Lead Mills Conservation Area is a 4.23-acre public green space on the Salem-Marblehead boundary at the mouth of the Forest River, with frontage on Salem Harbor. It links Marblehead's Wyman Woods to the Forest River conservation areas of Salem and Marblehead, and the Salem bike trail and Marblehead Path cross the property to form a continuous greenway from Lead Mills to Swampscott, downtown Marblehead, and Salem State University. The site has long historical and ecological importance: a 2006 archaeological investigation confirmed pre-Columbian human presence there, a gristmill stood on the site in 1732, and a lead mill began operating in 1831. The last building on the property was destroyed by fire in 1968, and the land was permanently protected through a collaborative effort involving Salem, Marblehead, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts PARC Grant Program, the Marblehead Conservancy, Essex County Greenbelt, private donors, the Towards Sustainability Foundation, and the citizens of Marblehead.