Caretakers:
Friends of Cold Spring Park:
Park Features:
Newton Farmers Market is held on the Beacon Street parking lot every Tuesday afternoon from July through October.
The Red Maple Swamp in the park
Essays, Articles, and Lectures:
Cold Spring Park: Problems, Progress and Possibilities, a 2021 webinar by Alan Nogee of the Friends of Cold Spring Park
Mysteries of Cold Spring Park, by Michael Clarke
An Old Man’s Walk in Cold Spring Park, by V. Eugene Vivian, PhD
Cold Spring Park Buckthorn Project to demonstrate the impact of the invasive on the native red maple and clethra
From Cold Spring Park to Planet Earth, the Conservators’ Fall 2001 lecture, by Dan Perlman
Crows Mob Owl, Wreak Havoc, an essay by Pete Gilmore
Environmental Show videos:
Other Information:
A temporary installation by artists Mags Harries, Ross Miller, and Marty Cain funded by National Endowment for the Arts was placed in various locations in the park in 1993.
Cleanup of debris from old landfill
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