Whitney and Thayer Woods
|
Whitney and Thayer Woods
|
||
| location | Massachusetts , United States | |
| surface | 3.33 km² | |
| WDPA ID | 55554664 | |
| Geographical location | 42 ° 14 ′ N , 70 ° 49 ′ W | |
|
||
| Setup date | 1933 | |
| administration | The Trustees of Reservations | |
Whitney and Thayer Woods (formerly Whitney Woods ) is an 824 acres (3.3 km² ) nature reserve near the cities of Hingham and Cohasset in the state of Massachusetts in the United States . It is managed by The Trustees of Reservations organization.
history
The dense forest of hardwoods and pines , as it occurs in today's protected area, is typical of former agricultural areas that were reforested after the colonial era. In the middle of the 17th century, the area was a common land for farmers from Hingham and divided into long strips, which were separated from each other by stone walls and were farmed by the settlers. These walls are still visible in some places today. Most of the trees were felled in the following two centuries, but the forest has been able to fully recover to this day.
With the decline of agriculture in New England , the large lots were increasingly used for local recreation and sports activities. In 1904, the equestrian enthusiast Henry Whitney began buying up plots of land to build a private estate in Cohasset. His main goal was riding, so he had bridle paths and cart paths built. The Whitney Woods Association acquired more than 600 acres (2.4 km²) from Whitney and gave this land to the Trustees of Reservations in 1933. In 1943, they renamed the reserve in honor of the wife of Ezra Ripley Thayer , former dean of Harvard Law School , because she had donated another piece of land to the reserve. Their daughter Polly Thayer Starr left the neighboring Weir River Farm to the Trustees in 1999 . The protected area has been continuously enlarged over time, most recently in 1999 with the purchase of Turkey Hill .
Protected area
A total of 10 mi (16.1 km ) of hiking trails are available to visitors. These include the Milliken Memorial Path , laid out in the late 1920s, which is lined with rhododendrons , azaleas and other plants from southern climates. The sanctuary has a good view of the South Shore area and the Boston skyline . The remains of the last Ice Age are scattered across the site, as are individual rocks and groups of boulders , some of which have become known historically. The Ode's Den was named after Theodore “Ode” Pritchard, who lived under the rocks after losing his house in 1830. The Bigelow Boulders are named after Victor Bigelow, the author of the first edition of the book A Narrative History of the town of Cohasset .
The 187 ft (57 m ) high Turkey Hill ( German Turkey Hill ) is administered by the Trustees together with the towns of Cohasset and Hingham, offering good views of the area. At the time of the Cold War here was a NIKE - missile defense , are from today only the remains of a building.
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Property History. The Trustees of Reservations , accessed July 19, 2014 .
- ^ E. Victor Bigelow, Priscilla L. Collier, Burtram J. Pratt: A narrative history of the town of Cohasset, Massachusetts . Committee on Town History, Cohasset 1898, ISBN 978-0-9718086-0-7 .
- ^ About Whitney and Thayer Woods. The Trustees of Reservations , accessed July 19, 2014 .
Web links
- Whitney Woods in the United States Geological Survey's Geographic Names Information System
- Whitney and Thayer Woods. (PDF) The Trustees of Reservations, 2010, accessed on July 19, 2014 (English, map of the area).
- Whitney and Thayer Woods on TripAdvisor
