Freetown-Fall River State Forest

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Freetown-Fall River State Forest
Freetown-Fall River State Forest
Location: Assonet, Mass., USA
Nearest city: Fall River, Massachusetts
Coordinates: 41°46′45.48″N, 71°02′31.34″W
Area: 5,441 acres
Established: c.1930
Governing body: Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation
Profile Rock, 1902.
Profile Rock, 1902.

The Freetown-Fall River State Forest (more commonly shortened to Freetown State Forest) is a large tract of forest land located in Freetown and Fall River, Massachusetts. It is owned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and operated by the Department of Conservation and Recreation. Its headquarters is located in Assonet, Massachusetts.

Contents

[edit] History

The majority of the land was acquired over twenty years beginning in the 1930s. The forest sits on over 5,400 acres of land and includes Profile Rock, a granite outcropping which local Native Americans believe to be the image of Chief Massasoit. Also in the forest is a 227-acre Wampanoag reservation.[1]

The Civilian Conservation Corps worked on the property in its early years. A statue was dedicated in honor of the program and its efforts in the forest in September, 2002.[2]

The forest is home to the annual "Fun Day in the Forest" event sponsored by the Friends of the Freetown-Fall River State Forest. For a number of years, it also served as the course for the Big Bang Mountain Bike Race, a benefit event for the Independence Day events in Freetown.

[edit] Fires

The Freetown State Forest has suffered fires on several occasions:

  • In September, 1980, a fire burned approximately 230 acres of woodland adjacent to and in the state forest over the course of a week.[3]
  • Fires in 1988 and 1991 burned an estimated hundred acres each, while a fire in March, 1976 destroyed an estimated 500 acres.[4]
  • The last major fire occurred on April 30, 2001, when fire destroyed between 90 and 100 acres of the forest.[5] The fires were mostly put out on April 30, while small fires continued into May 1.[6]

[edit] Controversies

The Freetown State forest has suffered from a number of incidents since the 1970s with varying degrees of publication.

[edit] Cult rumors

Throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, there was widespread speculation that a Satanic cult inhabited the forest. These rumours were partially substantiated in 1980 when police were approached by individuals who claimed to have witnessed cult activity.[7]

[edit] Mary Lou Arruda

In November, 1978, the forest became infamous when the body of Mary Lou Arruda, a 15-year-old cheerleader abducted from Raynham, Massachusetts that September, was discovered tied to a tree. James M. Kater of Brockton, previously convicted of kidnapping in 1967, was convicted of the kidnapping and murder of Arruda in 1979.[8] The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court overturned the verdict, and he was convicted again in 1986. The verdict once again overturned, he was retried in 1992, with that attempt ending in a mistrial.

Kater was tried for the fourth time in 1996, and his conviction was upheld in 2000.[9] In the 1996 trial, the defense charged that police had withheld information relating to cult activity in September, 1978, which it claimed could have provided an alternative to Kater.[10]

[edit] 2001 double homicide

In 2001, two men were found shot to death on Bell Rock Road, which runs through the forest connecting Assonet and Fall River.[11]

[edit] Timeline of other issues

  • In 1996, hazardous waste was found dumped in the Fall River portion of the forest.[14]
  • In 1998, a teenager from New Bedford was found beaten in the vicinity of the forest after having been left there.[15]
  • In the spring of 2006, a number of domesticated dogs in various states of aggressiveness were found abandoned in the state forest.[16]
  • In the summer of 2006, an emu was discovered roaming southeastern Massachusetts, and was periodically spotted in the forest.[17]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Seal of the Town of Freetown Freetown, Massachusetts
Assonet · Assonet Bay · Assonet River · Apponequet Regional High School · Battle of Freetown · East Freetown · Freetown & Lakeville Public Schools · Freetown Elementary School · Freetown-Fall River State Forest · Freetown-Lakeville Middle School · Mark A. Howland · Long Pond · Marcus Morton · Seal · Selectmen
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