Hemlock Gorge is a 23-acre reservation along the Charles River between Route 9  to the north and Elliot Street to the south. It was conceived by Charles Eliot in 1892 and is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. At its heart is the famous Echo Bridge, which dates from 1886. Parts of the park are in Newton, Wellesley, and Needham. In addition to street parking nearby, there are two small parking lots for visitors, one in Needham at the intersection of Elliot Street and Hamilton Place and the other in Newton at the intersection of Ellis Street and Boylston Street.

Hemlock Gorge Reservation survived the influenza epidemic of 1918 and even now, in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, the park is there, in good shape, and a place you can take a walk (socially-distanced, of course) to relieve yourself of the tedium of isolation and seclusion.

The Friends of Hemlock Gorge is now a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Contributions to the Friends are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Anyone wishing to contribute to the Friends can contact us at friends@hemlockgorge.org.

To read our Bylaws, click here. To read our Statement of Purpose, click here. Officers for 2020 are: President: John Mordes; Vice-President: Evan Weststrate; Treasurer: Robin Dexter; Secretary: Sheila Purdy.

News & Announcements

To read our 2019 End-of-Year Annual Report to Members, click here.

To find links to much more news of our activities, click here.

Ellis Street Parking Lot News
Related to the Cleanup, we're happy to report that through the efforts of Philip Arpino, Assistant Superintendent, Beautification Division, Newton Parks & Recreation Dept. and Maria P. Rose, CFM Environmental Engineer, Newton Public Works Deptartment, the City of Newton has begun to maintain the Ellis Street Parking lot. On September 3rd Mr. Arpino had somebody go there and clean up the whole area, removing the illegal dumping and picking all of the litter. He also installed a barrel at the entrance, since then his staff have emptied the barrel 3 times, and his staff is keeping an eye on the area.

Public-Private Partnership Application Has Been Rejected

On September 14, however, the DCR rejected the proposal saying, "Unfortunately, DCR has to decline the Friends of Hemlock Gorge Visitor Center project for FY21 Partnership Matching Funds. The stone building building is currently being used for storage by DCR, and there is no plan currently to redesign for use as a Visitor Center. Given its current use and condition, DCR does not want to invest in any work that invites public access."

We will try to figure out what to do next at our October Meeting.

Echo Bridge Stairway: As can be seen in the photos below, the stairway leading from Echo Bridge down to Ellis Street has been deteriorating. During the summer repairs to the steps have been made a couple of times by members of the Friends. The stairs are now reasonably safe. The longer term need for repairs to, or replacement of the iron framework, is still to be addressed. Rep. Ruth Balser recently informed us that the the stairs are the responsibility of the MWRA, and they did sent out a team of inspectors at the end of September. We'll post an update when we receive more information. To see the original engineering drawings for the stairs from 1900, provided to the Friends by Lee Fisher, click here.

Linking Hemlock Gorge to the Quinobequin Trail Park

At our September, 2020 meeting the Friends approved a proposal to make it safer and easier for people to move between Hemlock Gorge to the Quinobequin Trail along Quinobequin Road. It's a simple proposal to enhance pedestrian safety by of painting crosswalks, installing ADA compliant curb cuts, and creating a gap in a guardrail for trail access. We do recognize that more elaborate measures including walk lights or speed bumps or using the tunnel under Route 9 might enhance safety even more, but we believe that this proposal offers a low cost, very 'do-able' first-step towards solving a significant safety issue. To see the proposal, click here. It was submitted to Rep. Ruth Balser's office on September 22.

2021 Annual Summer Picnic

Regrettably our 2020 summer picnic was canceled due to the pandemic. We're hopeful, however, that next year will be different!

The USGS at Hemlock Gorge
Have you ever wondered about the little room in the Stone Building or the antenna and solar panel on its roof? Or the guage in the river across from the Stone Building? Evan Westrate has been looking into all this. The Circular Dam is the location of one of the U.S. Geologi Survey's water flow monitors. You can get real time water flow (Discharge) and level (Gage Height) data of our site from this website.  You can see flow data in pretty much real time!  

2020 Spring Cleanup 

The Friends of Hemlock Gorge’s 30th Annual Spring Cleanup took place despite covid-19 in warm weather under cloudless skies on Saturday, April 25, 2020.  The reservation was surprisingly clean, perhaps as a result of people picking up trash regularly and perhaps due to fewer visitors. We don't know exactly how many persons participated because of extreme social distancing but there were quite a few of us at different times of the day. Lee and Jean Fisher, Emily Gelbert and her son Max, Evan Weststrate and his son, Robin Dexter, Bob Ellertsen and John Mordes were among the participants. Evan and his son cleaned the riverbank from his canoe. Jean raked leaves off the west end of Echo Bridge while Lee repainted the two trail markers. Emily also raked the area around the Stone Building and Bob worked on the Route 9 exit. There were many day visitors hiking through the Gorge. There were more than half a dozen bags of trash left for the DCR at the Stone Barn and Hamilton Place by the end of the day. We missed the comeraderie of the canceled luncheon but want to thank everyone who turned out to make this a success.

