Morrison Farm
Morrison Farm is a town-owned property located on Concord Rd. between Icehouse Pond on Nashoba Brook and the Woodlawn Cemetery. It consists of both several large meadow areas, the pond shoreline, and a wooded area beyond the meadow which is contiguous with the wooded areas of Woodlawn Cemetery. The largest Acton Community Garden occupies part of one of the meadows, and there is both an unused house and a remaining barn which is used by the town for equipment storage. An attempt by the Town Recreation Dept. to take the land and build a Recreation center on it was defeated in the early 2000s. There is an ongoing attempt to obtain an agricultural restriction on this land.
The Land Stewards (LSC) have been officially watching over it since roughly 2018. The pumphouse for the Community Garden doubles as the storage shed for the LSC.
While a small parking lot and boat ramp access to Icehouse Pond had long been present on Concord Rd., the town greatly improved this area starting in 2016. They enlarged the parking lot, and added a handicap accessible trail along the western edge of Icehouse pond, including two long-needed bridges across the rivulet/swamps draining into the pond. As part of this improvement, in 2020 the Wet Meadow (the meadow between areas L and K in the map) was professionally mowed for the first time in decades, re-establishing it as a meadow.
Pam Resor Orchard
The Pam Resor Orchard needs occasional work clearing the mulched areas around the trees, and also adding new mulch. In dry times, the younger trees can use some water from the Community Garden.
The real work here is in keeping the invasives down in the "meadow" area at the edge, and under the adjacent Cherry and Crabapple trees.
The adjacent meadow is supposed to be mowed by the town every fall, but it is frequently "missed". The areas around the bird-nests need manual cutting/clearing every year regardless.
The area under the large Cherry tree in the southwest corner was first cleared in 2016, and years later continues to provide copious Asian Bittersweet regrowth. The Crabapple trees (really part of Area L) followed a year later, then the area in between (once a Bush Honeysuckle/Asian Bittersweet thicket preventing an view of the Wet Meadow!)
In 2024, these areas still require yearly clearing of Asian Bittersweet and Bush Honeysuckle regrowth.
Area A - The Horse Paddock
This is the old horse paddock, which contains the Community Garden pump and pump house/LSC storage shed. It drops off into a low-land which continues back to the swamp separating it from the Icehouse Pond parking lot.
Since 2019, there has been an attempt to keep a path mowed back through the paddock to the back gate, partially to help with invasive plant removal. Starting in 2021, there has been regular use of a footpath coming in from Concord Rd. along the western edge of the paddock and joining with the Yellow Path. This has been encouraged by removing the invasives along the path.
As of 2024, the paddock still has a lean-to in the back which has lost its corrugated tin roof and is falling off of its foundation. The town has been asked multiple times to please remove it.
Along the Concord Rd. side, the fence is starting to lose boards (they are longer than the normal fence boards). It was cleared of Asian Bittersweet in 2023.
Area B - The Blackberry Patch
There had long been a blackberry patch in this area, but starting in 2019 the invasive plants (Asian Bittersweet) were manually removed and signs put up to prevent mowing of this area in the fall. The result is a gorgeous patch of blackberries which are enjoyed by Acton residents, both feathered and not.
Long term maintenance of this patch will require occasional mowing to help w. the invasives and prevent any woody growth. The idea is to split the patch into two areas, and allow one area to be mowed every fourth year (alternating to ensure there are always blackberries to pick!). This will hopefully start with the fall mowing in 2024.
Area C - The Crabapple Orchard
There is a stand of Crabapple trees between the meadow and the trail, which creates stunning visuals in the spring (there are several different Crabapple varieties, w. various flower colors).
The Crabapple Orchard itself is in relatively good shape (although always in need of deadwood pruning). The western (meadow) edge is the big problem. A serious attempt to clear out the Glossy Buckthorn and Asian Bittersweet on this edge began in 2022. It was continued in 2023 (and partially in 2024). There is still a serious cluster of MF Rose which needs removal in the Northwest corner of the orchard.
The opposite side of the trail from the Crabapple orchard is a combination of Dogwood, MF Rose, Asian Bittersweet, and Glossy Buckthorn, which is being gradually cleaned up. It is actually better thought of as Area L.
Area D - The Oaks
This area is the hedge row between Morrison Farm and the "work area" of Woodlawn Cemetery. It has a couple of large Oak trees w. a Spruce tree in between, then transitions to Eastern White Pine closer to Concord Rd.
The trees were being overtaken by Asian Bittersweet when first approached in 2019. This was cleared from the trees, but the town had left equipment along the edge preventing mowing. In 2022 the town moved the equipment, allowing mowing of that area.
It was completely mowed (to the fence row) in 2022 and 2023. Note that the opposite side (in the "work area" of Woodlawn Cemetery) was also mowed w. the field mower, in order to deter regrowth.
In 2024, that area desperately needs mowing, but the town has once again parked equipment (tractor accessories) there. A farm structure which previously delimited this area and was used for equipment storage was removed in 2023 after self-destructing in the elements (roofing flying off, walls dropping).
There is a very large common buckthorn tree in that hedge row, which hasn't been girded yet. This was awaiting positive ID, then NR approval, but at this point should happen ASAP.
A corollary to this area is the Asian Bittersweet vines growing along the back edge of the barn, and the Glossy Buckthorn thicket supporting them. These were last cleared in June 2024. Due to the age of the adjacent structure, Grape, Nightshade, and Virginia Creeper vines are all cut in that area.
Area E - Cemetery Border
The Wooded Cemetery border
Area F - The Meadow Border
The northern and western borders of the large meadow