First Visit to the Needham Town Forest

[urbpan]

Needham is a small mostly residential town next to the one I live in, in eastern Massachusetts. I don't go there much, except to Cutler Park, a big boardwalked swamp that's fun to visit. To be fair, I haven't been to a big boardwalked swamp that WASN'T insanely fun in my opinion, and I've been to a few. I noticed that in addition to Cutler, there was another parcel of public land in the town, designated Needham Town Forest. When my dad drove up for the day, we went there. It was a very unusual Town Forest in many ways.



Sure, it had beautiful rotten logs with clusters of mushrooms.


It also had a handsomely inconspicuous bench that you could melt into the forest by sitting in it.


And then in a clearing, some signs of industry.


A model railroad track, winding a harmonious course between the trees.




And other forms of architecture.


Watch your step in the outskirts--it isn't polite to trespass.


Is this a portrait of the artist as a young man?


And what do the locals think of all this?

Comments

[lizziebelle.livejournal.com]

That's so cool!

[elainetyger.livejournal.com]

Cool place! Is that a real frog/toad?

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's a real toad, but there was at least one fake one too!

[weofodthignen]

That's wonderful. I see there are a couple of articles on-line about the train set, but that Wikipedia has no article on the park; and their article on fairy doors presented them as purely Irish and British, despite having a link below to an article on the fairy doors of Ann Arbor. I'd be heavily pro-fairy door if I weren't afraid they hurt the trees.