Hammond Pond Reservation

November 28, 2019 Cloudy

Hammond Pond Reservation in Newton is a protected woodland park. It consists of a pond, hiking trails, and formations of sandstone conglomerate and Roxbury puddingstone which are popular with rock climbers. We also visited the adjacent Houghton Garden conservation area as part of our walk.

We arrived first at the parking area, which is basically next to the Chestnut Hill mall and on the pond.

From there we took a short walk north around the pond, stopping first to admire the unusual rock formations that formed sheer faces. It turns out that Roxbury puddingstone (shown below) is the official rock of Massachusetts. In the early 19th and 20th centuries it was used in buildings for the foundations of houses.

The boys scrambled up one of the cliffs along the path.

You can see some of these in the photo below as we continued onward. I think they are about 30 feet high or more.

The path hugs the pond and heads north, crossing the Green Line D branch.

Just beyond the tracks we found Houghton Garden and discovered a local gem. This garden was started by the Houghton family in 1906, fell into disrepair at some point in the 60s, but was cleaned up and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

The garden is filled with waterways, bridges, and a lagoon. Along the paths are rhododendrons and azaleas. There is a also a large rock garden with a whimsical stone bench.

After touring the garden we headed back and made a detour to see the peat bog.

Then we continued south and around Hammond Pond once again, just as the setting sun broke through the clouds.

Hammond Pond has a lot of visual variety for a compact area, with the pond, cliffs, and peat bog. Unfortunately you can hear a lot of road noise and the Green Line, so it’s not a great place for solitude.

• I enjoyed this walk and its variety. It’s a convenient park to visit and surprisingly large considering that Newton is a dense and busy suburb.
• The landscape was varied but the whole thing was pretty small. Can also hear the T and traffic.
• There was a dead squirrel hanging from a tree in the swampland, but other than that it was pretty disgusting.
• The park was very drab and creepy, but in the spring it would probably be nice. There were lots of rocks that I could climb on.
• Muddy muddy rock. Me wants climb!!!