Vietnam Veterans Park
Vietnam Veterans Park is a town park of about 200 acres on the southeasterly side of Treble Cove Road, across the road from the Middlesex County House of Correction and reaching down to the east shore of Winning Pond and the Concord River. It was laid out in 1979 to 1981 on the farm land of the county jail, and the town has long described it as "the first park in the United States dedicated to Vietnam Veterans." Besides the town's Vietnam Veterans Memorial it holds soccer fields, a BMX race track, an equestrian ring, a radio control flying field, bocce courts, a playground, a community garden and five to seven miles of trails, and it surrounds the 34-acre Ralph Hill Wood Lot of the Sudbury Valley Trustees.
The town's park brochure says that Ralph Hill, one of the first proprietors of Billerica, bought the wood lot in 1658, although most of the land west of the Concord stayed common until the division of 1708, when the third range of lots was laid out "running from 'treble cove' to the river and Winning's Pond." Alexander Winning came from Ireland and was on the tax list in 1738. He "settled near the fine pond which bears his name, and had a mill on the brook running from it," and the Winnings kept a saw mill on that brook for many years. In 1883 Hazen described "the beautiful Winning's Pond in the south, flanked by highlands towards the river, which were early known as 'Farley' Hill." In 1871 J. B. Bailey of Charlestown bought the farm, and in 1877 he conveyed it to John M. Bailey and Jennie G. Bailey. As Winning Farm it became known for his trials of ensilage, the French system of keeping green fodder corn in silos, which he described in The Book of Ensilage (1880-1881), "Experience with 'ensilage' at 'Winning farm'." He kept Jersey cattle, several breeds of sheep and Berkshire swine.
Under Chapter 381 of the Acts of 1929, Middlesex County built a new house of correction to replace the unsafe one at Cambridge. In 1930 the county commissioners took the 300-acre Bailey Farm by eminent domain, in nine parcels "lying on both sides of the road running between said Billerica and Carlisle, known as Treble Cove Road, formerly called Concord Road," with an award of $53,000 to its record owner, J. Edward Maloney. The plan, urged by A. Warren Stearns, then the state Commissioner of Correction, was for the prisoners to work the farm and raise their own food. The prison opened on December 31, 1931. The land across the road became the jail's dairy farm, with a 16-acre cranberry bog that yielded about 1,000 bushels a year; the beaver pond in the park now covers the site of the bog. The county's dairy barns, by then badly decayed, were taken down in 2013.
On August 9, 1979 the Legislature passed Chapter 486 of the Acts of 1979, "An Act directing the county commissioner of Middlesex County to establish a park on certain land in the town of Billerica." It moved county land on the southeasterly side of Treble Cove Road from the control of the sheriff to the county commissioners, to be "used and maintained as a park and recreation area." The county engineers drew the plan of the park, about 194 acres, in October 1980. The town's Park Department listed "the new Veterans Memorial Park located on Treble Cove Road" among the grounds it kept in 1981, and from 1982 called it the Viet Nam Veteran Park. The town reports do not record the date of its first dedication. Veterans' groups, youth leagues, the horsemen and the town built fields, show rings and the memorial on the county land over the next decade. In 1986 the Recreation Commission applied to the state for a grant for a "multi-purpose recreational facility" at the park, and Kenneth L. Buffum, director of veterans' services, reported that "with the assistance of 3 veterans organizations and the House of Correction (work release program)" the Vietnam memorial monument on Treble Cove Road had been completed. His department finished the first phase of a beautification of the memorial in 1993. The Conservation Commission held the town's Earth Day festivities at the park in 1993 and 1994.
A Special Town Meeting in May 1993 voted to ask the Legislature to transfer the 194 acres from the county to the town, "to continue to be used as park and recreation area in perpetuity." Supporters said a subcommittee had worked for about four years on the transfer, and Crystal A. Card of the Conservation Commission told the meeting that once the town owned the land it could apply for state grants. The Select Board named a County Land Use Committee, chaired by Selectman Thomas H. Conway Jr., which worked with State Representative William G. Greene Jr. and the county commissioners. At the Fall Town Meeting on November 3, 1994 Conway presented the county's quitclaim deed to Ralph M. Krau, chairman of the selectmen, who accepted it for the town. The selectmen wrote that "clearly the driving force for our success was Tom Conway." Later town reports give the year of the transfer as 1995. Donald R. Donati, chairman of the Recreation Commission until his death in 1997, was remembered as "instrumental" in the town's acquisition of the park.
