Hartwell Family Preserve donated in Pembroke

Belle [Hartwell] Barnes with the new Hartwell Family Preserve sign at Davis-Douglas Farm in Plymouth.

In land conservation, context is key. Even a relatively small parcel can derive significant value from the people and places it connects through space and time. 

In Pembroke, an unassuming woodland looms much larger than its 7.9-acre frame when viewed within its geographic and historical context. Thanks to a generous family donation, this small yet meaningful property will carry an outsized impact on the local and regional landscape for generations to come. 

Last December, Belle and Michael Barnes donated the Hartwell Family Preserve to Wildlands Trust in honor of Belle’s mother, Thelma Hartwell. Thelma placed a Conservation Restriction (CR) on the land in 1980, when the state CR program was in its infancy. 

“Thelma was a conservationist ahead of her time,” said Wildlands Director of Land Protection Scott MacFaden. In addition to protecting her own land, Thelma served on the Pembroke Conservation Commission and wrote nature-based articles for local newspapers. 

Hear from Belle and Michael Barnes themselves about their decision to donate the family land: 

We are privileged to be able to donate the “Hartwell Family Preserve” in memory of Everett and Thelma “Teddy” Hartwell to Wildlands Trust. In 1953, Everett and Thelma Hartwell built their home at 347 Pleasant Street in East Pembroke, on a portion of property that had been in the Hartwell family since the early 1920s. They raised Everett’s sons Bob and Karl, and their children Belle and Wayne, to appreciate both the importance of stewardship of the land and the amazing habitat of flora and fauna it contained. Teddy was a die-hard conservationist with a passion for protecting our natural resources, especially wetland areas. Her career as an educator involved her teaching history, biology, and chemistry for many years. When her children were born, she housed a private kindergarten at the property and taught her students an appreciation of the nature around them. In later years, when she returned to working outside the home, she taught “Outdoor Education” for the Audubon Society in several area school systems. In the late ’70s, when she could no longer work outside the home, she wrote several articles for the Silver Lake News, focusing on subjects about protecting and enjoying our natural resources. She served on Pembroke’s Conservation Committee for several years. She helped to create two nature trails, one in Pembroke and one at Camp Wing in Duxbury. She was considered a visionary by some for putting the majority of the property’s acreage into a Conservation Restriction to forever protect this amazing ecosystem. For the above reasons, we chose to donate this land, and are thankful to Wildlands for carrying on our family’s legacy. 

– Belle [Hartwell] and Michael Barnes, April 2024 

In addition to this rich cultural legacy, the Hartwell Family Preserve holds significant ecological value: 

• Protects wildlife habitat of statewide importance: The property lies within multiple areas identified by the Commonwealth’s Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program as significant wildlife habitats, including: 

  •  BioMap Core Components 

    • Aquatic Core 

    • Rare Species Core

  • BioMap Critical Natural Landscape Components

    • Aquatic Core Buffer 

    • Landscape Blocks 

  • BioMap Elements

    • Core Habitat 

    • Critical Natural Landscape 

• Provides habitat and recreational connectivity: The property directly abuts a 268-acre expanse of open space owned by the Town of Pembroke. Said expanse formerly contained a reservoir used by cranberry growers, but the dam holding the reservoir breached in the early 1990s. The former reservoir area now contains a rich diversity of wetland types along the daylighted riparian corridor. 

Wildlands will manage the Hartwell Family Preserve as Forever Wild, giving local flora and fauna a permanent place to thrive in a rapidly changing world. 

We sincerely thank Belle, Michael, Thelma, and the rest of the Hartwell family for their commitment to preserving the natural beauty of our region.

To explore opportunities to conserve your land with Wildlands, click here.

Conferences Send Wildlands Across State and Country

From left: Communications Coordinator Thomas Patti, Key Volunteer Skip Stuck, Land Protection Assistant Tess Goldmann, Membership & Digital Media Coordinator Kyla Isakson, and Programming Coordinator Max Phelps at the Wildlands table at the Massachusetts Land Conservation Conference in Amherst, MA.

In late March, Wildlands Trust staff and volunteers ventured far and wide to learn new and improved ways to advance our mission in Southeastern Massachusetts. Two conferences—one in Georgia and the other in western Mass—left our team inspired and empowered to elevate our service to the people and places of our region. Read on to learn more about both.

