Plan your visit to Francis William Bird Park
Admission & Fees
When to Visit
Year-round, daily, sunrise to sunset. Allow a minimum of 1 hour.
Admission
FREE to all
Trail Map
Trail maps are available from the bulletin board near the park entrance. Occasionally, we do run out of maps, so we recommend that you download a trail map before you visit.
Download the Bird Park Tree ID and find out what types of trees fill Bird Park.
Getting Here & Directions
Polley Lane
Walpole, MA 02032
Telephone: 508.668.6136
Property Manager: dcamp@thetrustees.org
Events & Programs Manager: mogara@thetrustees.org
Latitude: 42.1597
Longitude: -71.2150
Get directions on Google Maps.
From the I-95/Rt. 128 Split (Canton): From I-95 South, take Exit 10. Turn right onto Coney St. Follow for 0.8 mi. (cross over Rt. 1 at traffic light). Turn left onto Pleasant St. and then right onto Polley Lane in 0.3 mile. Parking area (60 cars) is 0.1 mile on left.
Public Transportation: Take the 34E bus line, accessible from the Forest Hills Orange Line T stop or the Franklin commuter rail line at Norwood Central station. Visit www.mbta.com for more details.
Additional Information
Before You Go
We encourage you to visit as many Trustees properties as you can.
Wherever your travels take you, please observe all posted regulations, follow special instructions from property staff, and keep in mind the Stewardship Code:
- Protect wildlife and plants.
- Guard against all risk of fire.
- Help keep air and water clean.
- Carry out what you carry in.
- Use marked footpaths and bridle paths.
- Leave livestock, crops, and machinery alone.
- Respect the privacy of neighboring land.
- Enjoy and share the landscape with others.
Click on links below for further visitor information:
Before Setting Out
Enjoying Trustees Reservations
Safety
About Hunting on Trustees of Reservations Land
Regulations & Advisories
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:
- Please respect the tranquility of this park and others’ enjoyment of their visit here.
- Dogs are welcome, but on-leash only. Please dispose of dog waste properly in litter barrels.
- Bird Park is open from sunrise to sunset. Entering or remaining on the property after that time is prohibited.
- 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.
History
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.
The Archives & Research Center welcomes donations of documents, manuscripts, records, photographs, maps and memorabilia that pertain to a particular property. Please contact us at 781.784.8200 or
arc@ttor.org.