Barett Reservation

Originally rolling pastureland, the area has transformed into a mature mixed forest with winding paths, hills, and valleys intersected by old stone walls. An old mill once stood just upstream from the boardwalk over Boston Brook. Contiguous to New England Forestry Foundation property and near the Bald Hill Conservation Area, Barett Reservation contributes to a “greenbelt” of several thousand conserved acres.

This property features a trail loop system that provides a short yet challenging hike. It is frequently used for Boy Scout activities and is also popular with geocaching enthusiasts.

Indigenous people from Algonquians of the Woodland Period to the Pawtucket or Agawam of the Contact Period prized the natural resources they found here, for example the oaks and pines.

They fished for bass and trout in Boston Brook and from its headwaters followed it south to mine soapstone in the Skug River and northeast to reach Indigenous villages on the Ipswich River. In the spring, shamans and healers gathered skunk cabbage shoots for ceremonial use.

There are a handful of geocaches here! Start your search here, here, and here.

Louis Barett, chairman of the Middleton Conservation Commission and ardent open space advocate, donated the property to Greenbelt in 1965 with the intention to provide a place of nature education and exploration.

Boston Brook flows through the property, offering pristine riparian habitat. Wooded uplands of oak and pine dominate; the trail skirts a large wetland full of highbush blueberry and skunk cabbage.

Discover rare, listed salamanders, turtles and dragonflies. Excellent location for bird watching during spring and fall migration, particularly for woodland warblers. Deer and other small woodland creatures are plentiful but elusive.