Little Known Swampscott Conservation Land is a Forest With Many Features

A distant siren gives way to birdsong with each step into the dense Harold King Forest.

Town Planner Pete Kane and resident Jim Olivetti seek trail markers in these 47 acres of conservation land that they hope to publicize through the town’s Recreation and Open Space Plan.

Wedged in the northern-most corner of Swampscott, between Lynn on one side and the quarry on the other, the forest is about the size of the Tedesco Country Club.

But you wouldn’t want to drive a golf ball in here.

Good luck hitting and finding your ball among towering oaks, ankle-deep leaves, ferns and shrubs. Among a stream and freshwater marsh, and Robert Frostesque stone walls that need mending. And crevices and holes that house small animals.

Car-sized boulders and pointed and rounded rocks strewn in irregular patterns tell a tale from the last ice age and glacial retreat.

You’d need a geologist to decipher the story but they are fascinating to see.

At one trail-side spot a flat rock rests like a cap on a round rock. Soil and moss have collected atop the flat rock and a crazy head of fern leaves sprout like growth on a Chia Pet or feathers on an exotic hat.

The forest smells old and new.

On the floor, wildflowers mingle with decaying logs, shrubs with last fall's leaves. 

Jim Olivetti consults a guide for names of trees and plants.

He and the town planner have seen wild turkey out here and a hawk.

Olivetti says it’s clear that few deer roam this forest because of the bounty of undergrowth.

Fern and shrubs grow freely with no signs of having been munched.

And it’s not just deer that have steered clear. Few human footsteps have traipsed these woods.

Lots of people in town do not know Swampscott has this forest, the town planner said.

Even people who have lived in town a long time, Olivetti said.

In an interview with the chairman of the Board of Selectmen, Jill Sullivan, she says that if she asked 10 of her friends if there was a town forest north of Fosters Pond most of them would say no.

Even if you knew where it was, it would be hard to find your way to and along the trail.

At the end of Nichols Street a weathered and faded sign stands as high as a basketball hoop behind leaves and vines, a hidden marker from yore.

It's near the entrance — a small circle in the underbrush and arching overgrowth and side vegetation.

The old sign at the Harold King Forest is hard to read.

After studying it, the best guess is it says: Oscar Short Land Conservation Area.

By any name the land is a pleasant surprise, something you didn’t know you had and worth attention and protection.

The Open Space and Recreation Committee members are giving it attention in the town's Open Space and Recreation Plan.

A community forum on the plan will be held tonight, Tuesday, June 11, at 7 pm at Swampscott High School in the auditorium.

It will focus on explaining the purpose of the plan, describing the current state and issues of the town's open spaces and recreation areas, outlining the analysis of needs, and presenting the goals and objectives to help Swampscott improve and fully realize the potential of these key features in town.