Middlesex Fells - Long Pond

Directions to

Middlesex Fells Parking, Long Pond Parking area, Off South Border Road in Winchester

South Border Road runs along (and in Medford, through) the southern end of the Middlesex Fells Reservation, an historic green space that has served as a hideaway for Winchester's famous Squaw Sachem and her beleaguered followers, as the Town's controversial water supply (revolutionary era nay sayers claimed it could never work, but it still does), and as a post World War II missile site designed to protect Boston from Russian bombers. Today most of it (except for Winchester's water supply) is open to walkers, portions to cyclists, and offers many hours of pleasant woodland vistas, frequently interrupted by spectacular evidence of the region's glacial origins. It is naturally separated by Winchester's North and South Reservoirs into eastern (Medford, Stoneham) and western (Winchester) segments, best accessed from separate starting points.

Directions given here are designed (no guarantees) to get you to parking for the Fell's Winchester side (Long Pond parking area). As always, you're urged to check them against your road atlas and/or free advice dispensed by MapQuest. If employing MapQuest, give it "highland avenue at south border road" as a destination; this doesn't quite do it, but the parking lot is only a short distance east of this intersection on South Border Road. Here's how MapQuest responded when asked how to get there from various starting points:

From the intersection of Routes 128/95 and 93

Decamp from Route 128/95 at Exit 37 and go south toward Boston on Route 93.  Drive 93 to the Montvale Avenue exit (Exit 36), go right onto Montvale Avenue, and drive it a short distance to Washington Street. Left on Washington Street and then, 1.67 miles later, left on Webster Street.  Climb Webster Street to Highland Avenue, turn right, and drive a short way to the stop lights at South Border Road (as a practical matter, virtually any left between and including Forest and Mount Vernon Streets will get you to Highland).  Turn left at the lights and drive South Border Road a short distance to the parking lot (on the left). This is the Long Pond parking area.

MapQuest projects a nine minute travel time for this exercise.

From the Lexington Minuteman Statue

From the intersection of Bedford Street and Massachusetts Avenue, drive through downtown Lexington to Woburn Street and turn left onto it.  Drive 1.2 miles to Lowell Street, turn right, continue to the lights at Maple Street, then go left and climb Winchester Drive. Continue on Winchester Drive up and over the hill and down again (as it becomes Johnson Road and then Wildwood Street) to Route 3A. Turn right on 3A and drive 0.41 miles to the lights at Church Street; left onto Church Street. Stick with Church Street into downtown Winchester, around the rotary and under the tracks to the second exit, Mount Vernon Street. Continue up Mount Vernon Street through two sets of lights to South Border Road, and then a little further to the parking lot. It'll be on the left. Should take, says MapQuest, fourteen minutes.

From Burlington's Town Hall

Piece of cake.  Head toward 128/95 on Cambridge Street/3A and keep going about five miles, past Mahoney's Garden Center, through the lights at Wildwood Street, to the lights at Church Street. Turn left and follow the "From Lexington" directions the rest of the way.

MapQuest thinks (ha!) this is a fifteen minute drive.

From Weston's Town Hall

Take Route 20 to 128/95, drive north to Route 93, and follow the "From 128" directions given above. MapQuest estimates a 26 minute transit time, but assumes you're able to travel at the speed limit. Allow a little safety factor.

From Stoneham

Take Route 93 south to Exit 33 or Route 28 (Fellsway West) to the rotary at Route 93 and get off, or go around to, South Border Road. Drive about two miles to the parking lot; it'll be on the right. Don't be fooled by the several earlier lots you'll see; this one is the very last one before Highland Avenue.

Alternatively, cross into Winchester from Route 28 on Marble Street (becomes Forest Street in Winchester), turn left onto Highland Avenue, drive Highland Avenue past the hospital to the lights at South Border Road, go left, and drive a short distance to the parking lot.

*** Good Luck !!! ***