Bear Swamp in Ashfield, Massachusetts, is a protected landscape of hardwood forest, wet meadow, pond edge, and hillside openings owned and maintained by The Trustees of Reservations. Once used as sheep pasture and later for cordwood and lumber, it has largely returned to the character of an undisturbed woodland. Its well-drained terrain and rich soils support ash, hickory, basswood, maple, and cherry, while trails pass a shallow pond, wet meadow, old beaver dam atop an earlier stone milldam, fern-filled glades, and overlooks toward apple orchards and Vermont’s Green Mountains. Rev. Philip and Esther Steinmetz helped preserve the area beginning in the early 1960s, with public protection established in 1968 and later expansion through gifts and additional purchases.

Ashfield, Massachusetts · USA