Bird Park
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Francis William Bird Park is an 89-acre landscaped and waterscaped park in East Walpole, Massachusetts. The Trustees of Reservations owns and maintains the park.
Over three miles of walking and biking paths wind through the park, traversing streams across old granite bridges and passing through rolling, grassy meadows punctuated with mature shade trees, tree groves, and ponds.
Facilities at the park include bike racks, benches, trash receptacles, public restroom (open seasonally), a "tot lot" with children's play equipment, four tennis courts, a basketball backboard, and an outdoor stage.
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[edit] History
Bird Park was created and endowed in 1925 by local industrialist Charles Sumner Bird, Sr. and his wife Anna in memory of their eldest son, Francis William Bird who had died seven years earlier.
Landscape architect and town planner John Nolen designed the park. A social reformer, Nolen believed that parks were critical to the health of urban residents and should be designed to provide a place of respite and relaxation in nature. In his original design plan, Nolen wrote that this park should be
"...a sequestered breathing place in the heart of East Walpole…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."[1]
For most of its history, the park was owned and maintained by the Francis William Park Trust. By the later decades of the 20th century, parts of the park suffered badly from vandalism and neglect.
The Trustees of Reservations gained possession of this property in 2002. Today the park is in excellent condition and several young ornamental trees such as Cherry and Japanese Maple have been added to the landscape, as have flower beds.
Recently, The Trustees of Reservations have begun the recreation of the Rhododendron Pathway through a memorial gift program.
[edit] Ellis Field
Recognizing the need for many forms of recreation, the Bird family provided a sister property for active sports when Bird Park was created. Now known as Ellis Field or Bird Athletic Field, this nearby 7-acre recreation area (at June and East Streets) was originally used by workers from mills owned by the Bird family. It continues to serve the community today as the site of team athletics.
[edit] Television
In December 2006, Walpole Community Television, in co-operation with the Walpole History Organization and a local newspaper, aired a half-hour show about the history of the park.
