Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge (Chatham)
Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) was established in 1944 to provide habitat for migratory birds. Sand stretches for eight miles off the elbow of Cape Cod, forming the barrier islands of North and South Monomoy. In addition to the two islands, a 40-acre unit on Morris Island is also part of the refuge. This is where the headquarters and visitor center are located.
Nantucket National Wildlife Refuge (Sudbury)
Nantucket National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) was established in 1975 for its "particular value in carrying out the national migratory bird management program." The refuge, which is cooperatively managed with The Trustees of Reservations, encompasses 24 acres at Great Point. Nantucket NWR is an un-staffed unit of the Eastern Massachusetts NWR Complex.
Cape Cod Canal (Buzzards Bay)
The gateway to Cape Cod, with many nearby shops, tourist attractions and recreation facilities. State and town-managed campgrounds are located at various points next to the Canal. Area is popular for bicycling and fishing.
Barre Falls Dam (Hubbardston)
Barre Falls Dam, in the midst of the Ware River Watershed and Wildlife Management Area, is attractive for canoeing, fishing, hiking, hunting, picnicking, watching wildlife, and winter sports. The project is crossed by the Mid-State Hiking Trail. A picnic shelter in the picnic area at the dam may be reserved by calling the project office.
Conant Brook Dam (Monson)
Horseback riders, hikers and cross-country skiers will thoroughly enjoy the miles of trails in this area. The streamside environment along the Conant and Vinica brooks below the dam offers anglers excellent trout fishing, while warmwater fishermen enjoy the waters above the dam. Hunting is also popular among park visitors by permit in season.
Hodges Village Dam (OXFORD)
Located in Oxford, MA, a canoe launch and parking areas provide access to the French River above and below the dam. Over 15 miles of trails are maintained. Recreational opportunities include nature study, hiking, mountain biking, fishing, hunting, dirt biking and snowmobiling. The nearby town of Oxford also provides tennis courts, baseball fields and skateboard park.
Littleville Lake (HUNTINGTON)
The launch boat ramp (10-hp limit) provides anglers easy access to the stocked brook, rainbow and brown trout, in addition to the native populations of warmwater fish. Stream fishing is available along 1.5 miles of the Middle Branch of the Westfield River. Hunting for deer and upland game birds and ice fishing are seasonally available.
West Hill Dam (UXBRIDGE)
The park offers swimming in a small natural pool, picnicking and hiking. Hunting and fishing are popular. Trout and pheasant are stocked by the State, which manages the undeveloped area of the reservoir.
Westville Lake (Southbridge)
The developed park includes a 3-acre athletic field popular with softball and soccer players and kite flyers. Photographers, hikers and bird watchers enjoy the undeveloped lands. The abandoned old Grand Truck Railroad parallels the Quinebaug River and is a popular walking and hiking trail. Ice skating, sledding and skiing are popular in winter.
Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area (Boston)
Boston Harbor Islands national park area includes 34 islands situated within the Greater Boston shoreline. The islands are rich in natural and cultural resources. Imagine a place where you can explore tide pools, walk through a Civil War era fort, climb a lighthouse, hike lush trails and salt marshes, camp under the stars, or relax while fishing, picnicking or swimming...all within reach of downtown Boston.
Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (Waquoit)
Waquoit Bay Reserve encompasses open waters, barrier beaches, marshlands and uplands on the south shore of Cape Cod. Within the reserve boundaries are Washburn Island and South Cape Beach State Park. Washburn Island is one of the last undeveloped coastal properties on Cape Cod. The L-shaped island, with a barrier beach, oak and pine forests and coastal salt ponds, is a quiet refuge for animals as well as human visitors.
Massasoit National Wildlife Refuge (Sudbury)
Massasoit National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) was established in 1983 to conserve the Federally endangered Plymouth redbelly turtle, as well as other wildlife and plant species. The Refuge encompasses 195 acres in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It is made up of two parcels; the Crooked Pond parcel abuts the Myles Standish State Forest, the second largest State forest in Massachusetts, and the smaller parcel is located on the shoreline of Island Pond.
Essex National Heritage Area (Salem)
The Essex National Heritage Area is a 550-square mile area between the Atlantic Coast and the Merrimack Valley. It includes the thousands of historic sites and districts that illuminate colonial settlement, the growth and decline of the maritime industries, and the development of the shoe and textile industries.
Silvio O. Conte National Wildlife Refuge (Turners Falls)
Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge was established in 1997 to conserve, protect and enhance the abundance and diversity of native plant, fish and wildlife species and the ecosystems on which they depend throughout the 7.2 million acre Connecticut River watershed. The watershed covers large areas of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Birch Hill Dam (Royalston)
The Lake Denison Recreation Area, on an 82-acre natural lake, offers campground, swim beach, and picnic area. Reservoir lands are managed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for hunting, fishing, and snowmobiling.
