Located next to the airport off of South Mountain Road in Pittsfield, Wild Acres Conservation Area is 2-miles of trails surrounded by mixed woodlands, wetlands, ponds, and an observation tower.

Wild Acres was once an 83-acre piece of land owned by the Shakers, who built its pond. After the 80-year tenure with the Shakers, it was sold to a successful shoemaker, C. Dudley Holman. Avid birders, Holman and his wife Clementine added log cabins to the property, concrete dams to the pond, and cordoned off a white-sand spring with water temperatures of 42 degrees.

After her husband’s death in 1929, Clementine sold the property and it was opened as a private outdoors recreation and sportsman’s club under the Walton League. The endeavors of the Walton Sanctuary were fraught with financial difficulties and eventually, the property was given to the city of Pittsfield in 1965. It was during this time that 12 acres were whittled off for an airport runway extension. With the help of the YACC in the ’70s, the Conservation Commission oversaw extensive construction of buildings, recreational amenities, and picnic areas.

In 2007, 21 acres were again lost to the airport for expansion, this time replaced by an additional 84 acres of undeveloped forest and farmland acquired by eminent domain.

The AllTrails website has a description and map of a hike at Acres Conservation Area.