Warren H. Manning State Forest
The Warren H. Manning State Forest is a state forest of about 183 acres on both sides of the Chelmsford Road (Route 129) in North Billerica, running from the Rangeway Road to the Chelmsford line and surrounding the Manning Manse. The entrance is about a third of a mile west of the Boston Road. The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation owns it; the town's Recreation Department runs the small recreation area by the parking lot, with a children's spray deck, picnic grounds and a pavilion, and the woods have a loop trail of about a mile and a third, a twenty-station fitness circuit and a children's story book trail. A memorial stone east of the entrance marks the site of the octagonal office where Warren H. Manning, the landscape architect for whom the forest is named, ran his practice from 1915 to 1923.
The land was assembled by Manning himself, piece by piece, around his family's ancestral homestead. In 1900 Jerusha J. Shed of Chelmsford, who had it under the will of Lucinda Parkhurst, deeded him two tracts on the road from Billerica to Chelmsford Centre, about 33 acres on the south side by "the Dows Farm so called" and about 43 acres on the north side running to Black Brook. In 1904 the trustees under the will of Lucinda Manning sold him for $1,800 the 45 acres "known as the Manning Homestead"; he passed the house and 3.9 acres to the Manning Association the same day and kept the rest. The westernmost piece was "part of the farm of the late Joseph Dows". Dows's heirs sold its 58.43 acres of woodland to William P. Webster of Lowell on the last day of 1863, after auctioning the standing wood. The administratrix of Prentiss Webster sold the lot at auction in 1899 to Lawrence B. Gannon and Daniel A. Reardon for $257.50, and Reardon's half went to Amasa A. Brown in 1918. Brown sold the lot in 1921 to Felix Letendre of Lowell, who mortgaged it for $577. Manning bought the mortgage in August 1929 and foreclosed. At the auction on the land on September 23, 1929, Theodore F. Faulcon bought it for $300, and he deeded it to Manning a month later.
Manning had been building a public forest system for the town since 1923, when the town meeting appointed a committee to study a town forest. In 1924 the town voted to establish one. In 1925, on the report of Manning's committee, it unanimously accepted twenty-six gifts of land, many of them from Manning, along the streams, the ridges and the Old Middlesex Turnpike, and in 1931 he gave land on the Chelmsford Road for Farmer Park, where Boy Scout Troop No. 1 had built its "Camp Manning". He then turned to the Commonwealth. By a deed signed December 22, 1934, under the state forest law (General Laws, Chapter 132, Section 33), he conveyed to the Commonwealth three parcels: the 58.43 acres of the Dows farm, 25 1/2 acres north of the Chelmsford Road to Black Brook, and 57.1 acres south of the road to the Rangeway Road and the town's forest reserve. He kept the use of the road from the Manse to the Rangeway Road. An inventory of the Manse's history says he took $5 an acre for about 140 acres. In August 1935 the town, under Article 58 of that year's annual meeting, deeded its own "Town Forest Reserve" between the Middlesex Turnpike, the Treble Cove Road, the old canal and the Chelmsford line to the Commonwealth as well. The Chelmsford Road was relocated past the Manse the same year, taking a strip from the new state land. Manning died in 1938. In February 1939 his son W. Harold Manning, as executor, deeded the Commonwealth 15 more acres around the Manse lot and across the road, including the site of the office, which was taken down; the family kept Juniper Cottage, Manning's house across from the Manse.
By 1946 the chairman of the Town Forest Committee could write that the land "about Gilson Hill and Manning Manse" had been "transferred to the State park system a few years ago", while several hundred acres were still in the town forest. The state forest took Manning's name. Today it is managed with the Billerica State Forest on Gilson Hill as part of the state's Lowell and Great Brook planning unit, which counts it at 183 acres and notes that the spray deck draws so many young families on hot days that the lot fills. The Manning Manse itself, though surrounded by the forest, was never part of it: the Manning Association still owns the house and its lot.
Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| 1863 | Will | Joseph Dows of Billerica | His widow, Maria A. Dows, and his brothers and sisters | Estate of Joseph Dows (1863), whose farm on the Rangeway Road became Parcel 1 | Probate #30837 |
Middlesex probate case 30837, 62 pages; the will was proved at Groton on September 22, 1863. Joseph Dows of Billerica leaves his wife Maria A. Dows the household furniture, $2,000 and the income of $5,000 for life; $100 to his nephew Joseph Dows, son of Gustavus D. Dows; $100 to his niece Elvira Pierce, wife of Orrin Pierce; $50 to his half sister Marinda Bolton; his three pews and, after his wife's death, $1,000 to the First Baptist Society in Billerica; and, after debts, an iron fence around his cemetery lot and a monument "for myself and son", "the remainder of my Estate, Real, Personal or mixed" to "my brothers and sisters, Eliza Ann Bowers, wife of Henry Bowers, Emeline P. Mills wife of John R. Mills, Calvin Dows, Amos W. Dows, Gustavus D. Dows". They and the widow sold the woodland of his farm on the Rangeway Road to William P. Webster at the end of 1863.
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| 1863 | Deed | Maria A. Dows of Cambridge, Vermont; Amos W. Dows of Lowell; Eliza A. Bowers and Henry Bowers; Emeline P. Mills and John R. Mills; Calvin Dows of Ashburnham; Gustavus D. Dows of Boston | William P. Webster of Lowell | Dows heirs sell the 58.43-acre woodland to William P. Webster (1863) | 37/287 |
Dated December 31, 1863. The heirs of Joseph Dows (the widow Maria A. Dows and his brothers and sisters, Eliza A. Bowers and Emeline P. Mills with their husbands, all of Billerica) grant to William P. Webster "a certain parcel of land situate in Billerica ... containing fifty-eight & 43/100 acres, being part of the farm of the late Joseph Dows, deceased", beginning on the Rangeway Road at the corner of a wall, westerly on the road about 580 feet to land of William Pollard, northwesterly by Pollard 2,953 feet to the Chelmsford line, northeasterly on the town line about 800 feet to land of John Baldwin, and back by Baldwin and the farm walls; "subject to the right of the purchasers of the wood standing thereon at the auction sale made on the 11th & 12th days of November last" to remove it before April 1, 1864. This is the 58.43 acres that became Parcel 1 of the 1934 deed to the Commonwealth.
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| 1899 | Administratrix's Deed | Sarah M. Webster of Lowell, administratrix of the estate of Prentiss Webster | Lawrence B. Gannon of Billerica and Daniel A. Reardon of Chelmsford | Webster's administratrix sells it at auction to Gannon and Reardon for $257.50 (1899) | 313/463 |
Under a license of the Probate Court of July 25, 1899, Sarah M. Webster sold the real estate of Prentiss Webster, late of Lowell, at public auction on September 13, 1899 to Lawrence B. Gannon and Daniel A. Reardon, the highest bidders, for $257.50: the 58.43 acres "being part of the farm of the late Joseph Dows", "Being the same premises conveyed by Maria A. Dows and others to William P. Webster by deed dated the thirty-first day of December, A.D. 1863 ... Book 37, Page 287", and a three-acre tract in Mock Meadow conveyed to William P. Webster by Amos W. Dows and others. Recorded about October 1899.
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| October 25, 1900 | Deed | Jerusha J. Shed of Chelmsford | Warren H. Manning of Brookline | Jerusha J. Shed gives Manning two tracts on the Chelmsford road (1900) | 323/320 |
Signed August 17, 1900, recorded October 25, 1900, for one dollar. Two tracts on the main road from Billerica to Chelmsford Centre: one on the southerly side of about 33 acres, by land of the Baldwin heirs, the wall "at the Dows Farm so called" and land of the Baptist Society of North Billerica, and one on the northerly side of about 43 acres, from land of William Manning along the road and by land of Foster Farmer to the centre of Black Brook, both drawn on plans made for Jerusha Shed by Osgood and Snell in November 1895, "the same devised to me by Lucinda Parkhurst by her will duly admitted to probate in the Probate Court for the County of Middlesex". The next instrument is Manning's $700 mortgage of the southern tract to Arthur E. Bebb, later discharged.
