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A quiet place to just stare into nature
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Comments
Boston Common?
Boston Common?
Where's the running water?
Where's the running water?
Was there another water main
Was there another water main break that we missed?
Ask for
RWGFY, they'll point out out the historic spots
lol
lol
I pass there every day and
I pass there every day and never see them.
Watertown Dam
Pretty quiet there. Decent parking nearby.
They wrecked the Watertown
They wrecked the Watertown dam area by replacing a nice bridge with a blight you can’t rest your elbows on nor fish from. Can you guess why? I had no problem biking it while others fished, and no problem fishing while others biked.
The whole stretch from the
The whole stretch from the Watertown Dam to Downtown Waltham is pretty nice. I like the spot where Cheesecake Brook comes into the Charles personally but its all pretty flat, and lots of places to park and walk.
Parking at Forte Pork, or at the Watertown Stop and Shop, or on the end of Albemarle Rd in Newton, or the public lots off Moody st,
Or take the 57 to watertown yard.
Millenium Park
Millenium Park
Arnold Arboretum
Don't tempt me
I want to jump in my car, drive the three hours down there, get a pie from Regina, and walk around the Japanese section.
EDIT: Oh, it's 81 degrees today, too?
EDIT: Oh, the Warriors are in town?
Yes! That’s what I was going to reply. Great place.
So many different niches.
Riverway Park
right outside the Longwood MBTA stop
The Emerald Necklace
The Fenway and Riverway sections are walkable from the Prudential Center, though with a bad ankle, taking the Green Line to Longwood would be best. Further up the Muddy River, there's Leverett Pond, Jamaica Pond, the Arboretum, which has both a pond and a separate brook, and Franklin Park with Scarboro Pond.
Magoo sez
Magoo’s Wild Wilderness located deep in Magoo’s mangrove swamp. Magoo.
Edit: Magoo’s Wild Wilderness deep in Magoo’s mangrove swamp is a private reserve. Magoo is compelled to address the sickening mid of certain reply commenters. Indeed this is the first time Magoo has ever addressed mean meanies directly. Magoo’s Wild Wilderness is a magical place and in no way intended to mean any place reserved for Ms. Magoo only. Magoo.
please stop
just stop. your comments are gross and uncalled for.
Just don’t look.
Just don’t look. Resist the temptation.
Again, please stop
Stop. Just stop. We don't care. Your comment is still uncalled for and useless.
I wouldn't be jumping on you if you were at least funny. You aren't even funny, just gross. There's a fine line between funny and gross when it comes to bathroom and sexual humor. You've crossed it. Its a line that should not be crossed.
Please tell us again
About the fishy flavor of uncircumcised doodingles.
ew
ew huh?
I long for the Turkey
I long for the Turkey Liberation Front… THAT was funny!
Thirded
Magoo you seem blind to the degradation your comments are to this platform.
Or you're aware and just a smug jerk.
Nobody minds the occasionally diversion, but you talk about yourself and not the subject - and its just selfish my dude.
World's End?
(sorry)
https://thetrustees.org/place/worlds-end-hingham/
ch0ke!
ch0ke!
Actually...
World's End is the perfect spot to go to for quiet.
Go to the outer drumlin and sit in the grass.
No bikes allowed. No cars roaring by like next to the Arboretum.
30 mins from the Pru
Gets you to the Venezia at best.
Venezia is in the middle of a MEPA ACEC
adjacent to Tenean Beach, the Neponset River Estuary, and the Neponset River Greenway Trail. Parking at Tenean, Finnegan Park, Pope John Paul II Park, Granite Avenue, Central Avenue.
Nira Rock Urban Wild
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ES6MdbipteioyjwR6
Some:
The babbling brook north of Wards pond, across the street from the dirt parking lot.
Or the waterfall in the southwestern corner of Wards pond, not far from the paved parking lot.
The rhododendron path along the babbling brook in the arboretum near the South st gate (parking is a bit further away for this, on the newly renamed "Flora" street).
For less people, I recommend finding the fire road in the Blue Hills with the least amount of parked cars.
Take the Orange Line
To Forest Hills for the Arboretum. There's a creek/brook at the South Street Gate (Google Maps).
Currently dry
And the story it told, of a river that flowed, made me sad to think it was dead ...
One of my places...
...is Burlington and Wilmington's Sawmill Brook Conservation area. The eponymous brook has some really lovely and babbling parts as it makes way between the Footbridge and the ruins of the Clapp's Mill dam. There is parking at the Fox Hill Elementary School in Burlington, or at the end of Green Meadow Drive in Wilmington. Also nearby is the much larger Mill Pond Conservation Area, which has miles of trails near and around the Mill Pond Reservoir. It's great hiking. Parking at the Mill Pond Water Treatment Plant on Winter St in Woburn by the Wilmington and Burlington tripoint.
