Lynn Woods Reservation (founded 1881) is a

municipal forest A municipal forest or municipal woodland is a forest or wood owned by a town or city. Such woods often have a higher density of leisure facilities like play parks, restaurants and cafes, bridleways, cycle paths and footpaths. Unlike an urban forest ...

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

located in Lynn, Essex County,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. The City of Lynn's Department of Public Works, Park Commission and Lynn Water & Sewer Commission share jurisdiction and management of Lynn Woods Reservation. The park encompasses nearly one-fifth of the entire land area of the city and represents a significant natural, watershed and public recreational resource in eastern Massachusetts. The entire portion of the reservation with Lynn city bounds was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1996 as a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

. (A small portion of the park is actually in neighboring Saugus.)

History

The northwestern part of Lynn has long been public land, its southern sections used as pasture land as early as the 18th century. Breed's Pond, at the southern end of the reservation, was dammed for industrial use in the 1840s, and Dungeon Rock became a tourist attraction in the 1850s. Demands for improved water supply (for both consumption and fire suppression) in the 1860s led to organized activities to conserve the woodlands surround Breed's and Walden Ponds. In 1881 the Trustees for the Free Public Forest were established to oversee the area. They were folded into a newly organized Lynn Parks Department in 1889 to manage of water supply and park land in the reservation; this grew to the current in 1892. The Happy Valley Golf Course was developed in the 1930s, as was the road and trail network that covers the park.

References

External links

*
Lynn Woods information on the City of Lynn websiteBouldering Information and trail map for Lynn WoodsFriends of Lynn Woods website
{{Authority control Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts 1881 establishments in Massachusetts Watersheds of Massachusetts Landforms of Essex County, Massachusetts Urban forests in the United States Forests of Massachusetts Parks in Essex County, Massachusetts Lynn, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Lynn, Massachusetts Protected areas established in 1881

History

See also

References

External links