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| March 23, 1904 | Trustees' Deed | John E. Rowell, Thomas Spaulding and George F. Colson, trustees under the will of Lucinda Manning | Warren H. Manning | Trustees of Lucinda Manning sell Manning the Manning Homestead, about 45 acres (1904) | 363/369 |
The three trustees "under the last will of Lucinda Manning late of Chelmsford ... deceased", "by virtue of a decree granted to us on the twenty fifth day of February A.D. 1904 by the Probate Court for the County of Middlesex" and for $1,800 paid by Warren H. Manning of Billerica, conveyed to him "a certain piece or parcel of land containing about forty five acres with the buildings thereon, situated in that part of said Billerica called North Billerica ... on the southerly side of the road leading from Chelmsford to said North Billerica", beginning at a stone bound on the road at Warren H. Manning's other land, "thence southerly by a brook and ditch" along his land to a corner in the wall at land of the Baldwin heirs, "thence easterly along a wall and fence also along the Old Douse farm so called to the road between Carlisle and said North Billerica", northerly by that road to its junction with the Chelmsford road and back along it, "being known as the Manning Homestead." Dated Feb. 27, 1904, acknowledged Mar. 2, 16 and 17 and recorded Mar. 23, 1904. The same day Manning mortgaged the homestead back to the trustees for $1,800 (discharged later). Lucinda Manning had gathered the whole homestead by the family quitclaims of 1838, 1852 and 1858.
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| February 9, 1918 | Deed | Daniel A. Reardon of Billerica | Amasa A. Brown of Lowell | Reardon sells his half to Amasa A. Brown (1918) | 583/260 |
Signed February 7, 1918, for one dollar and other considerations. Daniel A. Reardon, with his wife Mary J. Reardon releasing dower, sells "one undivided half" of the 58.43 acres of the Dows farm and of the Mock Meadow lot, "Being all and the same premises to said Daniel A. Reardon and Lawrence B. Gannon conveyed by Sarah M. Webster, Administratrix of the estate of Prentiss Webster ... Book 313, Page 463." The deed of Gannon's half to Brown has not been found.
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| August 29, 1921 | Quitclaim Deed | Amasa A. Brown of Lowell and Julia N. Brown | Felix Letendre of Lowell | Brown sells to Felix Letendre (1921) | 649/219 |
Signed August 16, 1921, recorded August 29, 1921. The 58.43 acres "being part of the farm of the late Joseph Dows, deceased", and the Mock Meadow lot, "Being all and the same premises conveyed to me by Daniel A. Reardon and others by deeds dated February 7, 1918 ... Book 583, Pages 260", subject to the taxes of 1919 to 1921.
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| August 29, 1921 | Mortgage | Felix Letendre of Lowell | David Letendre of Lowell | Letendre mortgages it to David Letendre for $577 (1921) | 649/222 |
Recorded August 29, 1921. Mortgage of the 58.43 acres of the Dows farm and the Mock Meadow lot to secure $577 in two years at six percent. The same day Felix Letendre quitclaimed an undivided half to Laura M. Letendre, wife of Louis Letendre (Book 649, Page 220), subject to this mortgage. The margin notes the assignment of the mortgage to Warren H. Manning and the mortgagee's sale (Book 784, Page 38).