Mill Pond
Mill Pond has some of the most obnoxious dog walkers I've ever seen. Generally easy to get away from them, but if you want to just sit it might be tough.
Hillside Pond and the trail running below the road in the Blue Hills would get my vote, trail might be a bit steep for a janky ankle though.
Middlesex Fells
That's my go-to when I want to be outside in nature on short notice.
Not much green - but sitting
Not much green - but sitting behind the JFK Library and just watching the waves has saved me a fair number of times. (and it is T accessible)
Blue Hills
Some very nice streams with babbling waters are reasonably accessible off of unquity road and the trailside museum although given the current drought they might not be babbling at all.
From 1033 to 1214 on this map
Get thee to the Museum of Science
Whether by foot, T or park there, once facing the building from outside, turn left and follow the driveway by the water inlet, proceed down to the river approximately 200 feet, where you will have undisturbed access to the magnificence and wonderment of the Boston amd Cambridge sides of the river, replete with a beautiful sunset. Need extra amplitude, 420 or a choice bottle of wine. Enjoy and don't tell anyone about this spot.
Venus and Luna
Do you remember the two semi-abandoned tugboats that were moored there for years? Venus and Luna. They added an extra degree of quietness and solitude to that spot. I always expected someone to write a children's book about them. One by one they disappeared, though I believe that Luna was fixed up and is now living in a somewhat busier retirement in Boston Harbor.
I remember them.
One of them eventually sank there and is probably still on the river bottom.
One of them played a big part
One of them played a big part in one of the worst movies with Boston Accents ever made: "Blown Away" (1994) starring Jeff Bridges, Tommy Lee Jones, Forest Whitaker, and Lloyd Bridges. If I recall correctly Forest Whitaker didn't even try for the accent... Lloyd Bridges shouldn't have.
Off the beaten path
It's a little more than half an hour from downtown, but Great Esker Park in Weymouth is a gem. It's accessible by commuter rail ($10 all weekend pass) and within walking distance from the East Weymouth train stop on the Greenbush line. To enjoy it thoroughly, one needs to be able to walk around for about an hour at a leisurely pace.
Other underappreciated scenic treasures -provided that water waterfront qualifies: All the little peninsulas on the nearby South Shore; Squantum, Houghs Neck, Webb Memorial State Park etc. The adjancent residential neighborhoods are also nice to walk around.
Allandale Woods
It's the city's largest urban wild, quite close to the Arboretum.
Head towards Rock Pond and enjoy the quiet and the view.
please go to
Mount Auburn Cemetery
a truly beautiful, healing sacred space
Audubon's Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary in Natick
Google maps says 34 mins, small ponds and a brook plus the Charles
Neponset Greenway!
The Neponset Brook reservation has a lovely greenway from Lower Mills to Mattapan, with lovely views & a bridge and a salt marsh and ocean beaches. Standing on the footbridge crossing Neponset River, it’s hard to believe you’re in the City of Boston.
Another vote for the Neponset River Greenway Trail
I saw this walking from Mattapan MBTA Station (There's a parking lot right outside the station).
https://www.universalhub.com/2024/strolling-neponset-river-animalway
Leave the car behind and take the T from Back Bay Station to Forest Hills Station and catch the 31 bus instead.
A place to stare into nature
I can recommend a place that is more like an hour away, but is really nice. There is a Restaurant called The Old Mill in Westminster, MA. It is years since we have gone there, but it probably hasn’t changed. You can stand or sit by a waterfall and the pond. The waterfowl may have flown south by now. We used to throw breadcrumbs we brought with us or bits of rolls someone didn’t eat that you can get out of a wooden barrel Kept behind the hostess station, but anyone can take some. If you want to stand on the porch or sit in Adirondack chair there, you don’t have to eat there. However, I do recommend having brunch there and making a reservation ahead of time.
On Sat morning take the Orange Line to State.
Then walk to Long Wharf, if your ankle allows or take the Blue Line, board the Veterans Cruise vessel to Peddocks Island and spend a few hours in nature away from cars and city craziness.
Buy your ticket on Eventbrite beforehand, it’s free for veterans, and bring your lunch.
Let us know, Drew Starr, where you end up going…
… and if it was worth the trip.
Alewife Brook Reservation
If you don't mind a bit of time on the T, there's a lovely little nature preserve behind Alewife station, down past the apartment blocks and office buildings. It's not "can't hear traffic" quiet, but it's a really nice place to just stare at water and plants for a while.
I love Scarboro Pond in the Fall
Scarboro Pond is inside Franklin Park. If you enter near the Shattuck side, and pass the picnic grounds and tennis courts and walk that paved path parallel with 203 you are taken to a lovely little pond, complete with Emerald Necklace style bridges. It's not safe after dark in my experience.