Harold Parker State Forest

About this park

Harold Parker State Forest spans roughly 3,300 acres across the towns of Andover, North Andover, North Reading, and Middleton, just 20 miles north of Boston and within an hour's drive of some three million people. The state began acquiring land here in 1914 over concerns about a looming timber shortage, consolidating the holdings into a state forest in 1916 and naming it for Harold Parker, the first chairman of the State Forest Commission; much of the forest's early infrastructure was later built by Civilian Conservation Corps crews between 1933 and 1941. Eleven ponds scattered throughout the forest, including Bear, Berry, Field, Salem, and Stearns Ponds, support fishing, non-motorized boating, and seasonal swimming at Berry Pond, while more than 35 miles of trails serve hikers, mountain bikers, and equestrians across a landscape of central hardwood, hemlock, and white pine forest. Mountain bikers in particular have praised the forest's technically engaging, rocky, rooty terrain as among the best trail riding in the greater Boston region. The 89-site Lorraine Park Campground, with hot showers and flush toilets, gives Harold Parker a genuine overnight camping option unusually close to a major metro area, and wheelchair-accessible camping, picnic areas, and trail sections extend the forest's reach to a broader range of visitors. Its combination of extensive multi-use trails, numerous ponds, and proximity to Boston has made it one of the most consistently used state forests in eastern Massachusetts.