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Newton Park and Conservation Lands
LOCATION: Newton Center and Newton Highlands
Location
and driving directions on Google Maps for entrances at:
Beacon Street Duncklee Street Plymouth Road
MBTA: a 0.5 mile walk from the Newton Highlands Green Line station
Newton Conservators trail map (Buy a copy of our trail guide)
Other maps and aerial
photos: Newton Assessor Bing USGS
Connects to: Cochituate Aqueduct runs along the edge of the park
SIZE:
67 acres
LONGEST WALK : 1.5 miles (a longer walk that includes this park)
ACQUIRED: 1930s
ADMINISTERED BY: Parks
and Recreation
FEATURES:
The park has ample wooded areas, fields, a brook,
and wetlands. A farmers' market takes place each summer on the parking
lot off Beacon Street, on land that was previously used as a city
dump.
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.
HISTORY:
| 1633 |
Part of 150-acre
swamp and peat bog held as common land under a ruling by the
General Court. |
| 1848 |
The Cochituate
Aqueduct built, which runs through 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. |
 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
An Old Man's Walk in Cold Spring Park, by V. Eugene Vivian, PhD (plant checklist)
The Conservators' Fall 2001 lecture, by Dan
Perlman, was entitled From Cold
Spring Park to Planet Earth.
A farmers' market is held on the Beacon Street
parking lot every Tuesday afternoon from July through October.
Crows Mob Owl, Wreak Havoc, an essay by Pete Gilmore
Environmental Show videos:
A Naturalist's View
Recreational Opportunities
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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