We hope you enjoy your visit. For your safety, and to help protect this unique resource, we ask that you please comply with the following regulations:

1. Please respect the tranquility of this park and others’ enjoyment of their visit here.
2. Dogs are welcome, but on-leash only. Please dispose of dog waste properly in litter barrels.
3. Bird Park is open from sunrise to sunset. Entering or remaining on the property after that time is prohibited.
4. The following are prohibited at Bird Park:
   -Consuming or possessing alcoholic beverages
   -Fires, camping, littering, or dumping
   -Motorized vehicles (except for wheelchairs and authorized management purposes)
   -Golfing, ice skating, swimming, wading, and fishing
   -Cutting or removing vegetation
   -Disturbing wildlife
   -Removing or loosening old stone walls and rail fences
   -Disturbing, removing, defacing, cutting, or otherwise causing damage to a natural feature, sign, poster, barrier, building, or other property in the park.

Note: Please check locally at property for posted advisories and regulations.

Bird Park is a property of The Trustees of Reservations.Visitors are welcome, but with the understanding that they use the area at their own risk and that they comply with all the above regulations. Whoever disregards or violates any of these regulations is hereby forbidden to remain upon these premises, and is subject to arrest, fine, and imprisonment as provided by law. The Trustees of Reservations cannot assume responsibility for injuries or for the loss or theft of personal property.

The Trustees reserves the right to photograph or video visitors and program participants for promotional use, and usage of our properties implies consent. Find the full policy here.

The reservation was created and endowed in 1925 as a public park by local industrialist Charles Sumner Bird, Sr. and his wife, Anna, in memory of their oldest son, Francis William Bird (1888-1918), who succumbed at age 37 to the influenza epidemic of 1918.

The Bird Family hired John Nolen to design the park. Nolen was a contemporary of The Trustees founder Charles Eliot and a disciple of Frederick Law Olmsted, landscape visionaries who were pioneers in creating parklands accessible to all.

This was a philosophy shared by Nolen, who also believed landscape design could be a tool for societal improvement; Bird Park's network of pathways and attractive water courses were designed to offer the public an easy introduction to their natural surroundings.

In his original proposal for this property, Nolen envisioned "a sequestered breathing place–a combination of broad, sun-swept meadow lands, speckled with shadowed glades, higher tree-screened knolls for the lover of shade, the whole set to the music of a babbling stream."

Property Acquisition History
Gift, with endowment, of the Francis William Park Trust in 2003.

Archival Collections
Archival material related to Bird Park is available to researchers at the Archives & Research Center in Sharon, Massachusetts.

Over the Bridge and Through the Years Quest
Use rhyming clues and a map to find a hidden treasure and story at Bird Park. Along the way, you'll have fun and learn to see (and read) clues about how this place has been used over time. At the end of the Quest, you'll find a hidden treasure box where you can sign your name and collect a copy of our Quest's stamp before leaving the box for the next visit. Download the Quest.

Memorial and Honorary Gift Program at Bird Park
You can honor a loved one and supporting this beautiful park through our memorial bench program. Learn More (pdf).

Management Planning for Our Properties
 


Since 1891, The Trustees of Reservations have worked to protect special places in Massachusetts and maintain them to the highest standards. To ensure these standards are met, a program of careful planning and sound management is essential. Comprehensive property management plans are created for each reservation and are completely updated approximately every ten years. We often work with volunteers, property users, and members of the community to carry out this planning, which typically involves several steps:
 


• Describing in detail the site’s natural, scenic, and historical resources; identifying management issues related to the protection of those resources. 

• Describing how visitors use the property; outlining the opportunities that the property provides for people to become involved in the work of conservation and caring for their community.

• Developing a detailed list of management recommendations, a work plan, and a description of financial needs for implementing the actions.

• Developing a prescribed routine management program for the reservation that will guide staff work plans, volunteer involvement, and the allocation of human and financial resources.


Mow? No! Meadow? Yes! Bird Park Goes Even Greener As an organization, The Trustees is surely "green." But we're always looking for ways to go greener, and a new practice of mowing less at Walpole's Bird Park is helping us do just that. Learn More>>