Celebrate 50 Years With Us

As we begin our 50th year of conservation and land
management we want to highlight 50th bannersome of the outstanding properties we are honored to hold in conservation for all to enjoy. And what better place to begin than with our first property, Bates Land.
The Bates Land, 40 acres of fields and woods off Old Ayer Road and along James Brook was given to the GCT by Natica Bates in 1968. A trail up Indian Hill affords excellent views towards the west and connects to the Blackman Land. A picnic grove called “The Roadside Piece” was developed with R. Harvey Whitehill Memorial Funds. A conservation restriction has been held by The Trustees of Reservation since 1997. Mrs. Bates daughter, Natica, wrote a history of the property for the 35th anniversary of the GCT. You can read a portion of it HERE and get an idea of what life — and the land — was like when Mr. and Mrs. Bates first found it.