Property History
In 2016, the Solinas and Zimmerman families worked with Mount Grace and the Town of Royalston to create the Eagle Reserve Conservation Area.
Eagle Reserve Conservation Area
Eagle Reserve is a 100-acre sanctuary of wetlands and forest where rare bog communities, abundant wildlife, and sweeping water views come together in a quiet, undeveloped landscape. With accessible paths and more rugged trails, it offers an up-close experience of a dynamic ecosystem shaped by glaciers, beavers, and ongoing conservation.
Highlights & Activities
Trail Guide
- 2.5 Miles of Trail
- Natural Earth & Gravel Trail Surface
Trail Map
Directions & Parking
Public Access
Eagle Reserve is open to the public for hiking, nature watching, hunting, fishing, canoeing/kayaking, and has an accessible trail (David H. Small Community Nature Trail).
Directions
David H. Small Community Trail (accessible trail): 55 Winchendon Rd, Royalston, MA 01368
Parking available
Peninsula Trail: 70 Winchendon Rd, Royalston, MA 01368
Parking available across the road at Birch Hill Wildlife Management Area. Head right out of the parking lot and the trail head with kiosk is across the road at the start of the guard rail.
Stone Road Trail: Drive ¼ mile on Stone Road. Parking available along roadside. There is a hayfield to the right and the trail begins behind the hayfield.
Views from the Trail
Trail Description
Eagle Reserve Conservation Area offers three hiking trails to explore: the David H. Small Community Trail (accessible trail), Peninsula Trail, and Stone Road Trail.
David H. Small Community Trail:
One of the best ways to explore Eagle Reserve is via the David H. Small Community Nature Trail, an accessible loop made possible through the Massachusetts Recreational Trails Program. This wide, crushed-stone path gives people of all abilities the chance to experience the reserve’s quiet majesty, winding through towering trees toward a viewing platform over the water.
- 0.4 Miles
- 38 ft Elevation Gain
Peninsula Trail:
Further down along Beaver Brook, you’ll find the more rugged Peninsula Trail, an unpaved hiking trail which takes you through the forest and across a footbridge to the end of a prominent point in the pond. A floating Spruce-Tamarack bog is visible on one side of the peninsula.
- 0.9 Miles
- 50 ft Elevation Gain
About This Property
Ownership
Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust
Gift From
The Solinas and Zimmerman families
Year Protected
2016
Eagle Reserve Conservation Area is a 139-acre mix of woods and wetlands, including a floating Spruce-Tamarack Bog and a Level Bog, which is a complex community that floats upon a large beaver-influenced pond. Thanks to a Massachusetts Recreational Trails Program Grant, our new David H. Small Community Trail provides people with limited mobility access to the beauty of this amazing wildlife refuge—a patchwork of ponds and wetlands providing habitat and refuge for wildlife in a sheltered wetland where no signs of human habitation are visible. A breeding pair of bald eagles has nested near the waterside in past years. Rare pied-billed grebes are also found on the reserve, as well as blue heron, Canada geese, bald eagles, ravens, mallards, hooded mergansers, black ducks, and a rare juvenile golden eagle.
The land also serves as a natural classroom for the nearby Royalston Community School in partnership with Mount Grace's TerraCorps program.
2023 Update: Mount Grace was awarded a grant from the Hollis Declan Leverett Memorial Fund to support our efforts to control invasive species that are encroaching on the shoreline at Eagle Reserve. To learn more about the impact of invasive species and what we’re doing about it, click HERE.