A Vietnam Veterans Park Committee, whose members in 2000 included Selectman James F. O'Donnell Jr. and Conway, worked with ICON architecture on a master plan, finished in 1998, to balance the park's many users. Water and electric lines were run to the soccer field and BMX track in 2001, and the contractor for the rebuilding of Route 3 made a wetland replication area in the park. The BMX track held its first races in April 2002. The same year the town built a new entrance, roadway, parking area and children's playground, Scouts marked the trails, and a grant from the Massachusetts Tourism Bureau paid for new memorial markers for the men of Billerica who died in the Vietnam War. For the town's 350th anniversary the Moving Wall, the traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, stood in the park from May 12 to 15, 2005. During its visit the park was rededicated, the new markers for the six Billerica men who lost their lives in the war were dedicated, the Veterans Memorial Bridge at Route 3 and Treble Cove Road was named, and a closing ceremony honored those still missing in action.
A community garden opened in 2010 with 29 families, and two accessible fishing platforms and a canoe launch were built on Winning Pond with the state's Division of Boating and Fishing Access. The youth soccer association finished two more fields by 2013, Eagle Scouts built a picnic shelter in 2012 and gazebos at the garden, and the Sons of Italy adopted the bocce courts, which were lit in 2014. A town dog park beside the park, paid for mostly by a Stanton Foundation grant, opened on June 1, 2019. The Recreation Department moved its Halloween festival to the park in 2019 and added a summer kick-off on the upper lawn, the town used Community Preservation money for a disc golf course, finished by 2022, and voted more to upgrade it in 2023, and a hot air balloon festival drew more than 6,000 people in July 2025. The town and the Sudbury Valley Trustees now manage the park and the Ralph Hill land together as about 240 acres, of which 150 acres are conservation land.
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| October 8, 1869 | Warranty Deed | Adonijah Pinnock | David A. Stackpole and Isaac R. Stackpole | 1869: Adonijah Pinnock sells the farm on the road to Carlisle to David A. and Isaac R. Stackpole | 70/164 |
Pages 164-165, signed Oct. 8, 1869. Adonijah Pinnock (Pennock) of Billerica, yeoman, with his wife E. Jane Pinnock, for $5,000 sells to David A. Stackpole and Isaac R. Stackpole, both of Billerica, "two lots of land with the buildings thereon, situate in said Billerica, containing about one hundred and twenty five acres": the first lot "beginning on the westerly side of the road leading from Billerica to Carlisle at a wall at land of A. Jones formerly the Rogers land," by Jones 123 rods 11 links, C. S. Brown and Lucy H. Foster; the other on the opposite side from the "Common land" to "Winnings Pond," by Nathan Abbot and Hiram Brown, "as per plan of said farm surveyed by Cyrus Thompson, March 12, 1851, for Shedd and Manning. Reserving the right of way to said Nathan Abbot land." "Being the same premises conveyed to me by J. S. Loring and Hiram W. Loring, deed dated November 2d 1867" (Book 59, Page 107; the copy says Book 57). Subject to "a mortgage given by Shedd and Manning to Elizabeth Fredericks et als, dated April 2d 1842," Book 415, Page 79, which the grantees assume.
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| July 8, 1871 | Warranty Deed | Isaac R. Stackpole of Billerica (Huldah C. Stackpole, his wife, releasing dower and homestead) | David A. Stackpole | 1870: Isaac R. Stackpole releases his half of the farm to David A. Stackpole | 80/223 |
Signed Oct. 3, 1870, acknowledged before Dudley Foster, recorded July 8, 1871 (pages 223-224; page 223 not read). The farm in two lots on the road to Carlisle; the second lot runs "easterly and southeasterly by said Abbot land and land of Hiram Brown, one hundred and twelve rods & 23 links, thence in a northwesterly course by land of said Brown and land of Hartford brothers, formerly Rogers land to said road ... as per plan of said farm surveyed by Cyrus Thompson March 12, 1851 for Shed & Manning. Reserving the right of way to said Nathan Abbot land." Subject to two mortgages, to Elizabeth Fredric and to A. Pinnock, which the grantee assumes; Isaac keeps his part of the crops raised on the farm that year; "the wood cut and corded on the place, and all the manure the grantee is to have"; possession on November 1.
