|
Newton Park and Conservation Lands
LOCATION: South Newton
Location
and driving directions on Google Maps for entrances at:
Nahanton Street Sawmill Brook Parkway Wells Avenue
MBTA: Route 52 Directions from Green Line
Newton Conservators trail map (Buy a copy of our trail guide)
Other maps and aerial
photos: Newton Assessor Bing USGS
DCR map of this region
Connects to: Nahanton Park Brook Farm Historic Site
SIZE:
30 acres
LONGEST WALK : 3 miles, on this walk including Brook Farm and Millennium Park (a longer walk that includes this park)
ADMINISTERED BY:
Riverbank: DCR
Woods: Conservation Commission
FEATURES:
This section of the Charles River Footpath
runs along the border of wetland vegetation through a wooded floodplain.
It was constructed through a cooperative effort involving the Parks
and Recreation Department, the Conservation Commission, the MDC,
the Newton Conservators, and Newton Knights of Tunsion.
HISTORY:
The land was part of the estate of Robert Gould Shaw II.
During the Civil War, Shaw's cousin, Col. Robert Gould Shaw, a young white officer from a prominent Boston family, volunteered for the command of the first
black regiment to be recruited in the North. The family's estate house is now part of the Mt.
Ida College campus.
| 1970s |
Part of Shaw land
developed as Wells Avenue office park. |
| 1990s |
Volunteers made
the trail. Once a planned crossing over the marsh is built,
the path will run continually through the floodplain without a detour to and from Wells Avenue parking lots. |
| 2006 |
Conservation area renamed in honor of Helen Heyn, a founding member of the Newton Conservators. Heyn served on the Newton Conservation Commission for 42 years as a member, executive secretary, and associate member. |
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
A statue
of Col. Robert Gould Shaw and his troops, designed by noted sculptor
Augustus
St. Gaudens, is on the Boston Common. Col. Shaw was played by actor
Matthew Broderick in the 1989 movie, Glory.
US Environmental Protection Agency information about the Charles River
US Geological Survey information
|
