Tracks were first laid in 1849, creating a line connecting Blackstone, MA to Boston via Franklin.  Trains were operated on the line by quite a number of different rail companies in the 1800s due to a variety of mergers, takeovers and re-organizations.  At the start of the 20^th Century, the Midland Division of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad assumed operations.  Both passenger and freight traffic was carried on the line.  Dairy farms in a wide area stretching from Connecticut to Franklin supplied fresh milk to Boston via daily milk-train run on the line. 

The economic need for the rail line began to wane in the 1950s. Interstate highways enabled trucks and passenger cars to take increasing traffic away from the railroads.  By the 1970s, the Midland Division had ceased operations.  The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management took ownership of the rail right of way in 1984.

Healthy Heart Trail

The roadbed now is a multi-use recreation trail open to bicycles and other non-motorized uses including horse riding.

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The Town Forest should not be confused with the Franklin State Forest also located in Franklin, MA.  They are separate woodland recreational resources.

Trail map

Download a map of the walking trails in the Franklin Town Forest here or by following the hotlink in the image below.

Pleasant walks on easy, level trails

Several rails traverse the Franklin Town Forest.  Typical walks take from 20-40 minutes. You’ll move through pines, cedars, and swamp maples. Beware that this forest borders on the golf course owned by the Franklin Country Club and you can inadvertently end up walking onto that property.  You’ll also walk at times along the boundary lines of private land with homes, so show consideration and common sense as you walk.

How to access the trails

There are two access points to the Town Forest in Franklin, MA, neither of which is clearly marked as such as.

The easiest is at the cul-de-sac at the end of Russet Hill Road in Franklin, MA.

The designated parking area shown on the trail map is on Summer Street, about one-half mile from the intersection with King Street in Franklin, MA. (For GPS, the access point is approximately opposite 403 Summer Street.)

Circa 2008, this area was more cleared than what is shown above via Google StreetView. There was a broader shoulder to the road and the trailhead was more visible.

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The Indian Rock Conservation Area comprises 75+ acres of wooded terrain. There are a number of walking trails. You can download a trail map here, on by following the hotlink in the image below.

The Rock

One trail allows you to walk up to (and actually walk on) Indian Rock, a rounded granite hilltop ending abruptly in a jagged cliff that played the featured role in a bit of grisly early Colonial history in Franklin.

The rock formation called Indian Rock is a moderate precipice with a gentle wooded rise on one side which leads via an easy trail to a granite crown.  The hilltop ends abruptly at an exposed rock face that looms some 20 to 30 feet over the forest floor which slopes way from the jagged base of hill.

The granite crown is broad and mostly flat – here’s your spot for a nice picnic – just take care not to go over the ledge!  You can also take the chance to engage in rudimentary rock climbing techniques on the cliff. 

There are some carvings in the rock that were unintelligible; they appear to have been left by previous latter-day picnickers.

The history

Indian Rock was the site of a fatal skirmish between Native American and Colonial forces that was a part of the savagely bloody King Phillip’s War that convulsed Massachusetts in 1675 – 1676. A highly abbreviated story of the combat at Indian Rock in Franklin, MA runs this way:

A war band of approximately 20 – 30 Native American warriors were camping at Indian Rock, apparently intent on attacking the Colonial settlement then called Wrentham (what was later to become the Town of Franklin was a part of the greater community of Wrentham in the 1670s). 

The Native American war band was discovered late in the day by a colonist searching for his stray horse; the man quickly warned the Wrentham townspeople who took arms to defend the town. 

A group of 13 armed colonists snuck-up and surprised the camping Native American warriors the following morning just at dawn. 

In the struggle that followed, many of the Native Americans were shot and killed outright.  Several survivors sought escape by jumping off the cliff, were injured by the fall and were subsequently easily dispatched by the victorious colonists.  (Hence the name “Indian Rock”.)

There’s no sign of the battle today, although during my visit to the area, my then-young son greatly enjoyed insisting that he saw arrowheads on the ground and blood stains on the rock face. 

The history behind Indian Rock in Franklin makes for a fun excursion with the little ones and gives context for the street names in the immediate vicinity (Lost Horse Trail, Indian Lane, King Phillip Road, etc).

You can access the Indian Rock Conservation Area in Franklin, MA from the cul-de-sac at the end of King Philip Road.

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This resource is a combination of land owned separately by the Metacomet Land Trust and the Town of Franklin. (As shown in the above map, there is some land in the center of this area the ownership of which is “contested”.)

Nice walks in pleasant woods

Together, these parcels form a very pleasant wooded landscape with streams and ponds. There are occasional abandoned stone walls which mark what must have been at one point in the past cleared farm and pasture land.  You’ll have the opportunity to see deer, foxes, turtles, and hawks.  If you look carefully you see evidence of beaver at the ponds. This area is a good place for parents with young children to “go exploring”.

Access to the recreation/conservation area

Access is fairly limited and no designated parking areas exist.  You can get onto the walking trails within the Franklin Woods subdivision by parking on Bridle Path at the white picket fencing.

Another access point is at the cul-de-sac at the end of Madison Avenue (off Maple Street).

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