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| November 27, 1871 | Warranty Deed | David A. Stackpole of Billerica (Hannah L. Stackpole, his wife, releasing dower and homestead) | J. B. Bailey of Charlestown | 1871: David A. Stackpole sells the two lots, about 125 acres, from the Common land to Winning's Pond, to J. B. Bailey for $6,000 | 83/199 |
Signed Sept. 27, 1871, recorded Nov. 1871 (pages 199-200). For $6,000, "two lots of land with the buildings thereon, situate in said Billerica, containing about one hundred and twenty five acres." The first lot begins "on the westerly side of the road leading from Billerica to Carlisle at a wall at land of Anthony Jones formerly the Rogers land," runs northwesterly 123 rods and 11 links by Jones, to G. S. Brown and the heirs of Lucy H. Foster, "this lot has a dwelling house &c. thereon." The other lot is "on the opposite side of said road": "Beginning on the southeasterly side of said road at the 'Common land' so called, thence running southerly by said Common land to Winning's pond, thence easterly by said pond to land formerly of Nathan Abbot deceased, thence easterly and northeasterly by said Abbot land and land of Hiram Brown, one hundred and twelve rods & 23 links, thence in a northwesterly course by land of said Brown and land of Daniel Hartford, formerly Rogers land, to said road," as on the 1851 Cyrus Thompson plan "for Shed & Manning," reserving the right of way to the Abbot land; "the 2d lot has a barn & out buildings thereon." Subject to three mortgages: to Elizabeth Fredric for $1,300, one assigned to Anthony Jones for $1,200, and to D. A. Stackpole for $1,250.
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| September 16, 1878 | Warranty Deed | John B. Bailey | Jennie G. Bailey et al. and John M. Bailey et al. | 1878: John B. Bailey conveys the farm to Jennie G. and John M. Bailey | 131/20 |
Pages 20-21, signed Nov. 1877 and acknowledged Nov. 8, 1877 before Dudley Foster, recorded Sept. 16, 1878. John B. Bailey of Billerica, with his wife Mary C. Bailey releasing dower and homestead, for $6,000 paid by John M. Bailey and Jennie G. Bailey of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, conveys "two certain tracts of land situated in said Billerica, containing one hundred twenty-five acres more or less and lying on both sides of the road leading from said Billerica to Carlisle, for description and bounds of said premises see deed of Isaac R. Stackpole to David A. Stackpole dated October 3, 1870" (Book 80, Page 223). "Said premises are subject to three mortgages amounting to thirty-seven hundred and fifty dollars all held now by Anthony Jones of said Billerica, which the said grantees are to pay and discharge"; Jones assigned all three to Jennie Gaskill Bailey the same day (pages 21-22).
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| 1881 | Warranty Deed | Anthony Jones and Dudley Foster, both of Billerica | Phebe J. Bailey of Billerica, wife of J. M. Bailey | 1881: Anthony Jones and Dudley Foster sell Phebe J. Bailey seventy acres from Winning's Pond to the Concord River | 145/103 |
Pages 103-105 (signing date on page 105 not read). For $2,000, "a certain tract of land situate in said Billerica on the west side of Concord River, containing about seventy acres," beginning "at a bound at the northwesterly corner being stake & stones at Winnings Pond, thence easterly by the pond and land formerly of Nathan Abbott," by Amos Carlton, Peter Hill, Samuel Whiting, Lott Easty, Oliver Crosby and Lucy H. Foster; also six acres of woodland "called the Easty lot," and eleven acres of woodland on the Concord River "known as the Whiting lot." These are the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Lots of the 1930 taking.
