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Looking for leaves?

Posted by Glenn Yoder, Lifestyle producer October 22, 2008 01:16 PM

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Fall is a special time in New England. And with October flying by, don't forget to stop and take in some seasonal color before the area is buried in snow. The Trustees of Reservations just released its picks for "Leaf Peeping" around the region. Drumroll please...


Foliage season draws visitors and locals alike to New England’s most spectacular natural settings – including The Trustees 100 properties located throughout Massachusetts. Check out these delightful leaf-peeping destinations to add to your own favorites or visit www.thetrustees.org.

BIRD PARK, Walpole – The park’s fields, wooded hillsides, and water courses explode in color. Beeches lining the allee at the Polley Lane entrance glow orange-red, while massive oaks and catalpa trees rise above the playground in clouds of yellow and orange.

WEIR HILL, North Andover – Ascend the Stevens Trail to a scenic overlook offering panoramic views across a colorful carpet of Merrimack Valley woodlands. On a clear day, you can see as far as New Hampshire’s Mount Monadnock.

TURKEY HILL, Hingham and Cohasset – The hilltop’s broad field offers vistas of South Shore woodlands and Massachusetts Bay. Enjoy the field’s fading goldenrod, the reds and oranges of maple and oak in the middle distance, and beyond, the blue ocean.

ROCK HOUSE RESERVATION, West Brookfield – Carter Pond becomes a kaleidoscope when the trees lining its shores reflect their seasonal colors in its surface. Located only a short walk from the parking lot, this is an ideal family destination.

BRYANT HOMESTEAD
, Cummington – The iconic estate boasts 150-foot evergreens, yellow-leaved birches, and a glen of old-growth trees. But the Homestead’s hallmark is its entrance allee of sugar maples blazing a brilliant red in the fall.

NOTCHVIEW, Windsor – The 3,000-acre reservation supports a substantial evergreen forest of spruce and fir. But Notchview also nurtures plenty of sugar maples, which in autumn turn the property’s Circuit and Minor trails into tunnels of orange and gold.

BARTHOLOMEW’S COBBLE
, Sheffield – Boasting more forest types than anywhere else in Berkshire County, “Bart’s” foliage show is memorable. Climb the Tulip Tree trail to the top of Hurlburt’s Hill, settle onto a bench, and take in the Housatonic Valley vistas.

So get out there and enjoy the fall before the snow comes. You'll be glad you did.

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1 comments so far...
  1. I would suggest too Sunderland, Hadley, South Deerfield, and Palmer as areas where one can see more strikingly colorful foliage than those "eastern" enclaves.

    Posted by Terence Washington October 28, 08 08:27 AM
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