Buffumville Lake (OXFORD)
This 200-acre lake in Charlton, MA, offers state-of-the-art facilities for the latest recreational pursuits including BMX-style bike jumps, mountain bike trails and an 27-hole disk golf course. More traditional forms of recreation include fishing, hunting, 7 miles of multi-use trails, group picnic shelters and ice skating. The 200 acre lake is popular for canoeing, kayaking and primitive boat-in camping, also.
East Brimfield Lake (Fiskdale)
Minutes from Old Sturbridge Village, the Corps, State and town-managed areas offer facilities for boating, picnicking and swimming. The reservoir area under management by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has two boat ramps on the 360-acre lake; a canoe trail boat launch and a fourth boat launch are in Holland, Massachusetts at Holland Pond. Good bass fishing, and hunting are also available.
Knightville Dam (Huntington)
The river and tributary streams offer excellent trout fishing and are surrounded by prime upland game habitat. Whitewater canoeing on the Westfield River occurs in the spring. A picnic area is next to the dam. Streamside campground available for community groups by reservation (Write Project Manager, Knightville Dam, Huntington, MA 01050). Trout and pheasant are stocked by the State, which manages a portion of the reservoir area.
Tully Lake (Royalston)
Tully Lake is a 1300-acre flood control project completed in 1949. The reservoir area is rich with natural beauty and outdoor recreation. A tents-only campground with 35 sites lies on the north side of the 200-acre lake. Adjacent to the dam, the Recreation Area offers picnic sites and a boat ramp with a 10-HP maximum. Twenty-three miles of hiking trails extend around the lake, Long Pond, and off-site to nearby waterfalls and scenic vistas.
Charles River Natural Valley Storage Project (UXBRIDGE)
The lands and waters of the Charles River N.V.S. offer an important addition to public recreation in Eastern Massachusetts. The 3, 221 acres provide open space for hiking, canoeing, fishing and cross-country skiing. An additional 4, 882 acres of wetlands on private property are also protected from future development.
Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge (Sudbury)
Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is located just 20 miles west of Boston. The refuge was established in 1947 to provide nesting, resting, and feeding habitat for migratory birds. Roughly 85 percent of the refuge's 3, 600 acres is comprised of valuable freshwater wetlands stretching along 12 miles of the Concord and Sudbury Rivers.
Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge (Harvard)
Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is located in north-central Massachusetts, approximately 35 miles northwest of Boston, MA. The refuge lies within the towns of Ayer and Shirley in Middlesex County and the towns of Harvard and Lancaster in Worcester County. The refuge consists of approximately 1, 667acres of upland, southern New England flood-plain forest, and wetland communities along nearly 8 miles of the Nashua River corridor. Oxbow NWR was formed by three land transfers from the former U.
New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park (New Bedford)
New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park commemorates the heritage of the world's preeminent whaling port during the 19th century. A variety of cultural landscapes, historic buildings, museum collections, and archives preserve this history and collectively recount the stories of a remarkable era. Whaling, a leading 19th century enterprise, contributed to America's economic and political vitality. New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park was created in 1996.
Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site (Saugus)
This is the site of the first integrated ironworks in North America, 1646-1668. It includes the reconstructed blast furnace, forge, rolling mill, and a restored seventeenth century house.
Salem Maritime National Historic Site (Salem)
Salem Maritime, the first National Historic Site in the National Park System, was established to preserve and interpret the maritime history of New England and the United States. The Site consists of about nine acres of land and twelve historic structures along the waterfront in Salem, Massachusetts, as well as a Visitor Center in downtown Salem.
Springfield Armory National Historic Site (Springfield)
On a chill Spring morning in 1968, amid speeches and farewell addresses, the men and women of Springfield Armory bid each other goodbye as the ?Stars and Stripes? were lowered for the last time. After nearly two centuries of continuous production of rifles and muskets used by America?s armed forces in every war in the nation?s history, the armory closed its gates and fell silent.
Adams National Historical Park (Quincy)
Adams National Historical Park is located in the City of Quincy, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, approximately ten miles south of Boston. The Park comprises 11 historic structures and a cultural landscape totaling almost 14 acres. The story encompasses five generations of the Adams family (from 1720 to 1927) including two Presidents and First Ladies, three U.S.Ministers, historians, writers and family members who supported and contributed to the success of these public figures.
Boston African American National Historic Site (Boston)
Located in the heart of Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood, the site includes 15 pre-Civil War structures relating to the history of Boston's 19th century African-American community, including: the African Meeting House, the oldest standing African-American church in the United States. The sites are linked by the 1.6 mile (2.5 km) Black Heritage Trail*. Augustus Saint-Gaudens', memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the African-American Massachusetts 54th Regiment, stands on the trail.