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| February 2, 1920 | Executor's Deed | John C. Cosseboom of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, executor of the will of Phebe J. Bailey | Edward T. Murphy | c. 1920-1921: the executor of Phebe J. Bailey sells the Bailey Farm to Edward T. Murphy | 620/83 |
Pages 83-88, signed Jan. 29, 1920, witnessed by R. H. Oveson, recorded Feb. 2, 1920. Phoebe J. Bailey, "sometimes known as Jennie Gaskill Bailey or Jennie G. Bailey, of Billerica," empowered her executor by her will (proved in the Middlesex Probate Court Sept. 15, 1916) to sell her Massachusetts real estate. For "one dollar and other valuable considerations" he conveys to Edward T. Murphy of Medford "certain parcels of land, with the buildings thereon" on both sides of the Treble Cove Road, "formerly called the Concord Road, comprising three hundred acres, more or less, and known as the Bailey Farm." Title recitals: the two home lots (about 125 acres) from Enoch G. Sweatt, March 15, 1883 (Book 166, Page 586); the 55-acre lot east of the road and south of the Middle Bridge road "having the dwelling house thereon," the "Old Orchard" lot and a 6-acre lot from Olive M. Sanders et al., Jan. 4, 1893 (Book 261, Page 527); the 70-acre, "Easty" and "Whiting" lots from Anthony Jones and Dudley Foster, 1880 (Book 145, Page 103); and 24 acres 152 rods of river woodland from Archibald K. Carruthers, March 4, 1880 (Book 158, Page 298). Refers to a plan of the Bailey Farm surveyed for Murphy.
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| 1921 | Mortgage | Edward T. Murphy | Exchange Trust Company of Boston | 1921: Murphy mortgages the Bailey Farm to the Exchange Trust Company | 689/385 |
Pages 383-388 (the row is keyed at page 385, inside the instrument). Signed Aug. 29, 1921, acknowledged in Suffolk before William H. Healey, recorded Sept. 7, 1923. Edward T. Murphy of Medford, with his wife Anna T. Murphy releasing dower, mortgages to The Exchange Trust Company of Boston, to secure $14,000 in two and a half years at 6 percent (principal and interest in gold coin), "the land with the buildings thereon in Billerica ... lying on both sides of the road running between Billerica and Carlisle, known as the Treble Cove Road, formerly called the Concord Road, comprising three hundred acres, more or less, and known as the Bailey Farm," in nine lots, with a plan of the Bailey Farm surveyed for Murphy; "Being the same premises conveyed to me by John C. Cosseboom, Executor of the will of Phoebe J. Bailey, by deed dated January 29th, 1920." Foreclosed in 1927 (Book 758, Pages 534-535).
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| January 13, 1928 | Foreclosure Deed | Exchange Trust Company of Boston, by G. Wallace Tibbetts, vice-president, holder of the Murphy mortgage | J. Edward Maloney of Newton | 1927: the bank forecloses and sells the 300-acre Bailey Farm to J. Edward Maloney for $19,000 | 758/535 |
Pages 535-538. Foreclosure under the power of sale in Edward T. Murphy's mortgage of Aug. 29, 1921 (Book 689, Page 385). Notice published Dec. 2, 9 and 16, 1927 in the Billerica Enterprise; sold at public auction by William I. Norton, auctioneer, "to J. Edward Maloney above named, for Nineteen thousand ($19000.) dollars bid by said J. Edward Maloney being the highest bid." Affidavit sworn Dec. 31, 1927, recorded Jan. 13, 1928. The farm of "three hundred acres, more or less, and known as the Bailey Farm," in the nine lots later taken by the county.
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| January 13, 1928 | Mortgage | J. Edward Maloney of Newton | Exchange Trust Company of Boston | 1928: Maloney mortgages the Bailey Farm back to the Exchange Trust Company | 758/538 |
Dated Jan. 10, 1928, recorded Jan. 13, 1928. To secure $19,000, payable $1,000 in one year, $1,000 in eighteen months and the balance in two years, "the land with the buildings thereon in Billerica ... lying on both sides" of Treble Cove Road, the Bailey Farm. Cited in the 1930 taking as outstanding on the land.
