North River Wildlife Sanctuary

Coordinates: 42°09′14″N 70°44′35″W / 42.153933°N 70.742991°W / 42.153933; -70.742991

Observation platform on the North River

The North River Wildlife Sanctuary is a wildlife sanctuary owned by the Massachusetts Audubon Society, the largest conservation organization in New England, in the town of Marshfield, Massachusetts. The sanctuary contains 184 acres (0.74 km²) of mixed cultural grasslands, red maple swamps, oak-pine woodland and access to the North River. The North River Wildlife Sanctuary came to Mass Audubon as a gift of the Killam and Rodgers families in 1977.

Natural history

The North River Wildlife sanctuary has two major sections, marked by the Woodland Loop trails and the River Loop trails.

The dominant trees of the Woodland Loop are members of the black oak family, towering white pines and American beech. The under story has American holly, highbush blueberry, sweet pepperbush and, along the Hannah Eames Brook, American hornbeam or “musclewood” trees. In warmer weather approximately fifteen species of ferns can be seen along the Woodland Loop. There is a witch-hazel grove at the intersection of the Woodland Loop and the Hannah Eames Brook Trail.

The open field of the River Loop trail system sloping down to the North River valley is managed as a hayfield, as it was during prior centuries. This ecological management plan is keeping this cultural grassland, a vanishing habitat in the east, open in Massachusetts. The red maple swamp off the main field shows signs of use during the North River’s shipbuilding heyday (1690–1870), specifically multiple mature shoots sprouting from a single ancient tree trunk. Early shipbuilders found the combination of easy access to the sea, thick virgin forests and access to iron ore in bogs upriver as advantageous for their needs.

A confined growth of small trees at the top of the open field stands where a barn once stood, representative of the successional growth that would take place throughout the field if it were not managed as it currently is.

The lower loop of the River Loop winds through wetlands that include skunk cabbage and several species of ferns before emerging onto the platform above the saltmarsh grasses of the North River basin.

Trails

There are more than a mile of trails at the North River Wildlife Sanctuary.

Woodland Loop – The longest of the trails on the North River Wildlife Sanctuary, the Woodland Loop winds through an oak-pine forest of the type routinely found in the northeastern section of the United States. A spur trail, the Hannah Eames Brook Trail, leads off the Woodland Loop.

Hannah Eames Brook Trail – This short trail leads directly from the Woodland Loop to the banks of Hannah Eames Brook, ending on a wooden boardwalk.

River Loop – The River Loop circles a stonewall-encircled grassland, sloping down into the North River valley. Two smaller trails, the Red Maple Loop and an unnamed extension of the River Loop, lead off the main trail. The extension leads to a platform overlooking the North River.

Red Maple Loop – This short trail branches off and reconnects to the River Loop, traveling through a red maple swamp.

Access

The trails of the North River Wildlife Sanctuary are open from sunrise to sunset throughout the year. A small fee is charged for access. Mass Audubon members can access the trails for free. The Mass Audubon South Shore Sanctuaries staff runs regular nature programming at the site year round.

Sanctuary History

The North River and its valley provided an important travel route, agricultural area and shipbuilding center well into the late 19th century. The river basin was used by Native Americans and then by colonists as the area was settled by Europeans during the 17th century. The land that makes up the North River Wildlife Sanctuary changed hands many times during the first three centuries of settlement.

Settler Amos Rogers received a land grant in 1702 that included the Riverside Farm site. He married Rachel Wales, the daughter of the Rev. Atherton Wales, in 1737. They had a daughter, Rachel Rogers, in 1738, and later a son, Atherton Wales Rogers.

Rachel married Captain George Little in 1779. Captain Little purchased land from his father-in-law, Amos Rogers, which included the Clift Farm of 80 acres (320,000 m²), for 110 pounds. Little may have built the mansion house that was located north of the present Mass Audubon nature center. Their only child, Edward Preble Little, was born in 1775. The Rogers family had a boat yard near the river crossing in the late 18th century. In 1811, Edward Preble Little married Edy Rogers, and later married Beulah Brown of Lynn, Massachusetts in 1824. Between 1824 and 1905, the land passed from the Rogers family to Edward T. Loring of East Boston, Massachusetts, Oren A. Durrell of Lynn, Massachusetts, Benjamin E. Wright, and Enos M. Stoddard, owner of the Boston Ice Company

In 1905, upon the death of Stoddard, the estate, which by then included 180 acres (0.73 km²), a cottage near the river’s edge, and a barn, was left to his son Charles Dudley Stoddard. That year, Charles married the widow Arabella Cann Killam of Nova Scotia. Charles remained a gentleman farmer in North Marshfield. Arabella’s two daughters, Elizabeth and Constance, moved into the main house with their mother and stepfather, while her son, Izaak, remained in Nova Scotia.

