Moore State Park

The Essential Springtime Park. Flowers EVERYWHERE!!!
Looking for a dream setting to spend a gorgeous spring day? This is it!

If you love rhodendrons, azaleas and mountain laurel, winding paths around waterfalls and old stone buildings, this is the place for you!!!

• Our Rating: 5 WAGS!!!! We hesitated only a minute to decide that we would definitely live here! In a dreamlike setting, with mill ponds, waterfalls, and amazing flowers everywhere you turn, only those who truly love city living would turn down the opportunity!
• Tucker’s Rating: 5 wags! I’ve never seen a dog so happy. He was even rolling down the grassy hills then running back up to do it again! Anywhere he can meet another corgi AND have shady places to lie down, children to pat him, and big fields to play in is a dream destination!
• Accessibility: Good. The healthy heart trail is a bit steep and root covered, but there are plenty of flat or only slightly inclining trails, nice, clean open fields and you can see the flowers from almost everywhere. The bridge across the dam near the mill house might be a concern, but seems safe enough. There are definitely parts of this park that wouldn’t be accessible, but in our opinion it is well worth the trip because this is such a huge park and there is plenty of area that IS accessible!
• Fees: FREE
• Pet-Friendly: YES (on leash)
• Activities: canoeing, fishing, hiking, x-country skiing and picnicking.

 We picked this park because of the beautiful pictures they featured on the State Park website and we were not disappointed. We chose a weekend in mid-May because the website commented on flowers really being beautiful at certian times of the year. Well, we definitely hit it at that “certain time” because from the moment we arrived, we saw flowers! Every shape and size of rhododendron and azalea were there. Actually, the rhododendrons and mountain laurels weren’t yet in bloom but the azaleas were out and incredible! Pink, orange, cerise, yellow, white, spilling down hillsides, crowded around the base of trees, leaning over Eames Pond. This park is a gorgeous place to wander, photograph, paint, and picnic in. The Healthy Heart Trail runs next to an area of newly planted chestnut trees which the park has planted as part of a National Program . It's pretty much new growth at this time but seems to be doing really well.  As we’ve found in pretty much all parks, maps of the trails are NOT available, so print your own here! I highly recommend printing one since on our travels, we got a bit lost wandering around. Thankfully my inner sense brought us back to the parking lot eventually, but some of the signage is hidden, and the trails in the spring can blend into the forest floor and you wouldn't want to miss any of the marked archaeological or architectural sites.

  

The park itself was originally an old mill village built back in the 1700’s drawing power for various mill buildings from Turkey Hill Brook. It encompasses 671 acres of history, archaeology, waterfalls, ponds, old stonework, fields and forest. Pretty much everything you’d want in a park, combined in a way guaranteed to remove you from the hustle and bustle of life in the 21st century, and with plenty of space to just sit back and relax, or wander and explore to your heart’s content.

In the 1930, a family from Worcester bought the entire mill village area, which was no longer profitable as a mill, and turned it into an estate. Florence Morton, a member of this family, and one of the first female degreed landscape architects in Massachusetts, is responsible for the general layout of the park and the beginnings of what is an amazing display of rhododendrons and azaleas. Her designs and work resulted in what was known back then as Glen Morton. In 1946 the property was purchased by the Spaulding family (another wealthy Worcester family who owned department stores in the area). Mrs. Connie Spaulding renamed the estate Enchanta. She was a member of the local garden club and gave her focus to continuing the plantings of various rhododendron and azalea plants, going to great lengths to achieve specific color variations and combinations, all of which could be viewed from her home. The state purchased the property from the Spaulding family in 1965 and it has remained a park ever since. To read more about the history of this spot, check out the website of the local American Rhododendron Society.

 We enjoyed the beautiful day, the gorgeous scenery and took lots of photos of flowers, and we're certain that this park will remain in our top 5 for a long time to come. It's just beautiful, with easy trails to hike, friendly people, but lots of space for solitude, a beautiful pond and opportunities for various other activities but all in your own good time. Those other activities include: canoeing in Eames Pond, fishing in Eames Pond and Turkey Hill Brook, hiking, cross-country skiing, picnicking, and PHOTOGRAPHY! Don’t miss the Artist Overlook marked on the park trail map. It’s the perfect spot for photos. The day we were there a woman was taking pictures of her little daughter dressed in her frilliest party dress. She’d been sitting there quietly posing until she saw Tucker bouncing along the trail. Suddenly she was up and exclaiming, “look at the doggy!!!!” I saw her mother's disappointed (or maybe frustrated) look and realized she'd finally gotten her daughter quieted down and sitting still!  We took a few quick shots and moved on so they could get back to what looked like some really beautiful pictures. I’m sure this is a popular spot with couples for wedding shots too. If you’re in the area and want a romantic setting (especially when the flowers are blooming) this is it! Our guess is during the fall this is also a totally gorgeous park to visit.

