Cowassock Woods (Sudbury Valley Trustees)

Cowassock Woods (Sudbury Valley Trustees)

Sudbury Valley Trustees Salem End Road Framingham, Massachusetts 01702

Official Website
Cowassock Woods map

About this Location

Sudbury Valley Trustees (SVT) Cowassock Woods is within the much larger Ashland Town Forest. Together, these properties span more than 500 acres and are rich in human and natural history.

As you walk the entrance trail at Cowassock Woods, you can see signs of a development that was planned for the site; SVT acquired the 50-plus acres of Cowassock Woods in two stages in 1984 and 1992 after the plans fell through.

Cowassock Woods and Ashland Town Forest are composed of a mosaic of mixed hardwood forest types, wetlands, vernal pools, and stream corridors.

Sixty- to eighty-year-old mixed hardwood forests, mixed oak, and oak-hickory forest types, are the dominant natural communities. These communities differ in structure and species composition depending on the dryness of the sites. Rocky outcrops on the property create the driest sites with more black birch and smaller oaks.

There are patches of naturally occurring coniferous species including white pine and eastern hemlock. There is also a large area of planted 70-foot white pine and a smaller area of planted red spruce and red pine in the center of Cowassock Woods. 

Notable Trails

The AllTrails website has a description and map of a hike at Cowassock Woods.

Features

  • Restrooms on site

  • Wheelchair accessible trail

  • Entrance fee

Content from Official Website

Last updated December 23, 2023