56 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
SMALL TOWN PARK WORK AT MINIMUM COST 
The park department of Hopedale, 
Mass., is to be credited with the ac- 
complishment of a wide range of use- 
ful activities at a very low cost to its 
citizens. With an annual appropria- 
tion of only $2,500 a year, the park 
department carries on the work of 
suppression and extermination of 
gypsy and brown-tail moths, furnish- 
es modern devices for bird protection 
and care, and conducts a well-patron- 
ized bath-house and swimming pool, 
in addition to the ordinary activities 
of a park department. 
Hopedale owns a very large park 
acreage in proportion to its town area, 
and its chief park is called the Hope- 
dale Forests. The tract is wild woods 
with simple woodland trails and turf 
road. In the clearings that are made 
for the development of the beauty of 
these forests, wood is secured for 
schools and churches and sold at a 
cost that nearly covers the labor of 
cutting and delivery. As the woods 
are growing from /i cord to 1 cord 
per acre per year, on about 100 acres, 
of which a considerable portion would 
need to be thinned out every few 
years, it is in a sense a public forest, 
that yields a return on the cost even 
though it be a small one, beside the 
very much more important return in 
health and pleasure to an industrial 
village in which a very large majority 
of the people are acquiring the play- 
ground, public bath, and woodland 
rambles habit. 
One of the unique features of the 
Hopedale Forests is the walk of step- 
ping stones illustrated here, which is 
admirably appropriate to the character 
of the tract. Warren FI. Manning, of 
Boston, the landscape architect of the 
Hopedale parks, designed this inter- 
esting forest path to provide for cross- 
ing a wet place where it was desira- 
ble to keep the water course open at 
low cost in an attractive way. These 
stones were selected on account of 
their flat or cushion-shaped top from 
adjacent fields or stone walls. 
Food for the song and game birds 
is provided fn this Forest, and a large 
number of bird houses have been put 
up in various locations in an attempt 
not only to keep the birds frequenting 
the woods and fields but to attract 
others by the offer of food and shelter. 
The Bath House records show that 
247 baths were taken in one day last 
season, while 6,888 is the season’s to- 
tal, of which number 882 were girls. 
The numerous utilities offered by 
the town through this department are 
appreciated and made use of by more 
and more people each year. The miles 
of foot paths, springs and unfailing 
water, pine and hard wood groves of- 
fer attractions to all that love the 
open, while to the one specially inter- 
ested in nature study, the animal, bird 
and plant life so abundantly to be 
found is a source of much pleasure 
and instruction. 
Frank S. Clark is Secretary of the 
Hopedale Park Commission, and 
Charles F. Roper and Frank J. Dut- 
cher are the other commissioners. 
STOPPING STONE WALK, HOPEDALE FORESTS, HOPE- 
DALE, MASS. 
