Art on The Trails 2018 Unexpected Gestures: Closing poetry reading and reception. Poets read work along the trail in response to art installations. Download the map with parking and directions.
SOLF is excited to announce that we are the recipients of a grant from the Southborough Community Fund, a fund of the Foundation for Metrowest. The grant is to support Art on the Trails 2018: Unexpected Gestures. Art on the Trails 2017 was proposed and planned by Southborough Artist Catherine Weber. An extra special thanks goes to Catherine for all her efforts on Art on the Trails this year. It was a phenomenal success. Details of the 2018 show will follow.
The Southborough Open Land Foundation extends a tremendous THANK YOU to Catherine Kundrath Weber for pulling off a highly successful “Art on the Trails” project. From original concept, to all the many threads that must be coordinated, to perseverance throughout the entire process to even a celebration walk and poetry reading at the end, she maintained enthusiasm and a “can do” attitude. Because of this, many residents of our town discovered the Beals Preserve for the first time and found a safe place of natural solace to revisit and cherish. Catherine, you are a champion of Art and Nature.
The Southborough Open Land Foundation (SOLF) presented naturalist, tracker and teacher of wilderness skills Paul Wanta in an exploration of the wildlife and plants that inhabit Beals Preserve, Southborough, MA. Paul Wanta has taught wilderness and tracking skills to young people for over 30 years. He lead us through the trails of Beals Preserve looking for the tracks and signs of the wildlife present in the Preserve.
The Southborough Open Land Foundation has a full schedule of event for the summer and fall. In collaboration with Southborough Artist Catherine Weber, Art on the Trails: Finding Solace in the Woods, continues through September 24, 2017, at the Elaine and Philip Beals Preserve, Southborough, Massachusetts. This exhibition of sculptural installations, juried by Southborough resident Mary M. Tinti, former Curator of the Fitchburg Art Museum, is on view until September 24th. Artists exhibiting are Freedom Baird (Cambridge), Lisa Barthelson (Rutland), Gregory Barry (Ashburnham), Chelsea Bradway (Southborough), Crystal Blanchflower (Ashburnham), Bill Cohn (Lexington), Max Francis (Southborough), Miley Francis (Southborough), Hadley Horner (Southborough), Linda Hoffman (Harvard), Lydia J Musco (Royalston), Aneleise Ruggles (West Newton), and Catherine Weber (Southborough). The theme, Finding Solace in the Woods, is in response to our constantly-connected culture and ever-challenging political climate, there are few places to find quiet moments of respite and meditation away from the stress of daily life. Visit Beals Preserve and enjoy this wonderful exhibit.
On September 23, 2017, SOLF is sponsoring a wildlife tracking program with Paul Wanta, a teacher, tracker, and naturalist from Wendell, MA. The program will be held at Beals Preserve from 9:00 AM to about noon and is open to all. Watch for more details.
A program on Birds of Prey will be given at 2:00 PM, Saturday October 28, 2017, at the Southborough Public Library, 25 Main Street, Southborough, MA. The program features Tom Ricardi of the Massachusetts Birds of Prey Rehab Facility in Conway, MA with live birds of prey. Among the raptors featured will be a Golden Eagle. . The event is free and open to the public. More details to follow.
The Southborough Open Land Foundation, with support from the Southborough Open Space Preservation Commission and Sudbury Valley Trustees, invites you to a complimentary workshop to explore options for conserving family land, Sunday, June 25, 2017, 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM, Southborough Community House, 28 Main Street, Southborough, MA 01772. Presentations by Steve Sloan, Owner of Cambridge Consulting, a firm that helps protect natural areas, farmland, and historic sites across Massachusetts; Frederica Gillespie, Southborough Open Space Preservation Commission; and a panel of Southborough landowners who have successfully conserved their properties.
Please direct questions/RSVPs to Chelsea Polevy by June 21. Email: cpolevy@svtweb.org or call (978) 443-5588 ext.138.
For a flyer on the event, click here.
This workshop is made possible by a generous grant from the Foundation for Metrowest, Southborough Community Fund.
