Hemlock Gorge Reservation
View through Echo Bridge
Map showing the location of Hemlock Gorge Reservation
Map showing the location of Hemlock Gorge Reservation
Location in Massachusetts
Map showing the location of Hemlock Gorge Reservation
Map showing the location of Hemlock Gorge Reservation
Hemlock Gorge Reservation (the United States)
LocationNewton Upper Falls, Needham, Middlesex, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States
Coordinates42°18′52″N 71°13′35″W / 42.31444°N 71.22639°W / 42.31444; -71.22639[1]
Area23 acres (9.3 ha)[2]
Elevation79 ft (24 m)[1]
Established1895[3]
OperatorMassachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation
WebsiteHemlock Gorge Reservation

Hemlock Gorge Reservation is a state-owned, public recreation area and urban wild comprising 23 acres (9.3 ha) on the Charles River in Newton and Needham, Massachusetts. The reservation is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.[2]

Description

An original part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston designed by landscape architect Charles Eliot in the 1890s, Hemlock Gorge Reservation protects the banks of the Charles River where it passes through the corners of Needham and Newton Upper Falls. The park takes its name from a gorge through which a side branch of the Charles River once passed, whose ledges were, according to Eliot, "clothed with hemlocks".[4] The side channel was cut off in the 20th century by the construction of nearby Route 9, and water flowing through the gorge now enters a holding pond, called New Pond,[5] from which water is returned to the river when water levels are low.

The main features are the steep Hemlock Gorge, the river, and Echo Bridge, a carrier of the Sudbury Aqueduct, which now forms part of backup systems of the Boston area water supply. The bridge was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982. A platform under the bridge's central arch lets visitors hear the echo that earned the bridge its name. At the northern end of the park, just before the river flows under Route 9, it flows over a horseshoe-shaped dam constructed in the early 20th century at a site that housed a mill as early as the 18th century.

Hiking trails start at the parking lots on Hamilton Place in Needham and on Ellis Street in Newton.[3] Trails on both sides of the river connect with the trail on top of Echo Bridge. A loop hike is possible by crossing the Charles on the sidewalk of the Route 9 frontage road.

View of Hemlock Gorge looking north from Echo Bridge

References

  1. 1 2 "Hemlock Gorge". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  2. 1 2 "Hemlock Gorge Reservation". Department of Conservation and Recreation. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  3. 1 2 "Hemlock Gorge Reservation". Newton Conservators. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  4. ↑ "Charles Eliot and Hemlock Gorge". Friends of Hemlock Gorge. March 9, 1997. Retrieved August 11, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Hemlock Gorge Reservation" (PDF). Newton Conservators. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
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