Noon Hill Has Cast a Towering Shadow Over Medfield's History

At 369 feet, it is the highest elevation in Medfield. It is depicted on the Town Seal,  has a restaurant in town named after it, has been an ideal place to hike and fish; its scenery rivals that of New Hampshire or Vermont and for generations of Medfield teenagers, it has been a place to find romance and down illegal beverages on a Saturday night. It is, of course, Noon Hill and it has cast a towering shadow over Medfield’s history since the beginning of the town’s settlement.

Trustee of Reservation literature says that “thousands of years ago, glacial action carved depressions through Noon Hill. Today, exposed bedrock along the tops of the ridges is further evidence of the glacial activity that shaped the land. Its slopes and ridges are forested with pine, beech, birch, and hemlock; in spring, the forest floor is scattered with wildflowers.

From the top of Noon Hill, the land slopes gently toward the Charles River and its tributary, the Stop River. Many lowland areas have become red maple swamps, and much of the land to the north and east is floodplain of the Stop River.” Holt’s Pond, another of Medfield’s man-made ponds, is nestled into Noon Hill and provides scenic beauty, especially when surrounded by the golden colors of autumn and when filled with skaters and hockey players in the frost and snow of winter.

Noon Hill is made up of and surrounded by conservation land of both the Trustees of Reservation and the Town of Medfield. Thanks to a land gift by former U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson, the Trustees gained a conservation foothold in Noon Hill. A little over 35 years ago, the Board of Selectmen, led by its chairman Harry Kelleher, made a push to purchase large amounts of land on Noon Hill.

Working with the Conservation Commission, chairman Mario Pederzini, members Hanson Robbins, Bob Kinsman, Peyton March, John Guthrie, Robert MacLeod, civic-minded residents like Mike and Caroline Standley and many others, they obtained state and federal grants, and in 1975 voters at Town Meeting supported the purchase of some 260 acres of land on and around Noon Hill.  It is also the home of the Medfield Gun Club, which provides even more conservation land.

It gets its name from the early town settlers who felt the sun appeared over the hill at noon when viewed from the town center. On Sunday, the 20th of February, 1676, the day before the Native-American attack on Medfield during the King Philip War, Indians were seen on Noon Hill. In Colonial times, the area was heavily farmed, which stripped the hill of its trees. Stone walls connected to that farming activity are  a reminder of the historic role farming played in early New England and can be seen meandering throughout Noon Hill. 

By the 1700’s the brook, known for hundreds of years as Saw-mill Brook, was dammed up, creating what today we call Holt’s Pond. There a saw mill was built, using the brook’s water power to run its saws. In 1769 Joseph Wheelock sold the mill to Joseph Plimpton. The 1852 map shows J.H. Kingsbury living near the saw mill on Holt’s Pond, of which foundation remains of his house and out buildings can still be seen.

In 1876 the saw mill was owned by William Hewins and in 1909 by J. Holt, whose name remains on the pond to this day.  In the 1800’s local wood choppers were making a living from the wood business on Noon Hill. Wood was cut in the winter, with the choppers living in small shacks on Noon Hill. In 1895 Medfield constables broke up an illegal rooster fight on Noon Hill. More than 100 people were present. A chase ensued and shots were fired. At the time

Noon Hill was a noted “resort” for this Sunday sport. Acting under orders of the District Attorney, the game cocks captured at the Noon Hill fight were killed. Also in 1895, Medfield artist J.A.S. Monks included Noon Hill in one of the Town Seal’s four quarters with the sun depicted directly overhead.

Many a fire has also ravaged and raced through the woods of Noon Hill. The worst was perhaps the Great Noon Hill Fire of 1896, resulting in over 200 acres of woodland burnt. Hundreds of cords of wood, piled up and ready for market, were destroyed along with two houses. In the strong gale the flames were more than 40 feet in height. The fire “roared through the pines like a furnace.”  But for the fact that the wind died out, the whole of Noon Hill would have been burned over.

Noon Hill today is a vast area of conservation land, forest, ponds and streams. It is a gold mine and invaluable resource for the Town of Medfield. Thanks to the voters of Town Meeting, we have saved ten fold the cost of that land against what the cost of town services and houses would have been.  We are, and future generation will be, reaping the benefits of their far-sighted action.