The Brooks Woodland Preserve is a open space preserve located in

Petersham, Massachusetts Petersham is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,194 at the 2020 census. Petersham is home to a considerable amount of conservation land, including the Quabbin Reservation, Harvard Forest, the Swif ...

. The property, named after industrialist and diplomat James Wilson Brooks, is managed by the land conservation non-profit organization

The Trustees of Reservations ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

and offers of trails and primitive woods roads available for hiking, horseback riding, and cross country skiing. Second growth forest, overgrown farm fields, granite ledges, historic stone walls, creeks, and rolling hills characterize the preserve. The property is divided into three contiguous parcels, the ''Roaring Brook Tract'', ''Swift River Tract'', and ''Connor's Pond Tract.'' Trailheads are located off

Massachusetts Route 32 Massachusetts Route 32 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The highway runs from the Connecticut state line north to the New Hampshire state line, where it continues as NH 32. Route 32 connects several towns on the eastern ...

, East Street, Oliver Street and Quaker Drive in Petersham. A network of trails runs between the tracts and abutting conservation land. Moccasin Brook and the East Branch of the Swift River pass through the center of the preserve.

History and conservation

The Preserve is named for Aaron Brooks, Jr's son, James Wilson Brooks, lawyer, diplomat, and co-founder of the United Shoe Machinery Company. Acquired in 1975, the property was formerly farmland, now overgrown with forest following the migration of agricultural interests to the midwest in the late 19th century. Cellar holes and old stone walls indicative of this former use dot the property. The Brooks Woodland Preserve is part of an area of over of protected open space including The Trustees of the Reservation's North Common Meadow and

Swift River Reservation The Swift River Reservation is a open space preserve located in Petersham, Massachusetts, United States. The property, named after the East Branch of the Swift River (a tributary of the Ware River), is managed by the land conservation non-profi ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Harvard Forest Harvard Forest is an ecological research area of owned and managed by Harvard University and located in Petersham, Massachusetts. The property, in operation since 1907, includes one of North America's oldest managed forests, educational and re ...

, and the

Massachusetts Audubon Society The Massachusetts Audubon Society, commonly known as Mass Audubon, founded in 1896 by Harriet Hemenway and Minna B. Hall and headquartered in Lincoln, Massachusetts, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to "protecting the nature of Massachuset ...

's Rutland Brook Sanctuary.

References

External links

Map of Brooks Woodland PreserveThe Trustees of Reservations

Harvard ForestRutland Brook Sanctuary
The Trustees of Reservations Protected areas of Worcester County, Massachusetts Open space reserves of Massachusetts Protected areas established in 1975 1975 establishments in Massachusetts {{WorcesterCountyMA-geo-stub