Please join us for a very special evening of art installations on the trails of Beals Preserve. Meet us at the Main Entrance Kiosk for a walk in the woods to view art installations and hear the artists speak about their work. Learn more at www.artonthetrails.com
The 2017 Annual Meeting of the Southborough Open Land Foundation (video), held May 17, 2017 was highlighted by the presentation of both the 2016 and 2017 Elaine Beals Conservation Award and an illustrated discussion on the Bay Circuit Trail by Marilyn and Dan Brielmann of e-Awakening. The meeting opened with a brief overview by Catherine Weber on the upcoming Art on the Trails Exhibition. Following this, the 2016 Elaine Beals Award was presented to Christa Brady and the Friends of the Burnett-Garfield House in recognition of their efforts to preserve the property at 84 Main Street. The group helped educate the community about the historical significance of the property and the importance of placing a historic preservation restriction on the property. SOLF also took the opportunity to present special awards recognizing two Algonquin High School students, Jen Fox and Bridget Brady, for their leadership in leading the protest which awakened the town to the impending demolition of the house at 84 Main Street.
Alan French, founder and former chairman of the Bay Circuit Alliance, was presented with the 2017 Elaine Beals Award. Alan has worked tirelessly for over thirty years to reinvigorate the Bay Circuit Trail concept and bring it to completion. An idea first conceived in 1929 by a man named Benton MacKaye, the trail was to be a greenway, in a wide arc of open space roughly in the vicinity of what is now route 128. It would provide a natural respite for the growing population. Now, the trail is in a much larger arc of over 230 miles of trail with Newburyport at one end and Duxbury at the other. Southborough is at its westernmost point. In the process, many acres of land have been protected and many many people have enjoyed these beautiful trails close to home.
Following the presentation of the awards, the husband and wife team of e-Awakening, Marilyn and Dan Brielmann, gave an illustrated discussion of walks along portions of the Bay Circuit Trail, accompanied by original songs of Dan Brielman. Marilyn and Dan are environmental activists and educators whose mission is to tell green stories and build a sustainable environment through books, music and video. You can watch a video of their presentation here (their presentation starts at about 20 minutes). More information, including videos of the Bay Circuit Trail, books, and Dan’s recordings, are available on their website e-Awakening.
The Southborough Open Land Foundation will hold its annual meeting on Wednesday, May 17, 2017 at the Southborough Community House, 28 Main Street, Southborough at 7:00 PM.
Join us at the meeting where Dan & Marilyn Brielmann of e-Awakening along with Alan French will be your guides taking you along the Bay Circuit Trail, a 200 mile natural wonder that arcs around the City of Boston from Newburyport, through Southborough and other Metrowest communities, to Kingston, MA. In addition, Alan French will be presented the Elaine Beals Conservation Award, presented annually by SOLF to a person who has worked to help protect the environment in Southborough and the region. Alan French is an Andover resident and was the founder, Chairman, and Executive Director of the Bay Circuit Alliance, Inc. He will talk about the more than 25 years he was involved with this project and making it a reality. The Elaine Beals Conservation Award was created in 2005 to honor Elaine Beals for her many contributions to conservation and the protection of the environment in Southborough and the region.
The meeting is free and open to the public, you need not be a member of SOLF to attend. Click here for a flyer on the event.
June 3, 2017. Opening of Art on the Trails: Finding Solace in the Woods at Beals Preserve. The show will be open until September 24, 2017 and features art installations by 10 regional artists.
Juried by Southborough resident and former Fitchburg Art Museum Curator Mary Tinti.
The public is invited to the opening reception, Moving Celebration of Art on the Trails: Finding Solace in the Woods
at Beals Preserve. Walk the trails and hear artists talk about their work.
Wednesday, June 7, 2017, 6:00 to 8:00 PM. Meet at the Main Entrance Kiosk of Beals Preserve.
Call for Poetry as part of Art on the Trails: Finding Solace in the Woods at Beals Preserve. Poets are encouraged to submit poetry written in response to the work. Deadline for submissions is July 7. Poetry will be juried by Tishman Review poetry editor, poet, and Westborough resident Maura Snell and Hopkinton poet Cynthia Franca. All accepted poetry will be included in a chapbook along with the art installations which inspired them. Submission guidelines and more information about Art on the Trails: Finding Solace in the Woods can be found at artonthetrails.com or by contacting Catherine Weber at cweber@artonthetrails.com or 508-523-3605.
In collaboration with Southborough Artist Catherine Weber, SOLF is pleased to present Art on the Trails: Finding Solace in the Woods at the Elaine and Philip Beals Preserve from June 3 – September 24, 2017. Artists are invited to apply for this outdoor exhibition, juried by Southborough resident Mary M. Tinti, former Curator of the Fitchburg Art Museum. In addition to a juried exhibition, there will be an area set aside for community installations of all kinds, as space allows. Community members of all ages and talents are encouraged to submit work. For a Community Advocate article on the program, click here.
