Governor Thomas Dudley Park
The Governor Thomas Dudley Park is about 23 acres of open fields, stone walls and woods on the westerly side of Dudley Road in South Billerica, running down to the Concord River. It lies between the land of the Daughters of St. Paul to the north and the Heatherwood Estates subdivision, whose Saddlebrook Road and Bridlewood Drive border it. A small parking area off Dudley Road gives access to paths through the fields to the river.
The land was part of the Greenwood farm on Dudley Road. In 1985 Elaine B. Coffin of Kingston, New Hampshire, who held it from the estate of Mildred Greenwood, had it surveyed (Plan Book 150, Plan 69) and sold Parcel C, 16.7 acres on the northwest side of the road, to E. S. Johnson Construction Co. of Arlington for $265,000; Lois E. Payton and Alice B. Sandberg sold the company the adjoining Parcel P, 6.8 acres, for $50,000. The company planned a subdivision, Heatherwood Estates, and in 1987 sold the land to Timbercreek, Inc., which had the same Arlington address, for $420,000. In 1986 a special town meeting took up an article to buy or take the whole 23.5 acres. Wayne Klug of Dudley Road and others showed slides of the fields, letters were read from the manager of the Great Meadows wildlife refuge, the Concord Natural Resources Commission, Hester M. Pickman, Andrew Card and other neighbors, and the developer's attorney valued the land at $1.4 million as house lots. An amended motion to spend $660,000 won a majority, 88 to 59, but lost for want of the two-thirds needed to borrow.
The purchase was finally made jointly. The 1987 town meeting (Article 6) authorized the town to buy 7 acres for conservation and passive recreation under the Conservation Commission, borrowing $444,000, and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management and the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife bought the other 16 acres, which run down to the river and to the land of the federal Great Meadows refuge. Timbercreek's deed to the town, for $441,980, was recorded on January 27, 1988, covering Lots C, 4, 5, 16 and 17 of the Heatherwood plan and part of its streets, with a restriction that the land "be forever held for conservation and recreation purposes"; the deed to the Department of Environmental Management, for 9.5 acres along the river at $666,470, was recorded the same day. Under a joint management agreement the Conservation Commission maintains the whole park and decides how it is used. The state's Self-Help program repaid the town 72 percent of its cost, $319,680, and in December 1988 the Commission built the parking area off Dudley Road.
Shortly after the purchase the Selectmen named the property the Governor Thomas Dudley Park, for the colonial governor who once held most of the land in this part of town. Thomas Dudley, then deputy governor, received a grant of 1,500 acres at Shawshin from the General Court in the 1630s, had its line along the river defined in 1651, and on February 28, 1651-2 sold it for 110 pounds to Thomas Chamberline, James Parker and Isaac Learned of Woburn, the earliest and one of the largest land sales in Billerica. Dudley Road takes its name from the same grant.
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 8, 1985 | Quitclaim Deed | Lois E. Payton of Billerica and Alice B. Sandberg of Windham, New Hampshire | E. S. Johnson Construction Co., Inc. of Arlington | Payton and Sandberg sell Parcel P, 6.8 acres, to E. S. Johnson Construction (1985) | 3206/302 |
Signed September 17, 1985, recorded October 8, 1985. For $50,000, "A certain parcel of land situated Northerly of but not adjacent to Dudley Road in Billerica and shown as Parcel P on "Plan of Land in Billerica, Mass. for Peter Coffin, May 22, 1985, Fleming, Bienvenu & Assoc., Inc."", containing 6.784 acres. The title reference is handwritten and was not read.
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| October 8, 1985 | Quitclaim Deed | Elaine B. Coffin of Kingston, New Hampshire | E. S. Johnson Construction Co., Inc. of Arlington | Elaine B. Coffin, heir of the Greenwood land, sells Parcel C, 16.7 acres (1985) | 3206/303 |
Signed September 10, 1985 (acknowledged in Lincoln, Maine), recorded October 8, 1985. For $265,000, "A certain parcel of land situated on the Northwesterly side of Dudley Road in Billerica, and shown as Parcel C" on the same plan, 16.671 acres. "For my title see Estate of Mildred Greenwood, Middlesex Probate #500986."
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| June 1, 1987 | Deed | E. S. Johnson Construction Co., Inc. (with E. S. Johnson and Elbridge S. Johnson Jr.) | Timbercreek, Inc. | E. S. Johnson Construction sells the land to Timbercreek, Inc. for $420,000 (1987) | 4081/245 |
Recorded June 1, 1987, consideration $420,000 (from the registry index; the deed was not read). Parcels P and C on Plan Book 150, Plan 69, the land being laid out as the Heatherwood Estates subdivision off Dudley Road (Plan Book 158, Plan 72).
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| January 27, 1988 | Deed | Timbercreek, Inc. | Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Environmental Management | Timbercreek sells the state share to the Department of Environmental Management (1988) | 4393/187 |
Recorded January 27, 1988, consideration $666,470 (from the registry index; not read): Heatherwood Estates lots 6 to 12 and other land on Bridlewood Road (Plan Book 158, Plan 72) with a vote. With a parcel conveyed to the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife the same day, the state share of the 23-acre park; the town manages the whole under a joint agreement.
Title from:
|
|||||
| January 27, 1988 | Quitclaim Deed | Timbercreek, Inc. of Arlington | Town of Billerica, by its Board of Selectmen (Conservation Commission) | Timbercreek sells 7 acres to the town for conservation, $441,980 (1988) | 4393/195 |
Signed in December 1987, recorded January 27, 1988. For $441,980, "to be managed and controlled by its Conservation Commission, for conservation and recreation purposes" under General Laws Chapter 40, Section 8C, seven acres more or less: Lots C, 4, 5, 16 and 17 on the Heatherwood Estates plan (Plan Book 158, Plan 72) with the adjoining parts of Bridlewood Drive and Saddlebrook Road, bounded by other land of the grantor "to be conveyed to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Dept. of Environmental Management" and "Dept. of Fisheries & Wildlife", land of the Daughters of St. Paul, a stone wall and land of Andrew T. Card, and a stone wall and Dudley Road. The grantor reserves an easement over the existing dirt road for Lots 6 and 7 and a restriction "that the land conveyed herein be forever held for conservation and recreation purposes". "Being a portion of the Premises conveyed by Lois E. Payton and Alice B. Sandberg to E.S. Johnson Construction Co., Inc. at Book 3206, Page 302 and by Elaine B. Coffin ... at Book 3206, Page 303. For prior title reference see deed from E.S. Johnson ... to Timbercreek, Inc." (Book 4081, Page 245).
Title from:
|
|||||
Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.
References
- Annual Report 1986: special and annual town meeting articles on the 23.5 acres of E. S. Johnson Construction on Dudley Road
- Annual Report 1987: Article 6, purchase of 7 acres on Dudley Road; Conservation Commission report
- Annual Report 1988: Conservation Commission names the Governor Thomas Dudley Park; parking area; Self-Help grant
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883): the Shawshin grant to Governor Thomas Dudley and his sale of 1652