Open Space and Recreation Plan - Town of Natick

Draft 9-16-11
The Hunnewell Town Forest has several large strands of White Pines and Hemlocks, and is entered
by a path along Little Jennings Pond, a scenic wetlands area.
Lookout Farm offers a pick-your-own fruits and a farm store. Lookout is one of several remaining
farms in South Natick offering picturesque vistas of open space in a relatively quiet, undisturbed
section of town.
The Sassamon Trace golf course, formed from the capping of Natick’s landfill and abutting former
apple orchards in Sherborn, and surrounded by school recreational fields and wetlands, presents an
imposing feature, part of a broad expanse of open lands in both Natick and Sherborn.
Natick has a number of designated scenic roads: Winter and Frost streets in the northeast corner of
town; Bacon and Walnut streets north of the town center; and many streets in the more rural
southern part of town: Cottage Street, Dover Road, Everett Street, Farwell Street, Glen Street,
Glenwood Street, Pegan Lane, Pleasant Street, Rockland Street, South Street, Union Street, and
Woodland Street.
Town committees and community groups are working at connecting all of these wonderful places to
each other, to conservation lands, to other towns, and even to the Natick Mall and businesses whose
employees use or would like to use alternative means of transportation. These efforts are positive
steps at preserving and utilizing to its best advantage the invaluable open space remaining in Natick.
2. Major Characteristic or Unusual Geological Features
Natick has several notable hills that offer scenic value and should be protected: Pegan Hill, Carver
Hill, Broad Hill, Train Hill, Pleasant Hill, Drury Hill, and Tom Hill. The valley between the
Sunkaway, Morse’s Pond, Coolidge Hill, Indian Brook and the Charles River is another notable
geological feature. The Charles River and especially its waterfall in South Natick offer particular
scenic value.
3. Cultural, Archeological and Historic Areas
Natick’s origins as a Praying Indian town mean it is also rich in archeological sites throughout the
town. One of numerous Indian burial grounds is located on Pond Street within a block of
downtown. Recent improvements to the intersection of Route 16, Union Street and Pleasant Street
unearthed Indian remains and artifacts, as did the construction of the Massachusetts Turnpike ramps
at Route 30. Several residential building projects either unearthed similar archaeological materials, or
were suspected of doing so. The Legislative grants to the Natick Indians of thousands of acres of
land in South Natick and around Long Pond (now Lake Cochituate) make it extremely likely that
many more such sites exist.
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