In 1914 or 1915, Elizabeth (Betty) Killam married Ralph Rodgers of Marshfield. (Rodgers was from a local family that spelled the name without the “d”; it appears that he chose to change the spelling). In 1915, the cottage was moved from the river’s edge near the North River Bridge to its present location perpendicular to the main house. Betty and Ralph then moved into the cottage. They had one son, Walton. The cottage served as a residence for about twenty-five years. In 1926, Ralph Rodgers died in a flu epidemic. Betty and her son remained in the cottage.

In 1923, the main house, now the nature center of the North River Wildlife Sanctuary, and the cottage were renovated to their present configurations. Charles Stoddard died in 1933, leaving the house to his wife. When she died in 1937, she left the estate to her three children. Izaak died in 1955, Betty in 1975, and Constance in 1977. Their will left the house and grounds, with some funds for an endowment, to Mass Audubon.

When Mass Audubon assumed ownership of the estate in 1980, the barn, which was across Summer Street from the main house, was moved to a spot in the woods behind the house and refurbished to accommodate Mass Audubon’s goals and activities. Driveway construction, site work and building restoration took two years to complete. The main house now serves as the administration and management headquarters for the Mass Audubon South Shore Sanctuaries’ educational and advocacy activities on the South Shore of Boston, housing offices, a library, a program room and gift shop.

Wildlife

Due to its wide variety of habitats, the North River Wildlife Sanctuary attracts a great variety of species of mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians.

Mammals White-tailed deer live on the sanctuary throughout the year. Eastern coyotes, fishers, woodchucks, gray squirrels, red squirrels, chipmunks, field mice, and meadow voles have been seen on the sanctuary trails. Harbor seals are regularly seen in the North River.

Birds Thanks to its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, the North River Wildlife Sanctuary offers a wide variety of bird sightings. Along the river’s edge, several species of gulls can be seen in season, including great black-backed, herring, ring-billed and Bonaparte’s gulls. Egrets and herons feed in the marshy edges of the river. Red-tailed hawks hunt in the open field, while sharp-shinned and Cooper's hawks prey on the smaller birds that inhabit the area. A wide variety of birds breed on the property, including American woodcocks, red-bellied woodpeckers, tree swallows, eastern phoebes, Baltimore orioles, scarlet tanagers, eastern towhees, and more. Historically, a purple martin colony has nested in the open field.

Reptiles and Amphibians Several species of salamanders, frogs and toads can be seen on the North River Wildlife Sanctuary. Spring peepers can be heard in chorus in season. Various species of snakes can be seen in the grasslands and on the Woodland Loop.

References

Galluzzo, John J. Images of America: Mass Audubon. Arcadia Publishing (Charleston, SC, 2003).
Hagar, Joseph C. Marshfield, 70’40” W, 42’5” N: The Autobiography of a Pilgrim Town. Marshfield Tercentenary Committee (Marshfield, MA, 1940).
Krusell, Cynthia. Of Tea and Tories. Marshfield Bicentennial Committee. (Marshfield, MA, 1976).
Krusell, Cynthia and Betty Magoun Bates. Marshfield: A Town of Villages. Historical Research Associates (Marshfield, MA, 1990).
Mass Audubon. "A Brief History of the South Shore Regional Center." Unpublished.
Richards, Lysander S. History of Marshfeld. Memorial Press (Boston, MA, 1901–1905).

External links

Protected areas of Massachusetts

Federal

National Historical Parks	Adams Blackstone River Valley Boston Lowell Minute Man New Bedford Whaling

National Historic Sites	Boston African American Frederick Law Olmsted John Fitzgerald Kennedy Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters Salem Maritime Saugus Iron Works Springfield Armory

Other National Park Service Units	Appalachian National Scenic Trail Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area Cape Cod National Seashore

National Wildlife Refuges	Assabet River Great Meadows Mashpee Massasoit Monomoy Nantucket Nomans Land Oxbow Parker River Silvio O. Conte Thacher Island

Other	Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve West Hill Dam (USACE)

State

State Parks	Alewife Brook Ames Nowell Ashland Bash Bish Falls Blackstone River and Canal Heritage Borderland Boston Harbor Islands Bradley Palmer C. M. Gardner Callahan Castle Island State Park Chicopee Memorial City Square Clarksburg Cochituate Connecticut River Greenway Demarest Lloyd Dighton Rock Dunn Ellisville Harbor Fall River Heritage Gardner Heritage Great Brook Farm Halibut Point Hampton Ponds Holyoke Heritage Hopkinton Lake Lorraine Lake Wyola Lawrence Heritage Lowell Heritage Lynn Heritage Massasoit Maudslay Moore Mount Holyoke Range Natural Bridge Nickerson Pearl Hill Pilgrim Quinsigamond Robinson Roxbury Heritage Rutland Skinner South Cape Beach Wahconah Falls Webb Memorial Wells Western Gateway Heritage Whitehall Wompatuck