Click here to read the history of Echo Bridge as written by the late historian Ken Newcomb in his online book, Makers of the Mold, published by the Friends of Hemlock Gorge

To see stories about Echo Bridge  that have appeared on our web site go to: Archive of Echo Bridge news stories.

To read a very detailed government report on the Echo Bridge railings, provided to us by Lee Fisher, click here.

To hear the bluegrass classic Echo Bridge by FHG member Mark Bridger, click here. Here is Mark's recollection of the recording as recounted in the Upper Falls Newsletter in November, 2019: "More than 30 years ago I wrote a song inspired by living near Echo Bridge. At that time I played mandolin for a local bluegrass band -- with the eponymous name "Echo Bridge" -- that performed for about a dozen years in the Boston Area, especially around Newton."

• Biggest news is that the Arboretum is planning to save some of its hemlocks using new technology.

• "I met with Peter Del Tredici at the Arnold Arboretum and then went over to see their hemlocks. Peter had good news and bad news. The good news is that there is, indeed, a new hemlock treatment that is good for 5 years.  It involves placing a chemical substance in the soil rather than injecting it into the tree.The bad news is that at least 60 percent of a tree should be free of adelgids for this treatment to work. This can be quite expensive. He thinks we should look to saving perhaps half a dozen of the healthiest trees.

• He also stated that 2011 was very bad for all the hemlocks because of the warm weather.  

• Western hemlocks are more resistant than Eastern ones, but they don't do as well here because of the colder winters and drier summers.

•  He says we need a professional tree company to determine what can be done.  He was reluctant to recommend one, but then casually said that Hartney Greymont of Needham is very reputable and one of the best.

•  I had a look at the Hemlocks back in April or May, but have had a very bad ankle tendonitis that makes it difficult to walk up hills or sideways.   Maybe we could all go around and take a look at the trees during the cleanup in October.   The Hemlocks at Arnold Arboretum are also worth seeing since they have been treated and look fine."

Three windows were fabricated and installed with protective screens in front of them, replacing the bricks that were there for decades. We thank the Sangiolo family for their generous support of this much appreciated project. We hope at some point to be able to replace more windows.

The "Memory House" at Hemlock Gorge

Friends member Bob Burke some time ago wrote a lovely guest columnist article about Hemlock Gorge and the Friends' activities that has appeared in the Newton Tab. Highly recommended. Click here to read it.

News Stories

General Reservation News:

We have moved older Echo Bridge stories that have appeared on our web site to our Archive of News Stories. This is where you will find news of awards, encroachment, politics and such. For news about key concerns of the Friends like the adelgids, Echo Bridge, and the Stone Building are below.

In Waban, there was trouble with the trails along the river. See an opinion article and accompanying blog  by Jerry Reilly and a front page news article, both in the Newton Tab.

Historic Newton Walks

Finding the History in Hemlock Gorge Reservation

Sunday, June 22, 2017 2:00 PM

This walk took place on a gorgeous day, with about three dozen people in attendance. Everyone agreed that Hemlock Gorge is both a beautiful place to walk and the site of much historical importance as Newton's first industrial center. Old maps and photographs helped the group to visualize the mills that were located on the island and along the Charles River and to appreciate the importance of Worcester Turnpike/Route 9 to the area's commerce. The walk was expertly led by Lucy Caldwell-Stair, with whom the gourp found the site of the 1893 Echo Bridge Park amphitheater and the cave, the "Devil's Den," where Native Americans stored dried fish.

Adelgid News

Summer 2014

The woolly adelgid has now been in the reservation for some 15 years, and it is unclear how many of the hemlocks will survive.

We have moved older adelgid stories that have appeared on our web site to: Archive of adelgid news stories. We have archived the entire saga of the adelgids' appearance, our efforts to pass legislation to combat them, the release of the predator ladybugs in 2001, and follow up analyses in the Friends' Adelgid News Stories Archive. Below are some highlights and links.

• The Newton Tab declares the Adelgid Vanquished! (2005) Click here to view the story.
• The Arnold Arboretum's Response to the Adelgid (Winter 2005)  Click here to view the story.
• Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Website (January 2005) The USDA Forest Service now has a website dedicated to the woolly adelgid. The site includes all the of the USDA's newsletters on the pest, pictures, and a great deal of technical information. Interestingly, the Forest Service is looking at several different control insects, not just the P. tsugae ladybugs we released. Click here to go the to US Forest Service adelgid website.
• Mark McClure, who was a leader in adelgid research and discovered "our" ladybugs, retired.
• Release of the Ladybugs (2001) Click here for the story and photos of the release of the ladybugs
• About our Ladybugs (2001) Click here to view the story.
• About Adelgids (2000) Click here to view the story.