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.
3. Governor Oliver Ames Estate is open from sunrise to sunset. Entering or returning to the property after that time is prohibited.
4. The following are prohibited at the estate:
   • Consuming or possessing alcoholic beverages
   • Fires, camping, littering or dumping
   • Motorized vehicles (except for authorized management purposes)
   • Golfing
   • Cutting or removing vegetation
   • Disturbing, removing, defacing, cutting, or otherwise causing damage to a natural feature, sign, poster, barrier, building, or other property in the estate.

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.

This meandering property is a stone’s throw from the famed Ames shovel factory that supplied tools for, among other important American events, the Civil War and the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. The Ames’ family influence is still very much in evidence in the town of Easton; among other things, their name graces the town library and high school, as well as the imposing Oakes Ames Memorial Hall, one of five Henry Hobson Richardson-designed structures in North Easton village.

The property was first home to Oliver Ames who served as Massachusetts’ governor from 1887–1890, who hosted some of the most notable figures of the 19th century, including architect Henry Hobson (H.H.) Richardson and landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed the landmark Victorian buildings and the Rockery. The estate was transformed forever by 1909 after first Governor Ames and then his wife, Anna, died. Their children moved away and the mansion was later razed.

Today, more than a century later, saplings planted by Ames thrive as old specimen trees and pepper the property, which includes a 19th-century stone stable, farm fields, a brook and several garden ponds.

With support from the Town of Easton and the state’s LAND grant program, The Trustees purchased the property in 2012 from the David Ames family and Elizabeth Ames. The Easton Community Preservation Committee also committed significant monetary resources to the effort, some of which some will be reimbursed by the Commonwealth’s LAND program. In addition, The Trustees have raised money to fund transaction, startup, and renovation costs and establish a modest endowment for ongoing stewardship and programming.