Lincoln, Massachusetts
deCordova Sculpture Park
New England's largest sculpture park: 30 acres of lawns, woods and gardens beside Flint's Pond, with more than 50 sculptures out in the open.
Written for ages 3–12.
Researched from this park's own sources. Nobody's walked it yet.
Read this bit out
Everything out here was made by somebody. Somebody decided how big it should be, and what it should be made of, and which way around it should face, and then it was brought here and put on the grass and left out in the rain on purpose. Most of them are only visiting, so next time some may be gone and new ones may have arrived. Nobody is going to tell you what any of it means. You are allowed to think one is brilliant and your sister is allowed to think it is silly, and you can both be right.
One of your three free places, or the Explorer Pass. What that costs
Before you go
- Time there
- Plan on about an hour and a half at the park.
- Parking
- 51 Sandy Pond Road, with a main parking lot. $14 adults, $12 seniors and students; free for Trustees members, Lincoln residents, children 12 and under, and visitors with EBT, WIC or MassHealth. Open 10 to 4 Tuesday to Friday and 10 to 5 weekends; closed Mondays except holiday Mondays.
- Underfoot
- Thirty acres of lawns, woods and gardens on a rolling site by Flint's Pond. Mostly grass and paved paths, with a few sculptures on steep or uneven ground.
- Stroller
- A stroller works on some of it.
- Bathrooms
- There are bathrooms.
- Food
- The Twisted Tree Café closes an hour before the park: 3 p.m. on weekdays, 4 p.m. on weekends. Picnics are welcome on the lawns.
22 challenges written for this place
A game deals seven to fifteen of them, so no two visits are alike.
4 things to spot, 3 photographs to take and 3 things to work out.
Every game includes this one
The Biggest One
Find the biggest sculpture in the park and go stand next to it.
A few of the others
The Top Of The Hill
Walk up to the highest point in the park and look back down at everything.
Copy That Shape
Find a sculpture with a shape you can make with your body. Everybody copy it. One photo.
Look Right Through
Find a sculpture you can see through, and photograph somebody through the gap.
Their Turn
Hand the phone to the youngest. They take one picture of whatever they want.
Nobody Agrees
Find a sculpture your family cannot agree about. Everybody says what they think it is.
Metal Or Stone
Find one sculpture made of metal and one made of stone. Work out which will still be here longest.
The rest are a surprise — that's the whole point.
Also around Lincoln
Drumlin Farm
Lincoln
A working farm with pigs, sheep, goats and cows, owls and a red fox that can't go back to the wild, and an easy climb to the top of the drumlin.
The Battle Road
Lincoln
Five miles of the 1775 Battle Road, Meriam's Corner to Lexington, past stone walls and the tavern the British marched by twice in one day.
Play this at deCordova Sculpture Park
Free. Works with no signal once you're there.