We headed home but not before stopping for lunch! A local favorite is Hot Dog Annie’s  in Leicester, MA. Local hot dogs, local potato chips (Wachusett brand) and even their own soda! While some people may not think this is a GREAT hot dog place, it is definitely local, with clean picnic tables, quick service and lots of choices if you’re looking for hot dogs. We thought they were pretty darned good for hot dogs, and the price was right, so stop by if you've got a hankering.

We considered this a very successful and memorable park trip and would recommend it highly to anyone, families, children, pets, individuals, and groups. We were thrilled with the scenery, found the trails easy to walk, Tucker enjoyed every minute of the day, and while there were people wandering the trails, you never really felt like the place was crowded. Heading out Worcester way? GO TO THIS PARK!!! Got it?

Lawrence Heritage State Park - #10

Is it a park? Is it a museum? Is it the birthplace of Robert Frost (like the sign on Rt. 495 says)?

Tucker’s Rating – 1 wag (pets not allowed and there’s nothing there for them anyway!)
Our Rating – 2.5 wags. Although the thought of us wagging our tails at ANYTHING but a 5 is kind of ludicrous. We considered this park an interesting place, but not a "destination park", at least not in winter. Also, the lack of staff and lighting was a big drawback. We’d suggest it as a place to go for those with a particular interest in mill history, Lawrence history, or if you happen to be in the area and have an hour or so to discover some interesting local facts. It's definitely not a waste of time, but not a highlight either. Kids might be entertained by some of the exhibits and they do carry the MA DCR's Park Passports. The Park Passports are part of a program run by the Massachusetts Division of Conservation and Recreation, to promote children visiting state parks. Actually a really cool program we've seen, similar to one where kids earn patches for visiting firetowers in NH! While Lawrence Heritage State Park doesn't have its own stamp (since its not really geared towards children) the passports themselves are available and they do have a stamp that can be used to prove you've visited the park. This site also includes a visitor’s center, and carries announcements about local events, so it feels a little like a tourist information booth when you first walk in, but there are interesting things to see.

Accessibility - ADA Accessible including ramps and elevators. Lillian had no trouble getting in and around!

Fees - Free (even the parking if you hit it on a day that the small lot has a vacancy. It was totally empty the day we visited.) There is also street parking but we'd recommend the lot.

Two weeks in a row! We must be determined this year!
And to answer the first questions we posed, officially it’s a park, in reality it’s a museum, and no, Robert Frost was born in San Francisco in 1874. When his father passed away, he DID move with his family to Lawrence, MA around the age of 10. He graduated from Lawrence High School as valedictorian, and published his first poem in the school newspaper. His most famous poem, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening with it's last four lines, "The woods are lovely dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep-, And miles to go before I sleep" is one I can still hear echo in my head in my father’s voice. Amazing how sound is something we carry with us forever. I even found part of this poem in Frost’s own handwriting on the web . But this isn’t a blog about Robert Frost, or poetry even! It’s about parks and hiking and interesting stuff along the way! So here we go!

Let's do TWO parks!
We started off the day planning to see both Lawrence and Lowell's State Parks. Both were created around the business of the mills, so it seemed like a good combination. Unfortunately, as is usually the case with us, we got out of the house later than planned and couldn’t hit both in the afternoon. They are pretty close together, and located just off Rt. 495 (easy to find), but these parks are not open late in the day. To be honest, except for the fact that the front door was unlocked at the Lawrence facility, you could have convinced me that we’d walked into a building that was really closed for at least the day if not the season.

The Lawrence Heritage State Park is accessible to all, with ramps outside and elevators inside. A person Beth tells me was a park ranger (but who looked to me like just someone from the neighborhood), pointed out the ramps so we could help Lillian into the building. She turned them down, having already faced the icy parking lot and the icy walkway. She felt confident handling the 3 or 4 stairs up into the building. They were very clear and safe, and while the building itself is in among the old mill buildings, and a part of the city that one might think is mostly abandoned, we didn't feel that safety was an issue. The "park" itself is located in an old rooming house next to what appears to be the skeletal remains of another mill building, which has been cleaned up and beautified by a garden area with walks, benches and the roof opens up to the sky above. On the way back to our car after our visit, Beth even saw a hawk sitting on one of the rafters. No doubt taking a break from fishing in the canals nearby. The park building has been made over into an information- and image-filled archive of everything mill-related wrapped with the history of Lawrence in its heyday. What an amazing place it was before the mills started to shut down. We wandered and poked around, finding lots of dimly lit rooms. Thankfully it was a sunny day, so for the most part we could see displays, read signs, etc.