Reservations	Beaver Brook Belle Isle Marsh Blue Hills Breakheart Charles River Chestnut Hill Cutler Dorchester Shores Elm Bank Fort Phoenix Hammond Pond Hemlock Gorge Horseneck Beach Jug End Lynn Shore Middlesex Fells Mount Everett Mount Greylock Mount Sugarloaf Mount Tom Myles Standish Mystic River Nahant Beach Nantasket Beach Nasketucket Bay Neponset River Pope John Paul II Purgatory Chasm Quincy Quarries Quincy Shore Revere Beach Rumney Marsh Salisbury Beach Sandy Point Scusset Beach Stony Brook Upper Charles River Wachusett Mountain Walden Pond West Island Weymouth Wilson Mountain

Other	Appalachian Trail Ashuwillticook Rail Trail Cape Cod Rail Trail Fort Revere Lake Dennison Recreation Area Lower Neponset River Trail Nashua River Rail Trail Norwottuck Rail Trail Quabbin Reservoir Southwest Corridor Park Squantum Point Park Streeter Point Recreation Area Sudbury Reservoir Wachusett Reservoir Ware River Watershed Area

State Forests	Barnstable Beartown Berkley Brimfield Chester-Blandford DAR Douglas Erving F. Gilbert Hills Federated Women's Club Franklin Freetown-Fall River Georgetown-Rowley Gilbert A. Bliss Granville Harold Parker Kenneth Dubuque Memorial Leominster Lowell-Dracut-Tyngsboro Manuel F. Correllus Mohawk Trail Monroe Mount Grace Mount Washington Myles Standish October Mountain Otter River Pittsfield Sandisfield Savoy Mountain Shawme-Crowell Spencer Tolland Upton Wendell Willard Brook Willowdale Windsor

Wildlife Management Areas	Agawam Lake Agawam Mill Pond Ashby Ashfield Hawley Attitash Ayer Game Farm Baddacook Pond Bakers Pond Bay Circuit Trail Bearse Pond Becket Bennett Birch Hill Black Brook Blackstone / West River Bolton Flats Boxboro Station Brayton Point Salt Marsh Breakneck Brook Brewer Brook Bullock Ledge Burrage Pond Canoe River Catamount Chalet Chase Garden Creek Salt Marsh Childs River Chockalog Swamp Church Homestead Clapps Pond Clinton Bluff Concord River Connecticut River Cook Pond Copicut Coy Hill Crane Pond Cummington Cusky Pond Dartmoor Farm Darwin Scott Memorial Day Mountain Deerfield River Dogfish Bar Beach Coastal Dolomite Ledges Dunstable Brook E. Kent Swift Eagle Island East Mountain Eastham Salt Marsh Elbow Meadow English Salt Marsh Eugene D. Moran Facing Rock Fairfield Brook Farmington River Fish Brook Fisherville Pond Fisk Forestdale Lot Fisk Meadows Five Mile River Flagg Swamp Flint Pond Four Chimneys Fox Den Fox Island Salt Marsh Frances A. Crane Freetown Swamp George L. Darey Housatonic Valley Glen Echo Lake Gosnold Grassy Pond (Dennis) Grassy Pond (Plymouth) Green River (Franklin County) Green River (Berkshire County) Greenfield River Halfway Pond Hamilton Hancock Harlow / Cooks Pond Haskell Swamp Hauk Swamp Hawksnest State Park Hawley Head Of The Plains Herman Covey High Ridge Hinsdale Flats Hiram H. Fox Hockomock Swamp Hog Pond Lot Honey Pot Hoosatonic River Hoosic River Hop Brook Housatonic River Hubbard Brook Hunting Hills Hyannis Ponds Ipswich River John J. Kelly Joint Base Cape Cod Jug End Fen Jug End Kampoosa Fen Katama Plains Knops Pond Konkapot River Lackey Pond Lake Lorraine Lake Rohunta Lake Snipatuit Lake Warner Lanesboro Lawrence Brook Lawrence Pond Lot Leadmine Leyden Lilly Pond Little Alum Pond Long Sought For Pond Maple Hill Maple Springs Martha Deering Martin H. Burns Mascuppic Lake Mashpee Pine Barrens Mashpee Pond Lot Mashpee River Mckinstry Brook Meetinghouse Swamp Merrill Pond Miacomet Heath Mill River Millers River Mine Brook Montague Plains Montague Moose Brook Moose Brook Moose Hill Mossy Pond Mount Watatic Reservation Mt. Esther Mt. Toby Highlands Mt. Toby Mt. Tom Muddy Brook Muddy Pond Mulpus Brook Nashua River Natty Brook Nemasket River Nissitissit River Noquochoke Nordeen Marsh North Brookfield North Shore Salt Marsh Northboro Oakham Olivers Pond Orange Otis Packard Pond Palmer Pantry Brook Pauchaug Brook Peru Peterson Swamp Phillipston Podunk Marsh Poland Brook Popple Camp Popponesset Beach Poutwater Pond Powell Brook Prince River Provincetown Route 6 Corridor Purchade Brook Quaboag Quacumquasit Quag Pond Bog Quashnet River Quashnet Woods State Reservation Quinapoxet River Quinsigamond Marsh Quisset Raccoon Hill Rainbow Beach Red Brook Richardson Robbins Pond Rochester Rocky Gutter Rowe Salisbury Salt Marsh Salisbury Salt Marsh Sandwich Game Farm Sandy Pond Satan's Kingdom Savage Hill Savoy Sawmill River Scorton Creek Coastal SE Mass Bioreserve Sevenmile River Shattuck Brook Sheperds Island Shubael Pond Sibley Brook Sly Pond South Barrier Beach South Meadow Pond South Shore Salt Marsh South Triangle Pond Southampton Southwick Spectacle Pond Springhill Lot Sputtermill Pond Squannacook River Stafford Hill Sudbury River Sunderland Islands Taconic Mountain Taunton River Taunton River Tekoa Mountain Thad Ellis Thayer Pond Three Mile Pond Townsend Townsend Hill Trapfall Brook Triangle Pond Tully Brook Tully Mountain Tully River Wakeby Pond Wales Walnut Hill Ware River Warwick Wendell West Meadows Westboro Westfield River Westfield Weymouth Back River Whately Great Swamp Whately Ponds Whately Wilbraham Game Farm William Forward Williams River Williamsburg Winimusset Wolf Swamp