The SOLF Board of Trustees will meet April 19, 2017, at 7:00PM, at the Southborough Community House.
SOLF is excited to announce that we are the recipients of a grant from the Southborough Community Fund, a fund of the Foundation for Metrowest. The grant will enable SOLF to present a workshop to inform landowners of the financial and environment advantages of placing a conservation restriction on their property and/or donating the property to a land trust. The funds will also enable SOLF to present several nature related programs open to the public. Please visit the Southborough Community Fund (SCF), Foundation for Metrowest website to see the good work it is doing in town. Programs funded by this grant will be listed on our Upcoming Events page.
The Southborough Open Land Foundation (SOLF) was founded in 1988 to preserve, protect, and enhance the natural resources in the Town of Southborough. Our goal is to maintain and improve the quality of life for the benefit of present and future generations of Southborough’s residents and visitors.
Since its founding, the Southborough Open Land Foundation has preserved 15 properties totaling 191.6 acres as open space in Southborough. As a private, non-profit land trust, SOLF needs your help to support our activities in land protection, stewardship, and nature education work in Southborough. PLEASE SUPPORT SOLF TODAY. DONATE AND/OR VOLUNTEER.
The Elaine and Philip Beals Preserve is a 58.5 acre parcel of open space gifted to the Southborough Open Land Foundation by Elaine and Philip Beals. Located in Southborough on Main Street across from Chestnut Hill Road, the property features a diverse ecosystem including Wachusett channel frontage, a pond, meadows, woodlands, and trails that link to the Sudbury Reservoir Trail. We encourage you to explore the property in all of its seasonal guises.
Access to Beals Preserve is from Route 30 (Main Street), Red Gate Lane, Hickory Road, or the Sudbury Reservoir Trail.
Route 30 (Main Street) access. There are two areas in which you may park for this access.
1. Park at the triangle of Northborough Road and Main Street. Walk to the access on the right side of Main Street directly across from Chestnut Hill Road. Go through the gate (please close it after you), walk down the lane and across the bridge over the Wachusett channel. Please do not park in front of the gate.
2. Park in the Parking Area for the trails for Chestnut Hill Farm. Turn onto Chestnut Hill Rd. The parking area is on the right side of the road in the field past the collection of white houses and outbuildings and marked with a sign. Walk back to Route 30, and the entrance to Beals Preserve is directly across the street. Go through the gate (please close it after you), walk down the lane and across the bridge over the Wachusett channel. Please do not park in front of the gate or in the areas reserved for the Farm Stand at Chestnut Hill Farm.
Red Gate Lane access. Park on Red Gate Lane and enter at the access point on the right hand side of the cul de sac. Follow the trail onto the property. Please do not block any driveways or mailboxes. Red Gate is accessed off Flagg Road.
Hickory Road. Park on Hickory Road and enter the marked access trail. Please do not block any driveways or mailboxes.
Sudbury Reservoir Trail coming from the east: Follow the Sudbury Reservoir Trail across Deerfoot Road. Access to Beals Preserve is approximately one-half mile on the left at the bridge over the Wachusett channel.
Sudbury Reservoir Trail coming from the west: Access the Sudbury Reservoir Trail at Lynbrook Road and follow east until you reach the entrance to Beals Preserve at the bridge over the Wachusett channel.
Approximately six acres of Beals Preserve have been committed to the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP), funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and administered by the department’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. The WHIP area is on the left of the trail if you enter from the lane on Main Street. The aim of the project is to remove invasive plants and to improve wildlife habitat for at-risk species such as the New England Cottontail and the American Woodcock. SOLF has committed to long-term management activities to ensure the integrity and viability of the improved wildlife habitat. To protect wildlife, please do not enter or walk in this area.
Permitted activities include: walking on trails, cross country skiing, snow shoeing, and dog walking. Dog walking is allowed as long as sensitive habitat and positive visitor experience are preserved. Dogs must be under owners control and must stay out of the meadows and the Wildlife Habitat Improvement Program area.
The following activities are prohibited: motorized vehicles, hunting or trapping, unauthorized camping, fires, dumping of trash or yard waste, and unauthorized cutting or removal of plants.
Watch Sights in Southborough: Beals Preserve, a video by Southborough Access Media.
Click here for a trail map of Beals Preserve.
Click here for a trail map and brochure by Sudbury Valley Trustees, holder of the Conservation Restriction on Beals Preserve.