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Sustainable Trails Conference – Lake Lanier Islands, Georgia 

By Erik Boyer, Director of Field Operations 

From March 19 to 21, Stewardship Operations Manager Owen Grey, Stewardship Programs Manager Zoë Smiarowski, and I attended the Sustainable Trails Conference on Lake Lanier Islands, Georgia. Since a focus of this year’s conference was on building diverse trail communities, we thought it would be a great opportunity to learn from stewardship practitioners across the country and world about their past successes and failures as we ramp up our own community-building efforts here in Southeastern Massachusetts, including volunteer programming at the Stewardship Training Center. 

Several workshops left us with valuable insight to apply to our work moving forward. Jordan Sellers of the Blue Ridge Conservancy spoke about the benefits of surveying the plant and animal life along prospective trail corridors and incorporating the findings into subsequent trail design. This method seemed like a promising way to balance recreation and habitat values on conservation lands, always a priority at Wildlands. 

In another illuminating session, Stephen Kasacek and Michael Smith of the Outdoor Sport Institute presented a dynamic partnership working to build a trails culture in rural Maine. Raising awareness and resources for public outdoor recreation comes with unique challenges in rural communities, and their holistic approach offered some exciting solutions. 

Then, Peter Jensen of Peter S. Jensen & Associates, LLC shared a few creative renovation options for trails degraded by extreme overuse. For example, covering roots and rocks along the trail can both improve accessibility and reduce erosion caused by visitors moving around the obstacle. 

A final roundtable discussion explored opportunities to minimize conflicts on multiuse trails, such as those between hikers and mountain bikers. Improving visibility around tight turns, for instance, can help trail users spot and avoid potential collisions. On the other hand, tight turns can also serve to slow mountain bikers down, keeping bikers and pedestrians safe. 

All of these sessions, not to mention the many informal conversations we had with land stewards from around the world, left us with plenty to think about on our long trip back to Plymouth and still today. A key takeaway: as Wildlands extends its reach beyond our traditional coverage area and into more rural and urban communities, we must go outside of our comfort zone to engage new audiences in our work. After all, a trail system is only as effective as its host community is aware, enthusiastic, and invested in its success. We look forward to applying both the technical and social lessons of the conference to our mission of connecting more people with the mental, physical, and spiritual benefits of outdoor recreation. 

Director of Field Operations Erik Boyer and Stewardship Operations Manager Owen Grey at Slow Pour Brewing in Lawrenceville, Georgia.

Massachusetts Land Conservation Conference – Amherst, Massachusetts 

Meanwhile, Wildlands staff members Max Phelps, Kyla Isakson, Tess Goldmann, and Thomas Patti, along with key volunteer Skip Stuck, ventured to Amherst, Massachusetts, for the annual Massachusetts Land Conservation Conference, hosted by the Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition. The night before the conference, the Wildlands staff members joined the Early Career Conservation Network at MacLeish Field Station in Whately, where interdisciplinary artist Gina Siepel presented their project “To Understand a Tree” and field station manager Paul Wetzel gave a tour of the grounds, featuring an American chestnut tree orchard. 

At the conference itself, the Wildlands team learned about such diverse topics as planned giving, farmland protection tools, creating antiracist land trusts, and watershed-scale collaboration to advance climate resilience. We left no stone unturned! 

The highlight of the conference was the keynote address by Darren Ranco, PhD, a citizen of the Penobscot Nation, Professor of Anthropology, Chair of Native American Programs, and Faculty Fellow at the Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions at the University of Maine. Dr. Ranco’s presentation, “Centering Indigenous Peoples and Nations in Land Protection and Conservation: Wabanaki Possibilities,” explored his work with the Wabanaki Commission on Land and Stewardship. By moving at the speed of trust, Dr. Ranco said, land trusts and Indigenous people can restore their relationships with each other and with the lands they mutually cherish.  

All the while, we spread the word about our Stewardship Training Center among fellow conservationists from across the state at our Wildlands table. 

It was another great year at the Massachusetts Land Conservation Conference! We look forward to continuing to support and attend this important opportunity for the state land conservation community to exchange stories and ideas for the benefit of our shared missions. 

Human History of Wildlands: Stewart/Person Preserve

Traveling full-circle through time 

Photo of Sylvy’s Place Road sawmill. Date unknown. Click here to view excerpt from chapter “The History of Kingston.”

By Skip Stuck, Key Volunteer 

What got me so excited about Stewart/Person Preserve? It's not one of the Trust's high-profile showcase preserves. Although beautiful, it's not a place of unique natural history. Stewart/Person is a small preserve, located on Sylvia Place Road in Kingston. However, its 27 acres hold a rich human history and perhaps an even more interesting future. Although small, it has an outsized history, from wilderness through several phases of development, and soon, maybe back to wilderness again. Few preserves illustrate this cycle better. 

