The ninth biggest city in the state, Lynn is largely known as home to industries like General Electric and manufacturers ranging from those that have shod Revolutionary soldiers to putting marshmallow in your sandwiches. But perhaps its best-kept secret is Lynn Woods Reservation, a forested park encompassing one-fifth of the city. Hiding in plain sight, the reserve is by some accounts the second-largest municipal park in the United States.
On an unseasonably warm Sunday in November, my husband and I made one of our now-regular visits to Lynn Woods. Arriving at midday, we set off on Great Woods Trail, a main artery among the more than 30 miles of scenic paths that wind through the woods and around three idyllic reservoirs.
We soon found other like-minded people. A pack of teenaged mountain bikers whooshed downhill on the right, while a gray-haired man loped by on the left. As we approached intersecting trails, a small herd of people gathered, heads craned back, hoping to glimpse the woodpecker hard at work above, the rat-a-tat-tat of his labor echoing off the surrounding trees, now barren of leaves.
“It’s great here during all four seasons,’’ said Eleanor Starkenberg, pausing during a walk with her daughter Karla and Springsteen, a husky-chow-wolf mix. “Cross-country skiing in the winter is really fun, if you’re willing to pave your own way; the trails are ungroomed. If you arrive early, it’s very quiet and peaceful, you see the sun glistening off the snow on the tree branches. It’s like a winter wonderland. Last winter we saw a deer on the ice on one of the ponds. When it saw us, it was very scared, slipping and sliding, trying to scurry off.’’
Deer sightings aren’t unusual: The population here numbers about 70, up from one a decade ago.
Peter Cusimano comes here every day to walk his dog Marley. A local resident for 25 years, Cusimano is known as “the mayor’’ of Lynn Woods.