Wildlife Sanctuaries	Billingsgate Island Carr Island E. Howe Forbush Egg Rock Grace A. Robson J.C. Phillips Knight Penikese Island Ram Island (Salisbury) Ram Island (Mattapoisett) Susan B. Minns Tarpaulin Cove Watatic Mountain

Private

The Nature Conservancy	Black Pond Bog Boat Meadow Francis Newhall Woods Grassy Pond Greene Swamp Halfway Pond Island Hawley Bog Hockomock Swamp Hoft Farm Homer-Watcha Preserve Katama Plains McElwain-Olsen Miacomet Moors Reed Brook Drury Sandy Neck David H. Smith Preserve and Fire Trail Stacy Mountain Tatkon

Trustees of Reservations	Agassiz Rock Appleton Farms Appleton Farms Grass Rides Ashintully Gardens Bartholomew's Cobble Bear's Den Bear Swamp Colonel John Ashley House Francis William Bird Park Eleanor Cabot Bradley Estate Bridge Island Meadows Brooks Woodland William Cullen Bryant Homestead Cape Poge Cedariver Castle Hill Chapel Brook Charles River Peninsula Chase Woodlands Chesterfield Gorge Coolidge Copicut Woods Cormier Woods Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge Crane Beach Crane Wildlife Refuge Crowninshield Island Dexter Drumlin Dinosaur Footprints Doane's Falls Doyle Dry Hill East Over Elliott Laurel Field Farm Fork Factory Brook Glendale Falls Goose Pond Greenwood Farm Halibut Point Hamlin Holmes Governor Hutchinson's Field Jacobs Hill Little Tom Mountain Long Hill Long Point Lowell Holly Lyman Reserve Malcolm Mashpee River McLennan Medfield Meadow Lots Medfield Rhododendrons Menemsha Hills Misery Islands Mission House Monument Mountain Moose Hill Farm Mount Ann Park Mountain Meadow Mytoi Naumkeag Noanet Woodlands Noon Hill Norris North Common Meadow Norton Point Beach Notchview Old Manse Old Town Hill Peaked Mountain Pegan Hill Peters Petticoat Hill Pierce Pine and Hemlock Knoll Powisset Farm Questing Quinebaug Woods Ravenswood Park Redemption Rock Rock House Rocky Narrows Rocky Woods Royalston Falls Shattuck Signal Hill Slocum's River Stavros Stevens-Coolidge Swift River Tantiusques Tully Lake Campground Two Mile Farm Tyringham Cobble Ward Wasque Weir Hill Weir River Farm Westport Town Farm Whitney and Thayer Woods World's End

Audubon Society Wildlife Sanctuaries	Arcadia Broad Meadow Brook Broadmoor Daniel Webster Drumlin Farm High Ledges Ipswich River Moose Hill North River Pleasant Valley Stony Brook Wachussett Meadow Wellfleet Bay

Other	Concord Land Conservation Trust Harvard Forest Lincoln Land Conservation Trust Lloyd Center for the Environment Lynn Woods Reservation Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary

Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (Massachusetts)

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