Burns Memorial Park

98 Hersey St, Hingham, MA 02043, USA

Hingham Conservation: 781-741-1445

Owned By: Town of Hingham

• Directions
• Trail Map

Features

This property once belonged to the Burns family, and was sold to the Town of Hingham in 1972 for conservation. A section of it is part of the historic Tranquility Grove, which was owned by Henry and Edward Thaxter, and often employed by the townspeople for outdoor gatherings such as church picnics.

According to the Hingham Conservation Commission, Sydney Howard Gay, a Hingham native and the editor of the National Anti-Slavery Standard in New York, suggested Tranquility Grove as an ideal location for a gathering of abolitionists to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the end of slavery in the British West Indies. Known as the “Great Abolitionist Pic Nic,” the event was held on August 2, 1844, and is believed to be the largest such abolitionist event in US history, gathering 6,000-10,000 attendees from New England, New York and Pennsylvania. Notable participants included William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and the Hutchinson Family Singers. A lengthy, impassioned letter from then-Congressman John Quincy Adams was read aloud.

This land is within the region of the Massachusett (or Massachuseuk). To learn more about local Native American tribes, we encourage you to interact with their members. The Massachusett tribe at Ponkapoag and the Mattakeeset band of the Massachusett share information on their websites.

Trail Description

Park at the DPW facility on Hersey Street. Cross the road and take the stairs up to the trail that leads into Burns Memorial Park. A narrow path extends through open woods, passing by stone walls, rocky outcroppings, wetlands, and a small stream. The out-and-back trail has a loop at the end. Total distance is 0.56 miles from the entrance, around the trail loop, and back again.

Habitats and Wildlife

The open woodland park features oak and pine covered ledges, freshwater meadow, red maple swampland, flowering shrubs, and a stream that flows into Tower Brook.

Tower Brook feeds the Weir River in its upper reaches. The Weir River flows north through Hingham, gradually turning northeast and flowing for another into to Foundry Pond. The Weir River Estuary, designated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as an Area of Critical Concern, begins just below the manmade dam at the pond. The mile-wide estuary forms the border between Hingham and Hull, and empties into Hingham Bay. For more information about the Weir River, follow the Weir River Watershed Association.