Alice Clapp Smalley Preserve
Map 8 Parcel 120 1.9. Acres Mansfield Avenue Rear
Park at Great Woods. The third piece of the swap, also abutting the Great Brook and NRT Gooch lot, also accessible through the proposed Park At Great Woods. It is separated from 119 by a piece of land with dubious title, (for valuation see #14)
Map 8 Parcel 121 7.9 Acres Oak Street Rear} Abutting strips at
Map 8 Parcel 122 16.4 Acres Oak Street Rear} The rear of the TPC golf course. Part of the swap with bank Boston for 20 acres of Alice Clapp Smalley woodlots. (For valuation see # 14)
Map 15 Parcel 135 14.1 Acres Oak Street
Park at Great Woods. Part of the land swap by Bank Boston for Alice Clapp Smalley woodlots. It is wooded, and much of it is wetland. Received (for valuation
See #14)
Map 15 Parcel 136 10.4 Acres Mansfield Avenue Rear
Park at Great Woods. Part of the land swap by Bank Boston for Alice Clapp Smalley woodlots. It is wooded and part is vegetated wetland. Received (for valuation see #14)
Map 15 Parcel 137 37.6 Acres Oak Street
The Alice Clapp Smalley Wildlife Preserve. When Mrs. Smalley sold a total of about 24 acres in scattered woodlots in the Great Woods to the LPS, she was hopeful that somehow we would be able to add other land and create a wildlife preserve. The woodlots were on very thin soil and she was pleased to have the land swapped for better acreage in the same general area. (Her home farm was sold to become Tweeter Center in Mansfield.) Developer Robert Kraska swapped half of the original woodlot acreage for other land he purchased near the Rumford River and promised to give land off Oak Street with a path leading in to it when he completed his development. He never completed his plans, and Bank Boston donated the land. The Vice President of Bank Boston and President of the Park At Great Woods Corporation Alice Guiney opened a path into it while they were working on the TPC golf course. It is close to the Norton Country Club and its entrance, at the intersection of Oak and Walker streets is signed. The path leads in to some wetland behind the TPC golf course. These lands near Oak Street, taken together, help provide a wildlife corridor between the Mansfield Great Woods preserved lands and the land belonging to the Norton Historical Society and leading down to Norton Reservoir. Donated on SIGNED (Value included in #14)
Narrative for Map 15
Conservation restrictions are present around some of the developments.
The Alice Clapp Smalley Preserve is on Oak Street. Years ago Smalley had a Mansfield farm and some woodlots. LPS purchased the woodlots. Town land, Norton Historical Society land and the TPC golf course are nearby.
The Bank of Boston acquired land in this area when Richard Kraska went bankrupt. Through holding companies they traced the deeds on the land and negotiated with LPS so that the TPC golf course could be developed. They honored Kraska’s gift of 45 acres of land to LPS, which was part of a trade-off for Smalley land. Eventually Bank of Boston gave LPS a total of 100 acres. The bank provided a path into the land from Oak Street. It is very wet, but can be walked in the winter.
Conservation Commission, LPS, and Historical Society land surround the TPC golf course.