Conservation Books

Trail and Other Guidebooks

Newton Conservators Almanac

by Newton Conservators 2009
		More info

Spend 12 months getting to know Newton's parks with the Newton Conservators Almanac.

Walking Trails in Newton's Park & Conservation Lands

by Newton Conservators 2003
		Buy from us

A 56-page guide containing detailed trail maps of 27 conservation areas in Newton, featuring parks, ponds, gardens, trails, canoe launches, nature guides, rock climbing, scenic views, handicapped access, geological features, and bird watching areas. The guide also contains photos, driving directions, interesting historical details, and an overall map of showing the locations of the 27 natural areas.

AMC's Best Day Hikes Near Boston

by Michael Tougias AMC Books, 2006		Buy from AMC

Descriptions and maps of 50 day hikes in Eastern Massachusetts, mostly within I-495. (Most of the destinations are listed on this page.)

WalkBoston:
Walking Tours of Boston's Unique Neighborhoods

edited by Robert Sloane AMC Books, 2003		Buy from WalkBoston

This book describes walking tours in Boston and many surrounding communities, including three trips in Newton. The Newton walks are Newton Center, Hemlock Gorge and Upper Falls, and the Upper Charles River Reservation (including Charles River Path -- Bemis Dam).

Massachusetts Trail Guide

by Appalachian Mountain Club AMC Books, 2009		Buy from AMC

This book describes hiking trails in Cutler Park and Webster Conservation Area.

Exploring in and around Boston on Bike and Foot

by Lee Sinai AMC Books, 1998		Buy a used copy

This book includes a 2-mile walk in Webster Conservation Area as well as a 17-mile bike ride in Newton and Brookline.

More Nature Walks in Eastern Massachusetts

by Michael Tougias AMC Books, 1998		Buy a used copy

This book includes a 1-mile walk in Hemlock Gorge.

Exploring the Hidden Charles

by Michael Tougias AMC Books, 1997		Buy a used copy

This book provides information about canoing the Charles River, and hiking and biking near its banks.

60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Boston

by Helen Weatherall American Hiking Society, 2008		Buy a copy

The title says it all. Includes several hikes in Newton park and conservation areas, including Houghton Garden and Hemlock Gorge.

Walks in Wellesley

This book (and enclosed map) describes 19 open space areas in and around Wellesley, including Hemlock Gorge and the Fyffe Footbridge. The book is for sale at Wellesley Booksmith or from the Wellesley Conservation Council.

The Charles River:
Exploring Nature and History on Foot and by Canoe

by Ron McAdow Bliss Publishing, 1993		Buy a used copy

This book also provides information about canoing the Charles River and hiking near its banks. It includes USGS maps of the entire length of the Charles.

Short Bike Rides in Eastern Massachusetts

by Howard Stone

Globe Pequot Press, 1999

The book contains a 19-mile tour of Newton and Brookline.

Bike Paths of Massachusetts

by Stuart A. Johnstone

Active Publications, 1997

This book contains a description of the Charles River bike path from Waltham to Boston.

Science, Natural History, History, etc.

Inventing the Charles River

by Karl Haglund

MIT Press, 2002

This history of the creation of the Charles River basin was the subject of the guest speaker at the 2004 Conservators annual dinner.

Stone by Stone
The Magnificent History in New England's Stone Walls

by Robert Thorson

Walker & Company, 2002

This book was the subject of the Fall 2002 lecture.

Roadside Geology of Massachusetts

by James W. Skehan

Mountain Press, 2001.

This book was the subject of the Spring 2002 lecture.

Conserving Earth's Biodiversity CD-ROM

by Dan Perlman and E. O. Wilson

Island Press, 2000

Dan Perlman, biologist and photographer, created this CD with Professor E.O. Wilson of Harvard University. The CD is ideal for older students and adult learners who wish togain a deeper appreciation for conservation biology and environmental science.

It is hailed by one by one scientist as "…a breakthrough in science teaching through interactive multimedia. The combination of E.O. Wilson's on-screen narration, and Dan Perlman's educational design and content make this production a must for science students and teachers."

This CD-ROM was featured in the Fall 2001 lecture.

National Audubon Society Field Guide to New England

by Peter Alden

Knopf, 1998

The author gave the Spring 2001 lecture.

Reflections in Bullough's Pond
Economy and Ecosystem in New England

by Diana Muir

University Press of New England, 2000

The Boston Globe said this book about Bullough's Pond is "an extraordinary book, a combination of polemic and all-encompassing scholarship."

Birds of Massachusetts

By Richard R. Veit and Wayne R. Petersen

Drawings by Barry Van Dusen.

Massachusetts Audubon Society, 1993

A Season in Utopia

By Doris M. Curtis

Russell & Russell, 1971 (out of print)

Newton Public Library: 335.973 C94S 1961

This book is a history of Brook Farm.

The Blithedale Romance

By Nathaniel Hawthorne

first published in 1852; many current editions

This book is set in a utopian community and was written after Hawthorne lived at Brook Farm.

Brook Farm: The Dark Side of Utopia

By Sterling Delano

Belknap Press, 2004

A recently published history of Brook Farm. Booklist called it "a compelling look at the history of progressive social movements in America and the failure of one of the best-known experiments."

Echoes in Hemlock Gorge

Poems by Douglas Worth

Higganum Hill Books, 2003

The publisher's blurb says this:

This book of poetry ranges back through history to the 1600s and pleads with mankind to attend to the massive damage technological advancement is bringing to the biosphere. The poems warn that blindness to these changes, which wantonly destroy that understructure upon which life depends, will make the future of man a wasteland and a devastation. A single locale, Hemlock Gorge, a bypassed island of natural beauty immersed in the head-on rush of modern technological culture, is used to illustrate these dangers.