Boston National Historical Park (Boston)
Discover the revolutionary generation of Bostonians who blazed a trail from colonialism to independence. Boston National Historical Park is an association of sites that together give the visitor a coherent view of the city's role in the nation's history. In downtown Boston, Old South Meeting House, Old State House, Faneuil Hall, the Paul Revere House and Old North Church bring to life the American ideals of freedom of speech, religion, government, and self-determination.
Cape Cod National Seashore (Wellfleet)
Cape Cod National Seashore comprises 43, 604 acres of shoreline and upland landscape features, including a forty-mile long stretch of pristine sandy beach, dozens of clear, deep, freshwater kettle ponds, and upland scenes that depict evidence of how people have used the land. A variety of historic structures are within the boundary of the Seashore, including lighthouses, a lifesaving station, and numerous Cape Cod style houses.
Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site (Brookline)
Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) is recognized as the founder of American landscape architecture and the nation?s foremost parkmaker. Olmsted moved his home to suburban Boston in 1883 and established at ?Fairsted? the world's first full-scale professional office for the practice of landscape design. Over the course of the next century, his sons and successors expanded and perpetuated Olmsted's design ideals, philosophy, and influence. Visitors may tour the recently restored ?Fairsted?
Minute Man National Historical Park (Concord)
The events of April 19, 1775 were a turning point in the long struggle between Mother England and her American colonies. In a march of protest and petition turned independence and revolution, the fighting on April 19, 1775 would foreshadow the rebellious action of the American colonies to ultimately create a new nation, the United States of America.
Thacher Island National Wildlife Refuge (Newburyport)
Thacher Island National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1972 primarily to provide feeding, resting and nesting habitat for migratory birds. It occupies the northern 22 acres of 52-acre Thacher Island located approximately one mile off the coast of Rockport, Massachusetts. The refuge and adjacent Town of Rockport property consists of cobble beach, rocky outcrop, grass, and shrub/thicket habitats.
Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge (Sudbury)
Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) was established in 1995 to preserve and protect natural resources associated with the Waquoit Bay area for the protection of waterfowl and protection of wildlife. Located in the towns of Mashpee and Falmouth, this refuge will total 5, 871 acres when complete, only a small percentage of which will be owned by the Fish and Wildlife Service. Currently, 335 acres are in FWS ownership.
Nomans Land Island National Wildlife Refuge (Sudbury)
Nomans Land Island National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is 628 acres in size and is located in Dukes County, 3 miles south of Martha's Vineyard, MA. The Island is 1.6 miles long east to west, and about 1 mile north to south. Nomans Land Island was used for aerial gunnery by the U.S. Navy from 1942 to 1996. The USFWS managed an "overlay" Refuge on the eastern third of the Island under a Joint Management Agreement between the Department of the Interior and Department of the Navy since 1975.
Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge (Sudbury)
Assabet River NWR, formerly referred to as the U.S. Army's Fort Devens Sudbury Training Annex, is a 2, 230-acre parcel of land located approximately 25 miles west of Boston, and 4 miles west of the Eastern Massachusetts NWR Complex Headquarters. It is located in portions of the Towns of Hudson, Maynard, Stow and Sudbury and covers approximately 3.5 square miles. The Assabet River NWR consists of two separate pieces of land. The larger northern section is just north of Hudson Road.
Parker River National Wildlife Refuge (Newburyport)
Parker River National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1942 primarily to provide feeding, resting, and nesting habitat for migratory birds. Located along the Atlantic Flyway, the refuge is of vital stopover significance to waterfowl, shorebirds, and songbirds during pre- and postbreeding migratory periods. The refuge occupies in part, the southern three-fourths of Plum Island, an 8 mile long barrier island near Newburyport, Massachusetts.
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (Scituate)
The slow retreat of massive Ice Age glaciers formed what is today the Gerry E. Studds- Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, a sand and gravel plateau at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay. There, ocean currents sweep water in and out of the bay, with the bank partially blocking the opening and funneling the flow into relatively narrow passageways.
Northeast Region, - Waltham, MA Boston (Waltham)
The Boston facility is located on the Frederick C. Murphy Federal Center. Private First Class Frederick C. Murphy was a U.S. Army medic in World War II who earned the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously for acts of exceptional courage and bravery on March 18, 1945, at Saarlautern, Germany. An exhibit documenting his heroic deeds is on permanent display in the facility's lobby.
NARA's Northeast Region, Pittsfield, MA (Pittsfield)
National Records on MicrofilmNARA's microfilm publications reproduce basic documentation of nation-wide records for the study of history, economics, public administration, political, genealogy, and other subjects. Subjects include: The American State Papers, 1789 - 1838 The Continental Congress Records relating to the Revolutionary and Civil Wars New England Records on MicrofilmSome topics of New England in our microfilm publications collection are listed below.