As you read this, I challenge you to think about what Stewart/Person Preserve looked like during each of its historical phases, and what it might look like ten years from now.

As always, a reminder that this account is far from comprehensive. A goal of this project is to start a conversation with the Wildlands community about the cultural pasts of our cherished natural spaces. If you or someone you know has information about Stewart/Person Preserve’s history, we would love to hear from you! Share your insight (and/or photos!) with Communications Coordinator Thomas Patti at tpatti@wildlandstrust.org. 

Early History 

20,000 years ago, at the height of the last ice age, this area was covered by a glacier, perhaps 1,000 feet thick. As the ice melted, the current topography of low, pine-covered, flat-topped hills and valleys was created out of the gravel, sand, and stone left behind. The valleys held wetlands like streams, small ponds, and bogs. 

By 9,000 years ago, evidence shows that there were Native American people living here, at a time when the climate was similar to that found in northern Quebec today. These people thrived as the climate warmed, and by the time the Pilgrims arrived in 1620, the land was occupied by the Patuxet members of the Wampanoag Tribe. Like many local tribes at the time, the Patuxet population was reeling from a smallpox epidemic brought by Europeans several years prior. 

1975 letter from Wildlands Trust co-founder and president Kathleen Anderson to Gertrude H. and O. Wellington Stewart after the Stewarts donated their 13-acre Kingston property. Click here to enlarge.

1600s and 1700s 

While the Native people valued the area’s abundance of game, water, and timber, colonial settlers quickly focused on the water flowing down from the surrounding hills. Early on, iron deposits—or "bog iron"—were discovered and mined. Trees were cut down to produce the charcoal to fire furnaces and forges. But by the mid-1700s, the colonists realized that a supply of falling water was all that was needed to turn the machinery. Soon the brooks were dammed, and dams on the Stewart/Person property (plus several more downstream) created three bodies of water: Russell, Sylvia Place (sometimes called Sylvy's), and Bryant Mill ponds. In the winter, ice was harvested from the ponds. Powered by water, area factories producing cannon balls, tacks, and shoes came to be known as "Millgate." These lasted well into the 1800s. Crumbling foundations of these establishments are still visible today.  

Over the years, other mills produced iron, flour, and lumber all the way down to the Jones River and eventually to Kingston Bay. On occasion, an earthen dam along this chain would breach, damaging homes and other mills downstream. 

The dams dramatically altered the natural landscape, as well. In the place of historic bogs emerged ponds lined with second-growth forests of pine, oak, alder, and red maple—reflective of the Stewart/Person we see today. 

1800s and 1900s 

The need for water power decreased in the 1800s as oil and eventually gas and electricity took over. Factories, no longer requiring hydropower, moved on from the area. Old dams continued to degrade. In 1930, a fish ladder was built by the federal Works Progress Administration to provide an avenue for herring and other migratory fish to spawn on their historic runs. The land was becoming a quiet place once again. 

In 1975, O. Wellington and Gertrude H. Stewart donated 13.3 acres to Wildlands Trust. In 2011, Martin B. and Joan Person donated an adjoining 13.48 acres, thus creating Stewart/Person Preserve. Wildlands built and maintained hiking trails, water crossings, and bridges at what has become a popular recreational destination. 

Kingston village map from 1870. Click here to view excerpt from chapter “The History of Kingston.”

2000s: Completing the circle 

In the early 2000s, the Trust, Town of Kingston, and state realized that the eroding earthen dams and fish ladders presented an increasing danger to houses, roads, and businesses downstream. With their original purpose gone, it was decided that they needed to be removed. In 2021, Wildlands was ordered to remove the fish ladder and breach the dam on Sylvia Place Pond. In July 2021, the Trust received a state grant of $729,000 to complete the work. Wildlands is working with engineers and permitting agencies to plan, design, and permit the project, which is expected to be started soon. 

So, like many places in Southeastern Massachusetts, Stewart/Person Preserve will complete a full circle. From hilly woodlands and boggy bottoms, through 250 years of intensive use and reshaping through industrialization, the property will soon revert to something closer to where it started—a wild land. 

Learn more 

To learn more about the natural and human history of Stewart/Person Preserve, please visit soon to see how the land looks today, and plan to visit again in the coming years to track its fascinating future. Also, examine some of the following resources: 

• Our online property description: wildlandstrust.org/stewartperson-preserve 

• North and South Rivers Watershed Association: nsrwa.org/listing/stewart-person-preserve/ 

• "The O.W. Stewart Preserve," Wildlands Trust, 1973, with additional notes by Reed Stewart, 1993. 

• “The History of Kingston.” Source unknown. View two-page excerpt here.

