A Garden Park in Winter - Maudslay State Park

Yesterday's Estate, Today's Amazing Place to Wander

Tucker's Rating - 5 wags (we speak for him) This is a dog friendly park. Lots of fields to play in, water to get wet in, and squirrels and chipmunks to play with. We even saw a few dogs off leash, but remember it was the off-season. In the summer I've seen the park rangers threaten citations for unleashed dogs.

Admission Fee - free for the park itself, $2 to park your car. If you bring horses there is a field next to the parking lot to pull the trailers. Never had a problem parking here. Nice restroom open year round. But its the ONLY restroom available in the park so plan accordingly.

Accessibility - NOT ADA accessible. Healthy Heart Trail is considered moderate difficulty. There are a lot of rolling hills and fields, and very good pathways, but in winter they can be ice and snow covered, and in summer some areas are steep. Not sure you'd want to be pushing a stroller, wheelchair or using a walker through this park. Its very big (450 acres) and wild and there's little to no pavement.

Here we go again after quite a hiatus

Well, its been quite a while since we’ve been out on the road. Beth’s father took a turn for the worse in his battle with brain cancer shortly before Thanksgiving (just after our trip to Plymouth) and passed away the Sunday before Christmas. We treasured the time we had with him, and think the women who work at the Hospice House in Merrimack, NH are true angels! And one of the many truths Ed reminded us of as his time was passing was to get out and do things when you want. Don't put it off. He also told us to love each other and the people around us. You never know how much more time you’ll have and we know there were places and things he wanted to do (in addition to cleaning out the garage) which we decided do FOR him because he really wished he’d had that time.

Best Laid Plans of Mice and Women!
To start the year off we planned to go to Martha’s Vineyard's Manuel F. Correlus State Park to snow shoe. But the cost of the ferry ride and a hotel for a night, PLUS the iffy nature of this weekend’s weather had us thinking it might not be the best destination. Maybe next month (we’re putting it off for now but not forever!). Instead we chose Maudslay State Park in Newburyport, MA. This is another park we’ve been to numerous times, although I can’t remember ever going in winter. Nature definitely cooperated for the day and temps were between 40 and 50 degrees!!!! While boots were a necessity, a jacket really wasn’t. We’ve been out of hike mode for a while so forgot our walking sticks and binoculars, and only managed one camera but still it was a gorgeous day. My friend Jim joined us for the walk as well. I haven’t seen Jim in almost 30 years but we’d reconnected on Facebook and had been trying to figure out a time to meet and catch up! Awesome choice, because walks in the woods were something we'd shared back in college. We considered bringing Tucker but because of all the mud and possibility of snow, he stayed on the couch for the day. Good decision. While this is a park that dogs LOVE, Tucker is rather low-slung and would have spent the majority of the walk wet, cold and having to crunch through snow or slip across ice…. He’d definitely give the park 5 wags though, and we’ll be returning in the Spring WITH him most definitely. We give it 5 wags too. Great trails (though not marked the map is pretty easy to follow), really nice people, gorgeous views, and in summer lots of activities. In winter the one activity this park has listed on its calendar is Track-it! on February 15th. A park ranger teaches you about animal tracking, and then you head out into the park to seek out the tracks. Sandy Point State Park also has a program that weekend related to the Snow Owl so it might be a good option for President's Day weekend. In summer they have Theater in the Open, the Maudslay Arts Center featuring arts, dance and music, and more.

Following the Scout's Motto - Be Prepared!
SO with hikers specified, and the sun leading the way, we headed to Newburyport. Parking is plentiful and just $2 for the day. You have to buy a ticket at the kiosk and leave it on the dashboard. We gave our ticket to some other park visitors as we headed out since we HAD purchased a full day pass we weren't using.... sssshhhhhh.... don't tell! This park welcomes mountain bikers, horses, cross country skiers, snow shoers, dogs and just plain walkers like us.

In winter you may want to wear ice cleats on your shoes if you don’t do snow shoes or skis. We just did boots and my ankle is suffering for it. Parts of the park are gated off in winter to protect roosting bald eagles. This is a good thing because it is evidence that the Merrimack River has reached a point of "return" from its dirty past, and can now provide sufficient food to sustain these birds. Yay! We didn’t see any eagles but we DID see a flock of robins (does that mean spring is just around the corner, or did these guys buy a timeshare from the gaggle of Canada geese we saw hanging out on the river ice?).

