Rockport, Massachusetts
Millbrook Meadow
A four-acre park across from Rockport's Front Beach: a mill pond, a brook to follow toward the sea, a playground, and a three-ton granite whale to climb.
Written for ages 3–12.
Researched from this park's own sources. Nobody's walked it yet.
Read this bit out
A lot has happened on this small patch of grass. Algonquian people camped here while they fished. The first settler grazed his cows on it. Then John Pool dammed the brook to turn mill wheels, and the mills ground grain and cut lumber. In 1951 the town started to pave it over for a parking lot, until a woman called Lura Phillips stormed in and stopped the bulldozers. In 2006 a rainstorm blew the old dam out, and what you are standing on now was rebuilt after that: a new dam, the pond dug out, and a winding brook put back where the old one ran.
One of your three free places, or the Explorer Pass. What that costs
Before you go
- Time there
- Plan on about an hour at the park.
- Parking
- Limited metered parking on one side of Beach Street, with more on Main Street or a short way north at Back Beach. Meters are free November 16 to April 14. Walk in from Beach Street at Front Beach, from King Street, or along Mill Lane off Main Street.
- Underfoot
- A small, mostly flat park: half pond, half meadow, with a winding brook, a frog pond, a stone bridge, gardens and a playground. The Beach Street entrance is wheelchair accessible; from King Street there is a granite staircase or a wide ramp.
- Stroller
- A stroller is fine here.
- Food
- A good picnic spot in downtown Rockport, across the road from Front Beach.
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 Granite Whale
There is a whale made of granite near the Beach Street entrance. Find it.
A few of the others
At The Pond
One photo of everybody with the pond behind them.
Their Turn
Hand the phone to the youngest. They take one picture of whatever they want.
Riding The Whale
One photo of everybody at the granite whale.
First Settlers' Bridge
Find the bridge the brook runs under, and stand in the middle of it.
Follow The Brook
The brook comes out of the pond, over the dam and through the meadow, then slips under Beach Street to the sea. Follow it to the edge of the park.
Why Dam A Brook?
Somebody built a dam here more than 300 years ago to make mill wheels turn. Work out how water makes a wheel turn.
The rest are a surprise — that's the whole point.
Also around Cape Ann
Halibut Point State Park
Rockport
A flooded granite quarry, a World War II watchtower, tide pools on the ledges below, and on a clear day a mountain in Maine 40 miles away.
Ravenswood Park
Gloucester
Six hundred acres of Gloucester woods: giant fern-covered boulders, a boardwalk through a magnolia swamp, carriage paths, and an overlook to the harbor.
Play this at Millbrook Meadow
Free. Works with no signal once you're there.