Hop Brook Natural Area

A short trail along the edge of a hay field offers a mobile device interpretive guide with informative stops as you make your way towards a quiet little pond in the forest at the trails end. A single large white oak in the eastern wall may have been left to provide shade for grazing livestock. A few apple trees in the mixed forest suggest an old orchard. The woods include scattered American elm, survivors of the Dutch elm disease that swept the country decades ago.

Full Description

The Hop Brook Natural Area is one of several wildlife havens in the northwestern part of Framingham. Owned by SVT, this land sits amid residential properties, a pasture, and a hayfield. It consists mostly of red maple swamp, and it features about 1200 feet of Hop Brook, one large pond, and two smaller ponds. 

A brook, three ponds, red maple swamp, and many fruit- and seed-bearing trees provide habitat suitable for otters, foxes, minks, and cottontail rabbits, as well as a variety of fish, turtles, birds, frogs, and insects.

Originally, this land was protected from development because it contains wetlands. In 1995, SVT purchased the 16.5-acre property to ensure it will remain protected forever.  

In 2010, as part of his Eagle Scout Project, Matthew Barnes of Sudbury Troop 63 created an interpretive brochure and posted markers along the trail that correspond with the points in his writings and on the map.

  • Stone walls surround this property, indicating it once may have been used as agricultural land. 
  • A single large white oak in the eastern wall may have been left to provide shade for grazing livestock.
  • A few apple trees in the mixed forest suggest an old orchard.
  • The woods include scattered American elm, survivors of the Dutch elm disease that swept the country decades ago. Other trees include white ash, sugar maple, gray birch, bigtooth aspen, black walnut, black cherry, white pine, and hemlock.

Other SVT trails in the area:

Directions

With mapping software or a mobile app, search for this address: 933 Grove Street, Framingham, MA

For directions from any starting point, visit Google Maps.

From the intersection of Edgell Road and Edmands Road in Framingham, follow Edmands Road west.
After 0.5 miles, turn left at Winch Street. Continue for 0.7 miles until Winch Street intersects Grove Street, and proceed right onto Grove Street.
After 0.2 miles you should see a field on the right with room to park on either side of the road.
There is an SVT sign that is hung on a tree marking Hop Brook Natural Area.
Please do not block the entrances to the fields when parking.

Sorry, there are no Nearby Nature Sightings for this property.