Boxford State Forest

Boxford State Forest is a 1,045-acre DCR forest on Forest Street in Boxford, reaching into North Andover and Middleton, and managed together with Harold Parker State Forest. DCR lists hiking, mountain biking, bird watching, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and hunting, on 11 miles of trails and forest roads. There is no designated swimming area. It also holds the remains of an anti-ballistic missile radar site abandoned in 1969.

A Quieter Forest

DCR's 2013 management plan treats Boxford and Harold Parker as one planning unit. Where Harold Parker has a campground, beaches and 35 miles of trails, Boxford is the quieter back country: DCR's project summary says the forest and the conservation land around it form 2,200 acres of back country offering "a natural forest experience." DCR passively manages Boxford to encourage natural forest processes. The plan counts 100 acres of climax forest and 49 certified vernal pools here.

Where It Is

About 52 percent of the forest is in Boxford, 37 percent in North Andover and 11 percent in Middleton, according to DCR's plan. DCR's trail map lists the forest at Forest Street, Boxford, MA 01921, and shows the Bay Circuit Trail. DCR's plan also names a public parking lot on Sharpners Pond Road. Harold Parker lies to the southwest; DCR's plan calls for partners to secure land that would permanently connect the two forests along the Bay Circuit Trail.

Things to Do

• Hiking and birding. DCR lists both. The forest was founded by a bird-club leader (see below).
• Mountain biking, on the trails and forest roads.
• Cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in winter.
• Hunting, in season, under DCR and MassWildlife rules. See hunting.
• No swimming. DCR's map says there are no designated swimming areas in Boxford State Forest. Swim at Berry Pond in Harold Parker instead.

History

DCR's plan tells the story in a timeline:

• About 1800 to 1932: four generations of the Towne family used half of today's forest as pasture and woodlots.
• 1933: Lawrence B. Fletcher, secretary of the Federation of Bird Clubs of New England, gave the Commonwealth 460 acres he bought from the Towne family, creating Boxford State Forest. More land followed.
• 1964: the state took 184 acres, including Bald Hill, to stop private development next to the forest.
• 1969: the U.S. Department of Defense abandoned construction of an anti-ballistic missile radar facility in the forest. When the national ABM program was cancelled, the land it had taken, along with Sharpners Pond Road from Salem Street to Forest Street, went back to the Department of Conservation. DCR's plan says the project left a badly scarred landscape that has only partly recovered.
• 2002: the Town of Boxford bought the 140-acre Wunnegan Conservation Area on the forest's south side to stop a 34-lot subdivision, with $1 million from the state in return for a conservation restriction.

DCR's project summary lists colonial settlement sites and the missile radar remains among the forest's features.

Dogs

Boxford State Forest is not on DCR's list of properties where dogs may be off-leash, so keep dogs on a leash of 10 feet or less. Harold Parker, next door, allows off-leash dogs on its trails. See dogs.

Boxford or Harold Parker?

• Choose Boxford for back-country woods and birding, with no campground or beach.
• Choose Harold Parker for marked loop trails, ponds, swimming, a campground and off-leash dog walking. Start with trails and hiking.

Fishing Nearby

MassWildlife's trout stocking list for the town of Boxford includes Baldpate Pond and Stiles Pond (spring and fall) and Fish Brook. See fishing.