• “Trust Preserves Wild Areas in Plymouth County.” Anne Bartlett, The Patriot Ledger. 1985.

• “Wilder Times in Mill Gate.” Robert Knox, Old Colony Memorial. Nov. 8, 1990.

Upgrades at Willow Brook Farm: Support Our Work

Support us today so that Willow Brook Farm can continue to support us tomorrow.

For all that nature gives us—clean air and water, improved mental and physical health, diverse wildlife habitat, protection from heat waves and floods—it asks for little in return. When it does need our help, can it count on the Wildlands community? 

Few places anywhere pack the same wealth of cultural and natural resources into a suburban setting as Willow Brook Farm, a Wildlands Trust showcase preserve in Pembroke. Comprising 167 wild acres just 30 miles south of Boston, Willow Brook Farm epitomizes the globally rare ecological diversity of the Herring Brook Valley. Each year, over 20,000 people explore Willow Brook’s field, forest, and wetland habitats to learn about the human and natural communities that have come and gone from the region. 

“Willow Brook Farm is a special place,” said Wildlands President Karen Grey. “Whether you come here to walk your dog, go for a run, listen to the birds, or simply escape the stresses of daily life, Willow Brook has something for everyone.” 

After 27 years serving the people and wildlife of Southeastern Massachusetts, Willow Brook Farm needs upgrades to bolster its safety and value for future generations. Tasks include replacing Willow Brook’s 400 yards of boardwalk, building three covered picnic tables, expanding wayfinding amenities, restoring historic meadow habitat, and improving the parking lot. 

Unfortunately, improving public amenities in frequently flooded environments isn’t cheap: we estimate the restoration to cost $60,000. 

“For many years, Wildlands staff and volunteers have made repairs at Willow Brook in a piecemeal way,” said Stewardship Operations Manager Owen Grey. “We’re now at the point where proactively addressing the underlying issue—natural decay of aging infrastructure—will save us significant time and resources in the long run. It also gives us an opportunity to improve and expand Willow Brook’s built infrastructure to match its natural beauty.” 

Old cart path at Willow Brook Farm.

Historic field and boulders at Willow Brook Farm.

Historic path at Willow Brook Farm.

Boardwalk at Willow Brook Farm.

Grassy path at Willow Brook Farm.

Hardwood forest at Willow Brook Farm.

If you love Willow Brook Farm, we need your help! Wildlands Trust is seeking $20,000 in public donations to support this effort. An anonymous funder has agreed to a 2:1 match on every donation under $500 and a 1:1 match on all others, up to $40,000. That means you can triple your impact: a $50 donation will give us $150 to secure the future of this beloved preserve. 

“This campaign is an opportunity for the local and regional community to come together over a shared interest in nature,” President Karen Grey concluded. “When places like Willow Brook thrive, we all thrive. I hope you will consider supporting this work.” 

To donate, visit wildlandstrust.org/upgradewillowbrook. We also accept checks, stocks, and donor-advised funds. 

Multiply your impact by sharing this campaign with your friends, family, and neighbors! Sign up for our E-News and follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates and opportunities to get involved as our work at Willow Brook Farm continues. 

Human History of Wildlands: Willow Brook Farm

By Skip Stuck, Key Volunteer

People gravitate to natural beauty and diversity, whether they’re trained ecologists or not. The popularity of Willow Brook Farm is evidence of this fact. 

As you will see, the history of this beloved Pembroke preserve is rich as well, and not without controversy. Before you read what follows, I want to highlight an issue that I suspect we'll see often in future editions of this series. In researching this piece, I am reminded that history is easy to write when one consults only a few sources. It becomes more difficult when we attempt to enlarge and diversify the pool of observers and accounts. In the case of this piece, you'll quickly find that history as told by the English settlers is very different from that told by the Mattakeeset, especially around the mid- to late 1600s, the time of King Philip’s War.  

There is little consensus among the viewpoints of Natives and settlers. Nor should there be. The war was a bitter thing. Although not well known today, it was a horrible period, with a larger percentage of Americans, both European and Native, killed than at any other time in our nation's history. Worse yet, both sides had been friends who trusted and depended on each other only a generation or two earlier. Each side saw the conflict from its own perspective. Any single retelling of history almost always favors one person’s story to the exclusion or even denigration of another’s. 

This is not to turn you off to history. Rather, it is to remind us that stories are easy to tell, but rarely as straightforward as they seem. I encourage you to examine some of the resources I've listed at the end of this piece. You might find that history has as many versions as it has tellers. 