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| April 2, 1930 | Order of Taking | J. Edward Maloney of Newton, record owner (land taken) | County of Middlesex (County Commissioners Walter C. Wardwell, Erson B. Barlow and Nathaniel I. Bowditch) | 1930: Middlesex County takes the Bailey Farm by eminent domain for the house of correction, $53,000 | 788/214 |
Pages 214-218. Order adopted at Cambridge March 21, 1930, under Chapter 381 of the Acts of 1929, "an Act providing for a new house of correction for the County of Middlesex," the Cambridge house of correction having been "deemed unsafe for occupancy." Takes in fee by eminent domain under Chapter 79 "the land in Billerica with the buildings and trees thereon lying on both sides of the road between said Billerica and Carlisle, known as the Treble Cove Road, formerly called the Concord Road, comprising three hundred (300) acres more or less, and now or formerly known as the Bailey Farm," in nine lots: the first, fourth and fifth west of the road; the second from the "Common Land" to "Winning's Pond"; the third of fifty-five acres east of the road and south of the Middle Bridge road; the sixth of seventy acres west of the Concord River beginning at a stake and stones "at said Winning's Pond"; the "Easty Lot," the "Whiting Lot," and a ninth lot of 24 acres 152 rods on the river. "The record title to said land stands in the name of J. Edward Maloney of Newton," with a mortgage to the Exchange Trust Company (Book 758, Page 538); award "fifty-three thousand dollars ($53,000.00) in full for all damages." Recorded April 2, 1930. The park is the part of this land southeast of the road.
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| September 16, 1994 | Quitclaim Deed | County of Middlesex, by the Middlesex County Commissioners | Inhabitants of the Town of Billerica, by the Board of Selectmen | 1994: the county quitclaims the 194-acre park to the town under Chapter 299 of the Acts of 1993 | 7230/121 |
Dated Sept. 15, 1994, recorded Sept. 16, 1994, under Chapter 299 of the Acts of 1993 and the vote under Article 2 of the May 4, 1993 Special Town Meeting. For $1.00, "for the purpose set forth in Chapter 299 of the Acts of 1993 and Chapter 486 of the Acts of 1979," the land shown as "County of Middlesex 194 Acres" on "The County of Middlesex Plan of Land in Billerica Owned by: the County of Middlesex to be Used and Maintained as a Park and Recreation Area under the Authority of Chapter 486 of the Acts of 1979," Middlesex County Engineering Dept., October 1980, 4 sheets, Plan Book M, Plan 732. Conditions: if the town conveys any part, half of the consideration goes to the county; subject to a lease of a portion back to the county; the county reserves a sewer easement 10 feet each side of the existing 10-inch and 12-inch sewers and access over the "Road to Sewage Treatment Plant" while it uses the "67.9 Acres" as a sewage treatment plant. "For the County's title, see the Order of Taking dated March 21, 1930 ... Book 788, Page 214." Accepted by the selectmen as of Sept. 15, 1994; the deed was presented at the Fall Town Meeting of Nov. 3, 1994.
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| April 9, 2004 | Release Deed | Inhabitants of the Town of Billerica, by its Board of Selectmen | Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance, for the Middlesex Sheriff's Department | 2004: the town releases 6.06 acres at 240 Treble Cove Road to the Commonwealth for the sheriff | 17119/107 |
Recorded April 9, 2004, under Chapter 181 of the Acts of 2000 as amended by Chapter 214 of the Acts of 2001. All the town's right in "Lot A-2-A" on a plan prepared for the Town of Billerica and Billerica Water Works by Merrimack Engineering Services, April 28, 2003: 264,362 square feet or 6.06 acres with improvements "on the east side of Treble Cove Road," 240 Treble Cove Road, bounded north, east and west by other land of the town; "a portion of land described in a quitclaim deed dated September 15, 1994 ... Book 7230, Page 121," with covenants running with the land.
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| April 9, 2004 | Release Deed | Commonwealth of Massachusetts, by its Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance | Town of Billerica | 2004: in exchange, the Commonwealth releases 68 acres on River Street to the town | 17119/146 |
Recorded April 9, 2004, 14 pages: "Release Deed with Conservation and Preservation Restrictions." For $1 and the town's conveyance "of a certain parcel of land located on Treble Cove Road in the Town by deed recorded herewith" (Book 17119, Page 107), the Commonwealth releases 68.01 acres "located on and off of River Street ... along the northerly side of the Concord River," reserving restrictions to the Commonwealth and the Massachusetts Historical Commission. The other half of the 2004 exchange; not park land.
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.