Francis William Bird Park

Francis William Bird Park is an 89-acre landscaped and waterscaped park located in Walpole, Massachusetts. The Trustees of Reservations owns and maintains the park. Features include over 3mi of walking and bicycle paths that wind through the park, traversing streams across granite bridges and passing through rolling lawns punctuated with mature shade trees, groves, and ponds.Facilities at the park include bike racks, benches, trash receptacles, public restroom, a "tot lot" with children's play equipment, four tennis courts, a basketball backboard, and an outdoor stage. As of June, 2010 the "tot lot" no longer features a children's play area. A parking lot is located on Polley Lane in East Walpole.HistoryBird Park was created and endowed in 1925 by local industrialist Charles Sumner Bird, Sr. and his wife Anna in memory of their eldest son, Francis William Bird who had died seven years earlier.Landscape architect and town planner John Nolen, a protégé of Frederick Law Olmsted, designed the park. A social reformer, Nolen believed that parks were critical to the health of urban residents and should be designed to provide a place of respite and relaxation in nature. In his original design plan, Nolen wrote that this park should be