This park does include a Healthy Heart Trail, although we’re thinking during the winter the “ease” of this trail may be somewhat impacted by ice and snow. There are many ponds, a few waterfalls, some amazing views of the Merrimack River, open fields, abandoned buildings, an old swimming pool, an entire forest of rhodendrons and azaleas, one of the largest stands of naturally occurring mountain laurels in MA (I don’t know if we saw those but we definitely saw the rhodendrons), and 19th century formal gardens. If you’re looking for a gorgeous place for an outdoor wedding, a place to play volleyball or cricket, or just have a relaxing picnic, this would be it! Again though, not in winter! :) Weddings and other large events require a special use permit.

There really wasn’t enough snow for snow shoes, but there was a beautiful hill that would have been perfect for sledding. As a matter of fact we heard kids enjoying it at the end of our walk. We were also followed by a labradoodle who found Beth far more exciting to walk with than her owners who were on skis. The park allows dogs on leash, however it is so large and open that I have frequently seen well behaved dogs allowed off leash. But as with all parks, dogs on leash are usually what's accepted. So you’re on your own with that issue. We wandered down by the waterfall and dam that leads out to the Merrimack River. Lots of ice piled up and we got some beautiful shots of the waterfall itself, partially frozen. Then we continued back up the hill and along the trail that follows the river. There is a VERY steep drop off to the river with no fence or railing so if you bring small children or adventurous kids (and this is the perfect park for kids to wander) be very careful near the edge of the trail. It’s a good 40 – 50 foot drop through brush to the water and there is no fast way to get down there for help unless you're a superhero. This trail features picnic tables and benches scattered around and something that we think was sculpture… kind of looks like waves, kind of looks like a sluice way from a drainage ditch. We didn’t arrive at any conclusions but took a picture anyway. There is a chain link fence at the end of this trail. One you COULD walk around easily since its just a fence on the trail itself, but we assumed it entered the area for bald eagles so we headed back up the hill.

A Bit of History - Turning an Old Estate into a Beautiful Park
The park itself is the former country estate of Frederick Strong Moseley, and was landscaped by Martha Brookes Hutcheson, one of the earliest female members of the American Society of Landscape Artists. Read more about it at the Park Association's site, or wikipedia even has some great history. It became a park in 1985. The trail we chose led us to the formal garden areas! There’s an amazing espaliered fruit tree there, some beautiful sculptured trees, and some old stairs, outbuildings, raised beds and more! This is an incredible place to get ideas for your home garden too. We’re going back in May/June to see the rhodendron and azalea blooming, and even in later June these gardens are gorgeous. Nice place for a Mother’s Day picnic.

Once we'd explored the gardens, we continued on and ended up in a big field overlooking the river. This is the location of one of the original houses, and you'll find remnants of the estate everywhere you look. Just a heads up for those looking to really walk the park. There is only one location with restrooms, and that’s the parking lot. It’s a long walk back, so hydrate accordingly! ‘nuff said!

Time to Eat!!!!
So by this time we’d walked about 2 hours (an hour longer than planned on) and decided it was time for lunch. We headed into downtown Newburyport and parked in the lot by the river which provided way more spaces than the parking lot next to the stores. Look for the parking kiosks again. A while ago this parking was free, but not anymore! $2 give you a couple hours to wander, or eat a relaxed lunch. We headed to the Grog which is a great place for a sandwich, a salad, or something more formal. I LOVED the shrimp BLT I had, and Beth and Jim seemed to have no problem finishing their lunches either. If you're looking for music, this place has live music in the evenings. Other places we’d recommend is The Black Cow, Mr. India, Ten Center Street, Michael’s Harborside, Szechuan Taste, and Caffé di Siena. Plenty of choices for coffee and a snack, a casual breakfast, lunch or dinner, or something fancier. You can even rent a lighthouse and have a gourmet dinner for two (a romantic idea but very pricy!). Basically you reserve the lighthouse and then select from a choice of area restaurants for the catering. Check out the lighthouse site here for more information. Can you tell we’re foodies ALONG with everything else? Maybe the next blog will be 52 restaurants…. We’ll see!

After a few hours for lunch, chatting and reviewing all our pictures we called it an afternoon and headed home. Hiking in winter is definitely a fun time. Calls for a bit more planning, but you really do get a sense of having the park to yourself. We’d recommend this one no matter the time of year! Followed by a trip to downtown Newburyport, or if you’re early enough, a trip out to Plum Island for the beach or another of our favorites, Sandy Point State Park! See you on the trails. Let us know if you want to join us on our next excursion!

A few other links:

Maudslay Park Association site
Adopt-an-Acre at Maudslay