by Michael Tougias

AMC Books, 2006

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

Describes walking tours in Boston and many surrounding communities, including three trips in Newton:

The Fields of Newton

Newton Upper Falls (including Hemlock Gorge)

The Upper Charles River Reservation (including Charles River Path -- Galen St. to Bridge St. and Charles River Path -- Bridge St. to Moody St.).

Massachusetts Trail Guide

by Appalachian Mountain Club

AMC Books, 2009

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

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

Includes a 1-mile walk in Hemlock Gorge.

Exploring the Hidden Charles

by Michael Tougias

AMC Books, 1997

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

Includes several hikes in Newton park and conservation areas, including Houghton Garden and Hemlock Gorge.

Walks in Wellesley

by Margaret Klein Wilson

Wellesley Conservation Council, 1991

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

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

Contains a 19-mile tour of Newton and Brookline.

Bike Paths of Massachusetts

by Stuart A. Johnstone

Active Publications, 1997

Contains a description of the Charles River bike path from Waltham to Boston.

Science, Natural History, History, Photography, etc.

by Douglas Tallamy

Timber Press, 2007

Tallamy was the guest speaker at the 2012 Conservators annual dinner.

by Cynthia Staples

Blurb.com, 2011

Photographer Cynthia Staples has published a book of her photos of Edmands Park.

Buy a copy

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.

Buy a copy

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

A history of Brook Farm.

The Blithedale Romance

By Nathaniel Hawthorne

first published in 1852

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.

The Makers of the Mold: A History of Newton Upper Falls

by Ken Newcomb

CreateSpace, 2011

This history of Newton Upper Falls and the industrial age in Hemlock Gorge was first published online, and is now available in print.