LocationsMassachusetts
Rockport, Massachusetts
Millbrook Meadow
Rockport's seaside park, where a brook runs out of a two-acre pond, over a dam, through the meadow and under a bridge on its way to the sea — with a granite whale and a playground at the top of it.
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 and fished here for years and years. Then a settler grazed his cows on it. Then a man called John Pool dug out a dam so the brook would turn mill wheels, and the mills ground grain and cut timber, and then came factories making pianos and forging anchors. Then in 2006 a rainstorm blew the dam out altogether. What you are standing on now was rebuilt after that — a new dam, the pond dug out again, and a meadow put back.
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
- The main entrance is from Beach Street at Front Beach, and there are ways in from King Street and Mill Lane. Rockport charges for beach parking in season — check the town's page before you drive over.
- Underfoot
- A small flat seaside park with a pond, a brook running through it, a bridge, gardens and a playground.
- Stroller
- A stroller is fine here.
22 challenges written for this place
A game deals seven to fifteen of them, so no two visits are alike.
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, through the meadow and away to the sea. Follow it as far as you can.
Why Dam A Brook?
Somebody built a dam here hundreds of years ago to make wheels turn. Work out how water makes a wheel go round.
The rest are a surprise — that's the whole point.
Play this at Millbrook Meadow
Free. Works with no signal once you're there.