Harold Parker State Forest is a publicly owned forest with recreational features encompassing more than in the towns of Andover, North Andover, North Reading, and Middleton, Massachusetts. Ponds, swamps, rolling hills, glacial erratics and rocky outcroppings can be found in the state forest, which features more than of backwoods roads and trails as well as remnants of 18th-century farming and milling operations. It is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.HistoryThe forest was among the state's earliest acquisitions of logged-over land for purposes of reforestation. It was established in 1916, and named for the Massachusetts State Forest Commission's first chairman, Harold Parker, who died that same year. The Civilian Conservation Corps was active at two camps in the forest from 1933 until 1941. The corps' work included the damming of small streams, creating many of the small ponds that dot the forest's landscape.
