Date change Lets Hike Ballou Farm preserve and Blackall Family Preserve

This hike has lots of hills. This property was opened to the public in 2017. In 2018 the Cumberland Land Trust expects to acquire abutting lots which will increase this preserve to 200 acres.

For most of the 20th century the Blackall family owned and farmed this property. The 18th C. family homestead is on Old West Wrentham Road. The western half of the Blackall property was sold and developed as Highland Corporate Park for the CVS corporate headquarters, apartments, and commercial office space. The eastern half of the property was conserved as open space. Much of the land north of the power lines was an apple orchard, now overgrown but a few apple trees still survive along the trails. Visitors can see remnants of the farming history in the impounded cattle ponds, cart paths, miles of well made stone walls, and a horse riding ring (yellow trail). The many stone walls kept separate the pastures, wood lots, and apple orchards.