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| March 6, 1926 | Deed | Warren H. Manning and Henrietta H. Manning of Billerica | Inhabitants of Billerica (Town Forest) | Manning gives the town forest lots on Gilson Hill and the Rangeway Road (1926) | 734/56 |
Signed February 12, 1926 and recorded March 6, 1926, pages 56 to 59. One of the gifts accepted by the 1925 town meeting for the Town Forest: Warren H. Manning conveys several of the numbered lots on "Billerica Town Forest System, Plan A", surveyed September 30, 1925, on the slopes of Gilson Hill and along the Rangeway Road: a lot "being the same premises conveyed to me by Nathan W. Reed and Thomas J. Morey by deed dated June 21, 1904", subject to a right of way of the Appalachian Mountain Club; Lot Seven on the southeasterly side of the Rangeway Road beside Lot Six of Ada F. Jones; Lot Nine, on the easterly side of the Rangeway Road "about two thousand (2000) feet southerly" from the road from Chelmsford Centre to Billerica, by land of Coburn S. Smith, "part of the same premises conveyed to the grantor by Frederick F. Faulcon and Theodore F. Faulcon by deed dated January 10, 1925, Book 696, Page 436"; and Lots Eleven and Eleven A, on the northwesterly side of the Rangeway Road, running past the corner of the wall of "Old Dow's farm" and land of the Baldwin heirs to the Chelmsford road. The grantor reserves rights of way for his remaining land. Henrietta H. Manning, his wife, releases dower and homestead.
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| November 14, 1929 | Foreclosure Deed | Warren H. Manning of Billerica, assignee of the mortgage | Theodore F. Faulcon of Billerica | Warren H. Manning, holding the mortgage, forecloses; Theodore F. Faulcon buys at auction for $300 (1929) | 784/38 |
Signed September 30, 1929, recorded November 14, 1929, with the affidavit of sale (pages 38 to 41). David Letendre had assigned the 1921 mortgage of Felix Letendre to Warren H. Manning in August 1929. After notices in The Billerica News on August 29, September 5 and September 12, 1929, the premises were sold at auction on the land on September 23, 1929, by William J. Cormier, auctioneer, to Theodore F. Faulcon, for $300: "fifty-eight and 43/100 (58.43) acres, being part of the farm of the late Joseph Dows, deceased" and the three acres "in Mock Meadow so called".
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| November 14, 1929 | Quitclaim Deed | Theodore F. Faulcon of Billerica | Warren H. Manning of Billerica | Faulcon conveys the 58.43 acres to Manning (1929) | 784/42 |
Signed and acknowledged October 30, 1929, recorded November 14, 1929 (pages 42 and 43). Faulcon, "being unmarried", "for consideration paid", quitclaims to Manning the 58.43 acres "being a part of the farm of the late Joseph Dows deceased" and the three acres in Mock Meadow, "Being the same premises conveyed to Felix Letendre by Amasa A. Brown by his deed dated August 16, 1921 ... and being the same premises conveyed to me by the said Warren H. Manning by his deed of foreclosure bearing even date herewith". It is "the first parcel" of this deed that Manning gave to the Commonwealth in 1934.
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| December 27, 1934 | Warranty Deed | Warren H. Manning, widower, of Waltham | Commonwealth of Massachusetts | Manning deeds about 141 acres to the Commonwealth for a state forest (1934) | 857/146 |
Signed December 22, 1934, recorded December 27, 1934, approved as to form and title by the Assistant Attorney General. "For consideration paid" and "under the provisions of Chapter 132, Section 33, General Laws", with warranty covenants, three parcels: Parcel 1, "fifty-eight and forty-three hundredths (58.43) acres, being a part of the farm of the late Joseph Dows", on the Rangeway Road to the Chelmsford line, "the first parcel in deed of Theodore F. Faulcon to grantor, dated October 30, 1929 ... Book 784, Page 42"; Parcel 2, 25 1/2 acres on the northerly side of the main road from Billerica to Chelmsford, from land of William Manning to Black Brook and land of the Town of Billerica; Parcel 3, about 57.1 acres on the southwesterly side of the road, to the Rangeway Road and the "Billerica Town Forest Reserve". For Parcels 2 and 3 "see deed of Jerusha J. Shed to grantor dated August 17, 1900 ... Book 323, Page 320, and deed of John E. Rowell et als, Trustees to grantor dated February 27, 1904 ... Book 363, Page 369." Manning reserves the use of the road from the Manning Manse to the Rangeway Road. About 141 acres in all; the Manning Manse lot itself had gone to the Manning Association in 1904.
