Greenough2


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Greenough Land

 

Town - 247 acres

CCF - 8 acres (in Billerica) 1

 

ACCESS

Six trail entrances off Maple Street; from Riveredge Road in Billerica; trail access from Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge

 

PARKING

Two parking lots off Maple Street

 

FEATURES

Pages Brook, Greenough Pond,3 Concord River

Barn,4 skating hut6

Site of Solomon

Andrews mill,7 1757

Hay and corn fields,

pine plantation8

Wetland & upland trees including chestnut,

red maple, beech, birch, and pitch pines

Mountain laurel, swamp azalea, flame azalea, pepper bush, cattails, wild grapes, bunchberry, wintergreen

139 species of birds counted, including hooded merganser and other waterfowl, herons, songbirds, woodpeckers, and many migrating species. Wood duck boxes maintained by MassWildlife.

Beaver and muskrat

Painted turtle,

northern water snake, yellow perch

Species of concern:

Blanding’s turtle,

Britton’s violet

 

THE TRAILS

The trails around Greenough Pond are a good hour’s walk with forest, water, and field vistas. From parking on Maple Street, the Wood Duck Trail goes clockwise around the pond through northern Greenough with its varied terrain and many rock outcroppings.

A footbridge2 connects the trail to the farm area and remaining barn. The trail then goes over a dam5 that holds the Greenough Pond,3 which was built to attract water fowl. After the pond, the trail splits: the River Trail goes east to wetlands and the Concord River; the Red Tail Trail goes south between a hayfield drainage ditch and a red maple swamp, passes smaller hayfields, and joins the Pines Loop through the old red and white pine tree farm.8 Turn right on Maple Street to access trails that join the Wood Duck Trail or the Blueberry Trail, named for the bushes along its route, that skirts tributaries of Pages Brook. Look for beaver activity as you cross the bridge9 on Maple Street. For a much longer walk, continue into the abutting Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge on the Red Tail Trail or the River Trail south to Foss Farm.  

 

THE LAND

The Greenough Land, at 255 acres, is the largest conservation parcel owned by the Town of Carlisle. It was purchased in 1973 from the estate of Henry Vose Greenough, who, with his wife, Emery, acquired it in the late 20s and early 30s. It is a wonderful combination of upland and wetland woods, a large pond and wetlands that are part of the Page’s Brook watershed, agricultural fields, and a barn. Native Americans used this land before 1757 when European settlers started a long history of agricultural use of the land. The flat fertile meadows on the property were once a training ground for Revolutionary War soldiers. There was a water-powered mill on Page’s Brook and a windmill. Although a small portion of the land is still used for agriculture, much of it has reverted to forests—including a cathedral-like plantation of red pine.8 All of the original farm buildings except the barn are gone.