On that note, please keep in mind that this account is far from comprehensive. A goal of this project is to start a conversation with the Wildlands community about the cultural pasts of our cherished natural spaces. If you or someone you know has information about Willow Brook Farm’s history, we would love to hear from you! Share your insight (and/or photos!) with Communications Coordinator Thomas Patti at tpatti@wildlandstrust.org.  

Willow Brook Farm needs your help! Wildlands Trust is seeking $20,000 in public donations to make major upgrades at this suburban sanctuary. An anonymous donor is doubling every donation under $500 and matching all others, meaning you can double or triple your impact on the land you love. Donate today. 

Native American history 

• The area surrounding Willow Brook Farm and the Herring Brook and North River valleys has been used by Native Americans for thousands of years. The ancestors of the Mattakeeset band of the Massachusett tribe (the People of the First Light) settled in this area to use the bountiful resources it offered. The word "Mattakeesset" means "place of many fish," and the Herring River area was, and still is, home to a large alewife and river herring run each spring. Additionally, plentiful waterfowl and the land's suitability for growing maize, squash, and beans helped the tribe prosper. 

• After the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, the Massachusett tribe's generosity with resources to the settlers was crucial in the colony's survival. Relationships between the two groups started strong. 

Adah F. Hall House, built circa 1685. Learn more at the Pembroke Historical Society.

First European settlers 

• The land that was to become Willow Brook Farm was purchased in the early 1600s from Massachusett Sachem Wampatuck, known to settlers as Josiah Sagamore, by Major Josiah Winslow of Marshfield in what was known as the "Major's Purchase." 

• Among the earliest recorded English settlers of the Major’s Purchase land was Robert Barker, who settled in the vicinity of Herring Brook in 1650.  

• Relationships between the Native and English populations changed for the worse in the later 1600s, culminating in the King Philip’s War. During the war, the Mattakeeset band, although not involved in the hostilities, was forcibly removed from their lands and sent to Clark's Island in Plymouth Harbor, where it is estimated that half (possibly as many as 500) tribal members died from starvation, disease, and exposure by the war's end in 1676. 

• Purported to be the oldest house in Pembroke, the Adah F. Hall house, built around 1685 by Robert Barker Jr., abuts the Willow Brook property. 

• In the early 1800s, Robert Jr.’s descendent, Benjamin Barker, achieved significant agricultural production on the property and was reputed to be the wealthiest man in Plymouth County at the time of his death.  

• The property remained in the Barker family until 1914, when it was purchased by William Hurley. Hurley established Willow Brook Farm, a dairy farm and showplace for his Guernsey cows. The remains of a large dairy barn are still visible today as a foundation and milking stalls being taken over by brush and trees. Although the farm was taken out of use in the mid-20th century, its fields are still maintained by Wildlands Trust in memory of its agrarian history. 

Pembroke town survey map, 1831. The Willow Brook land is represented by the spot labeled Benj Barker. Click to enlarge.

Wildlands Trust preserve 

• In 1997, Wildlands Trust purchased Willow Brook Farm's 73 acres with funds from an anonymous donor. Shortly thereafter, it acquired Fleetwood Farm (20 acres), Gillette-Sherman (7 acres), Lower Neck (40 acres), Missing Link (24 acres), and in 2008, the Slavin Donation (3 acres) to create today's 167-acre preserve. 

• Wildlands restored the property by adding a visitor parking lot and more than 3 miles of hiking trails, including boardwalks through wetland areas, an elevated viewing platform, and an informational kiosk. Today, it is one of Wildlands’ most used and appreciated preserves. 

Learn More 

To learn more, please visit our preserve webpage at wildlandstrust.org/willow-brook-farm. Better yet, walk the trails and enjoy the preserve’s natural and historical beauty for yourself. 

An important note: History is part fact and parts perspective, personal experience, and even bias. One person's history is another's myth. Bear this in mind as you read these reference materials, especially as they relate to both Native and English histories. 

To learn more about the early Native American history of the Willow Brook Farm area, as well as the Mattakeeset tribe through the present, take time to read "Our Story Not Theirs," an account by the Mattakeeset tribe itself.  

Also: 

• The Pembroke Historical Society: pembrokehistoricalsociety.org 

• The Adah F. Hall House: pembrokehistoricalsociety.org/adah-f-hall-house.html 

• Peter’s Well, which lies just across Barker Street from Willow Brook Farm: pembrokehistoricalsociety.org/peters-well.html  

• History of Pembroke, Massachusetts: History of Pembroke Massachusetts | Access Genealogy 

A special thanks to Hayley Leonard, Wildlands Trust AmeriCorps member, and Rob MacDonald, Wildlands key volunteer, for substantial research contributions to this account.