As you enter the building there is a large piece of equipment that we think was a safe. Both the size and design is incredible! The sign on the front says if you’re wondering what’s inside, ask the person at the front desk to open it…. Unfortunately, there was no one at the front desk… or anywhere in the building that we could see. Just off the first large room there is also a small video room where they show various films (including The Great Impostor, a film about a famous resident of Lawrence), and the feature on Sunday was about the Bread and Roses Strike. I would have loved to watch the video, but the sign said to ask for assistance at the front desk and again there wasn’t anyone AT the front desk. Hmmmmm......

What will you find?
The building holds memorabilia on the mills (their rise and fall), the collapse of the Pemberton Mill in 1860 (we were happy to see that it was rebuilt and is still just down the street), the Bread and Roses strike of 1912, and the immigrant population as well as commercial memorabilia from various manufacturing companies in Lawrence including New Balance Shoes, signage from restaurants, letters written by George Washington (I’m thinking this is a case of "George Washington slept here." Why else would they have letters written by him?), school photos of Robert Frost and his wife, and more. It’s a place you could wander in for quite some time if you're into reading display signs and pouring over collages, photos, and memorabilia. There are lighted displays but none of the lights worked and it wasn’t until I’d made my second pass by an area on the second floor that I read the sign stating that they were conserving electricity by keeping all non-essential lights off, so "Please check with the front desk if there is something you’d like to see…" Again, no one at the front desk! You’d think they’d take those signs down when they know no one will be at the front desk. I didn’t bother to GO to the front desk until we were getting ready to leave because I knew no one was there. It wasn't until I stopped there on the way out to pick up various brochures and sign the guest book that I saw the bell and the sign saying to ring it for assistance. aaargh! And how long, pray tell, would it take for that person who is obviously hovering somewhere close enough to hear the bell, take to get back to their post???… now I’m thinking if there was a ranger somewhere in that building (and Beth says the guy who told us about the ramp came in after us and went downstairs) then that ranger is sitting SOMEWHERE in that building…. My suggestion... SIT BEHIND THE DESK! Rather than sitting somewhere else waiting for a bell to ring. I mean REALLY, are they watching TV somewhere? Doing piecework? Handling correspondence? Sitting is sitting, isn't it? Either that, or put motion detectors on the lights so that when you enter the room, lights and buttons are activated. If the room is vacant for say 10 minutes, the power goes out. We did see the bulk of the displays but not all…. And we were wishing we’d been able to view them without having to squint or hope the sun would come out from behind a cloud. If it were a cloudy day I think we really wouldn't have bothered going upstairs at all.

Anything else?
They’ve also got miniature reproductions of the famous mill clock tower (acting as a time capsule to be opened in 2053!), various mill buildings, and life-size statues in a mill room setting. This is a nice museum/park, but unless you’re watching one of the movies available, I think an hour tops is what you’d need, that and a flashlight!

So at the end of our hour, we headed out to explore the immediate area and were amazed at how far and wide the mills spread out. They cover acres of the city! I'd definitely recommend driving around a bit near the canal to get a good feel for how far and wide the mills stretched. Its no wonder that with the loss of both the cotton and woolen industries, Lawrence was hit with a terrible crash from which they are still trying to rebuild. Some of the renovation is very impressive, and you'll find some cute restaurants and shops scattered through the mills as well as some gorgeous stonework in a few. The Immigrant Archive is just down the block from this building and I’m certain would be great for anyone interested in more New England history past and current.

What else is in the area?
As mentioned, this area of Lawrence is still under development. There are a lot of abandoned mill buildings, but more that have been refitted for various businesses including restaurants, manufacturing, doctor’s offices, etc. I'd highly recommend Salvatore's if you're looking for a restaurant with great food, reasonable prices and a beautiful deck that overlooks the Merrimack River. Some of the buildings have also been developed into loft and studio style residences, and if you like antiques you can find Canal Street Antique Center and a few other interior decorating type of businesses in the area, with some great deals on all kinds of things both old and new! At Canal Street we were offered a beautiful solid cherry Asian-style sideboard marked from $895, down to $495 and the owner told us to “make an offer” because he HAD to get rid of it! We did very well by resisting temptation but if you’re looking for furniture, glass, tea cups, lamps, you name it, you’ll find it!

On the way home we tried to stop at our favorite Bradford restaurant, Joseph’s Trattoria/Bakery/Cafe, but they were closed for a company holiday party (in late January I guess they cover lots of holidays). If you’re looking for a yummy bakery or home made pasta, brick oven pizza and fire roasted meats and seafood, this is the place to stop! We’ll make it back there next time we’re out this way most definitely. Instead, we headed to The Loop, which is the redesigned Methuen Mall, looking happy, busy and much more popular than the indoor mall it had been. We poked around in Borders Books, had coffee and vanilla bean scones and headed back home. Altogether a nice relaxing and interesting day for a winter Sunday.