Drive down Route 114 past Brightview and you'll see what everyone sees: a low brick senior living building, a landscaped entrance, a parking lot with more sedans than SUVs. What you won't see from the road is the unmarked trailhead at the far end of that lot, the one that climbs a former ski slope, past the rusted footings of an old chairlift, to a clearing with a full Boston skyline view. Most people who live three streets away have no idea it's there.
That's because Ward Reservation has a branding problem. Ask anyone in the Merrimack Valley where to hike Ward Reservation and they'll tell you Prospect Road, Holt Hill, the solstice stones. All of that is real and all of it is in Andover. What almost nobody mentions is that Ward Reservation is roughly 700 acres stitched together from more than 40 parcels across two towns, and one of its three named summits, Boston Hill, sits entirely inside North Andover. You just have to know which parking lot gets you there.
The Trailhead Everyone Drives Past
The North Andover side of Ward Reservation is accessed through the Brightview retirement community, built at the base of the hill in 2013 after the land was permanently protected with a conservation restriction. The trailhead sits at the far end of the parking lot. From there the trail follows the old ski slope straight uphill, the same hillside facing Route 114 that operated as a public ski area until the 1980s. Hikers who know what to look for can still spot evidence of the old chairlifts and snowmaking equipment along the climb.
The destination is Boston Hill, and at its clearing, known as Elephant Rock, the view opens up across the Merrimack Valley toward the Boston skyline. In 1957, Lincoln Laboratory built an experimental long-range radar station on this same hill to test long-range detection capability. The antenna is long gone, but the tower structure is still standing, a strange industrial artifact tucked into what otherwise reads as pure New England woodland.
The reservation has also added new terrain here. Friends of North Andover Trails, the volunteer group that leads hikes on this side of the property, now runs guided walks on what it calls John's Trail, the newest addition to the Ward Reservation network. It doesn't show up on the older maps, which is part of why so few people know it exists.
Two Entrances, One Reservation
The split between the Andover and North Andover sides isn't just geographic. It changes what kind of hike you get.
| Andover side (Prospect Road) | North Andover side (Brightview, Route 114) | |
|---|---|---|
| Signature feature | Holt Hill, 420 feet, highest point in Essex County | Boston Hill and the Elephant Rock overlook |
| Historic marker | Solstice stones, arranged to track sunrise and sunset on the solstices | Remnants of a 1980s ski slope and a 1957 Lincoln Laboratory radar tower |
| Access point | Public trailhead off Prospect Road | Trailhead at the far end of the Brightview parking lot |
| Guided hikes | Self-directed, well marked by the Trustees of Reservations | FONAT-led group hikes, including on the newer John's Trail |
Neither side is more official than the other. They're both part of the same Trustees of Reservations property, connected by trails that cross the town line without so much as a sign. But if you've only ever entered from Prospect Road, you've seen maybe half of what's actually there.
The Group That Actually Walks It
The reason any of this is documented at all is a group called Friends of North Andover Trails, part of the North Andover Improvement Society, a 501(c)(3) that has been operating since 1885. FONAT doesn't just lead the Ward Reservation hikes. Its volunteers maintain and monitor trail systems across town, including at Weir Hill, the Stevens to Stevens Trail, Farnsworth Reservation, and the North Andover half of Harold Parker State Forest, a roughly 3,300-acre forest that sits half in North Andover and half in Andover, with 11 ponds inside its boundaries.
Their regular guided-hike calendar includes a walk up Weir Hill to the summit of Osgood Hill, with refreshments served at the top, and a history walk along the Stevens to Stevens Trail starting at the Old Center Common, tracing the site of the town's original settlement. All of it is free. All of it assumes you'll show up not knowing exactly where you are, which is honestly the point.
The Trail That Already Reaches Downtown
Weir Hill itself deserves its own mention, separate from Ward Reservation. It rises above Lake Cochichewick and offers roughly four miles of trails tracking more than a mile of shoreline. The Stevens to Stevens Trail connects it to Stevens-Coolidge House & Gardens, and from there the Mills to Hills Trail continues west, through wet meadows, eventually reaching the historic mill district on High Street, the same corridor where the Stevens Mill and the Davis and Furber Machine Company once anchored North Andover's industrial economy.
The town has been trying to extend that connection further. Its 2021 Downtown Improvements Master Plan outlines a paved shared use path that would link Main Street directly to the High Street mill area, crossing Sutton Pond and tying into the existing Mills to Hills Trail. It's still in the conceptual design phase with an engineering firm, not yet built, but it signals something worth knowing if you spend time downtown: the walking network connecting Main Street to the lake and hills isn't finished. It's actively being extended, one planning phase at a time.
What's Actually on the Calendar This Month
Two dates matter if you want to use any of this before the season turns.
Stevens-Coolidge House & Gardens keeps its grounds free to the public through the season, typically open mid-May through September from 10 AM to 6 PM. Guided tours of the house itself run only Fridays through Sundays, and this year that window closes September 27. That gives you two more weekends to see the interior, including its Colonial Revival remodel and the split staircase and delft-tiled dining room fireplace, before the house closes for the season.
Then, on Saturday, October 3, from 9:30 to 11:30 AM, the town is holding its Lake Cochichewick Clean Up at the Stevens Pond parking lot. Lake Cochichewick is the drinking water source for North Andover's roughly 28,000 residents and, at 560 acres, the largest lake in Essex County, more than twice the size of the Merrimack College campus. The lake level is currently low, which organizers say makes shoreline trash easier to reach than usual. Gloves, bags, and tools are provided, and permitted boat owners are welcome to help from the water.
Neither event requires you to know anything about Ward Reservation, Boston Hill, or the old ski slope behind Brightview. But if you've lived here long enough to assume you've already found the good trails, this is the month to find out you haven't.
If you're weighing a move into North Andover, or already here and curious what else the neighborhood guides tend to skip, DiPietro Group Real Estate keeps a running local guide to the town at our North Andover neighborhood page. Reach out any time to schedule a free buyer or seller consultation with our team.
