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 Swift R ...

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

The Trustees of Reservations The Trustees of Reservations is a non-profit land conservation and historic preservation organization dedicated to preserving natural and historical places in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is the oldest land conservation nonprofit orga ...

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 in Monson, where the highway continues as Connecticut Route 32, north to the New Hampshire state line in Royalston, w ...

, 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-profit ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

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 resea ...

, 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 Massachusetts ...

Rutland Brook Sanctuary Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest len ...

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