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| May 13, 1935 | Taking | County Commissioners of Middlesex County (for the Town of Billerica) | Town of Billerica (highway easement) | Chelmsford Road relocated past the Manse, taking an easement from the state land (1935) | 862/82 |
Order of the County Commissioners dated May 7, 1935, recorded May 13, 1935, on the petition of the inhabitants of Billerica that "the road leading from North Billerica to Chelmsford, past the 'Manning Manse', so-called, to the Chelmsford town line" be relocated and specifically repaired. The new lines, sixty-five feet apart, follow a plan of the highway dated 1935 (Plan Book M, Plan 221); "by this relocation lands are taken as easements for highway purposes from the various abutters", on the southerly side from the heirs of David Winning, the Department of Conservation and the "Manning Association ... an indefinite area", with no damages awarded to the Association. The town was to enter by June 1, 1935 and the work to be done by Jan. 1, 1936. The relocated road left the Manse set well back from the pavement. Pages 82-86.
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| September 21, 1935 | Deed | Inhabitants of the Town of Billerica, by its Selectmen | Commonwealth of Massachusetts | The town deeds its Town Forest Reserve to the Commonwealth (1935) | 872/444 |
Signed August 12, 1935 and recorded September 21, 1935, pages 444 to 446, approved as to form by the Assistant Attorney General. Under Article 58 of the annual town meeting of 1935, the Selectmen Maurice A. Buck, A. Warren Stearns, George S. Gracie, Arthur R. Hallenborg and Frank A. Kelley quitclaim to the Commonwealth, "for consideration paid" and under General Laws Chapter 132, Section 33, "all the land known as Town Forest Reserve conveyed to the Town of Billerica by various deeds, lying northeasterly of the Middlesex Turnpike so-called from the Treble Cove Road to the Chelmsford-Billerica town line; lying northwesterly of Treble Cove Road; lying westerly of Boston Road to Sprague's Bridge so-called; lying southerly of the old Middlesex Canal site, and lying southeasterly of the Chelmsford-Billerica town line as shown on Manning's Plan A, Billerica Town Forest System", excepting Lot A, 2.60 acres on the southeasterly side of the Rangeway Road beside the land of Egbert and Alice I. Hans. The Town Clerk, Roland G. Wright, certifies the warrant article and the vote. This deed put the town forest lots on Gilson Hill and along the Rangeway Road into the state forest.
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| February 25, 1939 | Warranty Deed | W. Harold Manning of Waltham, individually and as executor of the estate of Warren H. Manning | Commonwealth of Massachusetts | Manning's son and executor deeds 15 more acres, keeping Juniper Cottage (1939) | 926/222 |
Recorded February 25, 1939 (pages 222 to 224). Under General Laws Chapter 132, Section 33, with warranty covenants, the land "with building thereon": Parcel 1 on the north side of the way between Chelmsford and Billerica, 5.91 acres, excepting a reserved parcel with the buildings (Juniper Cottage, which the family kept), and Parcel 2 across the highway, 9.22 acres around the land of the Manning Association, "a portion of the same second parcel ... from Jerusha J. Shed to Warren H. Manning dated August 17, 1900 ... Book 323, Page 320" and "a portion of the same premises ... from John E. Rowell, Thomas Spaulding and George F. Colson to Warren H. Manning dated February 27, 1904 ... book 363, page 369", the bounds taken from surveys by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation. The site of Manning's octagonal office was in this land.
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted; Probate # is a Middlesex probate case, Ctf a Land Court certificate of title.
References
- Town of Billerica: Warren Manning State Forest brochure (trails, fitness circuit, spray deck, parking)
- Mass. DCR, Lowell/Great Brook Planning Unit Resource Management Plan: Warren H. Manning State Forest, 183 acres
- Annual Reports 1920-1924: 1923 vote for a Town Forest committee; February 1924 vote establishing a Town Forest
- Annual Reports 1925-1929: 1925 vote accepting the gifts of land (B.T.F. 1 to 26) and Town Forest Committee reports
- Annual Reports 1930-1934: Farmer Park and Camp Manning (1931); Article 58 of 1935 warrant
- Annual Report 1946: Town Forest Committee on Manning and the transfer to the state park system
- Wikipedia: Warren H. Manning