On October 28, the Town of Dover announced a $260,000 state grant to finish designing the Dover Rail Trail. That is a 3.5-mile multi-use path on the old railroad corridor between the Medfield town line and the Needham town line. On a map, the grant covers the longest unbuilt stretch of a regional trail. Needham has opened its stretch of the corridor, and so has Medfield. Dover's piece sits between them and is the longest, roughly half of the trail's planned length. The open stone-dust paths on either side of town stop where Dover begins.
The corridor has a name, the Bay Colony Rail Trail. Its nonprofit coordinator, the Bay Colony Rail Trail Association, describes it as a proposed seven-mile trail through Needham, Dover and Medfield. The association also partners with Newton's Upper Falls Greenway. Here is how the pieces stand this fall:
| Segment | Length | Status | Where it runs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Needham | 1.7 miles | Open | From near High Rock Street, past the Needham Town Forest, to The Trustees' Charles River Peninsula |
| Dover | 3.5 miles | Final design under way | From the Charles River, past Hunt Drive, under Centre Street in Dover center, through about two miles of conservation land to the Medfield line |
| Medfield | 1.3 miles | Open | From the Dover line to Ice House Road, near the Kingsbury Club and the Medfield Senior Center |
The two open segments together come to three miles. The Dover gap is longer than both of them combined.
Why the corridor is still there to build on
Trains reached this line early. A 2016 study for Medfield traces it to the Charles River Branch Railroad. Service between Boston and Newton Upper Falls began in 1852 and was extended through Needham and Dover to Medfield in 1861. According to that study, the MBTA took ownership in 1972 and leased the corridor to Bay Colony Railroad in 1982. Bay Colony stopped running the Medfield-to-Newton section in 2008. The Bay Colony Rail Trail Association formed that same year, organized by volunteers from Newton, Needham, Dover and Medfield.
The MBTA still owns the land. The association says the corridor is leased at no cost on a 99-year term, and the T keeps the right to end the lease if demand for rail returns. In towns without a trail yet, it adds, the corridor is formally abandoned and falling into disrepair.
That last point matters most for Dover. Both neighbors have turned their sections into maintained paths. Needham's trail opened to the public in May 2016, after its second construction phase was finished that spring. The Friends of the Medfield Rail Trail say Medfield's Town Meeting approved its project in May 2018 and that grants and private donations paid for it. The Dover miles between them are still the old railbed.
Who decides what happens in the middle
The association spells out how the work is divided. It coordinates, raises money and proposes common standards for signs and amenities. Each town is responsible for approving its own trail, setting its rules, handling access and parking, and managing the points where the path meets public roads. No regional body can finish the corridor for Dover, and the decisions that shape the 3.5 miles through town belong to Dover.
The new money moves those decisions closer. The grant comes from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation's MassTrails program. It follows an earlier MassTrails award of $184,760 that paid for the first half of design. Together the two grants put roughly $445,000 of state money into design. The engineering firm TEC Inc. is doing the work: preliminary trail alignment, aerial surveying, drainage assessments, traffic engineering, and structural evaluations of two existing bridges on the corridor.
The town's announcement also gives the first construction number. The preliminary estimate is $4.16 million plus 15 percent for construction contingencies, which comes to about $4.8 million. That figure does not include replacing the Charles River Bridge. The Charles River end, where the association's description puts the "scenic trestle bridge," is where Dover's segment would meet Needham's.
In the same announcement, Town Administrator Michael Blanchard said the grant "brings us closer to completing the design." He said the town looks forward to "developing a clearer understanding of the project's scope, costs and next steps." Parks and Recreation Director Mark Ghiloni said the next phase would include "gathering feedback from residents and further refining our plans to address the needs of the community."
Here is the order of what comes next, according to the town:
- A public meeting to update residents on the design work funded by the first grant and to collect more input.
- Final design, expected to be finished by summer 2027.
- A vote on the completed design at a future Town Meeting.
The schedule has already moved once. A September 2024 town release projected planning and design from October through April 2025 and expected the project to go before voters in fall 2025. The new timeline pushes final design into 2027, and the Rail Trail Project page is where the town posts updates.
What Dover's stretch would pass through
The association describes Dover's 3.5 miles as starting at the Charles River and passing Hunt Drive. The route then goes under Centre Street in the center of town and runs through about two miles of conservation land. Across the whole corridor, it says, at least half the distance runs through conservation land, and it names the Needham Town Forest and Dover's Wylde Woods.
Wylde Woods already has rules. The town's FAQ says dogs are permitted as long as they are under their owner's control and cleaned up after, and that horseback riding is allowed on its trails. The association lists the uses it has in mind for the finished corridor as hiking, walking, running, biking, cross-country skiing and, in some sections, horseback riding. Each town sets its own rules for its own segment, so Dover would set the rules for its miles.
Walking both ends before Dover's middle exists
Until Dover's segment is built, residents can walk the two open ends. Both are short enough for a November afternoon, and each starts a few minutes beyond the town line.
The Needham end. The association describes the Needham segment as flat, mostly wooded and surfaced in compacted stone dust, suitable for walking, running and biking. Dogs must be leashed. It lists parking on High Rock Street along the Town Forest and in public lots off Fisher Street. The trail ends at Charles River Peninsula, a Trustees property on Fisher Street. It is free and open daily from sunrise to sunset. The Trustees point visitors to the adjacent DCR Red Wing Bay canoe and kayak launch, a 10-car lot with a footpath toward the open field. Dog rules at the peninsula change with the season. From April 1 through August 15, dogs must be leashed to protect grassland birds. The rest of the year they may be off-leash under voice control, so November falls in the off-leash months. From the peninsula, the river crossing that Dover's budget leaves unresolved is close by.
The Medfield end. The 1.3-mile Medfield segment is also flat, wooded and stone dust. It allows walking, jogging, bicycling, horseback riding and general recreation, with dogs on leash. Parking is listed at the Ice House Road dirt lot across from the trail entrance and along Farm Street. The path runs toward the Dover town line, which means its far end is the southern edge of Dover's planned segment.
If you walk both on the same weekend, you will have seen the two places where Dover's 3.5 miles would connect.
A guided Dover walk on November 14
For a guided walk inside town lines, the Dover Open Space Committee is leading its 2nd Saturday Stroll on Saturday, November 14, at 10:30 a.m. The route goes through The Trustees' Peters Reservation, into the Dover Land Conservation Trust's Porter Woodlands, and on into The Trustees' Chase Woodlands. The walk is free, but registration is required through the committee's Eventbrite page. The group will not meet at the Chase/Peters lot, which holds only four cars. Parking details go by email on Friday, November 13, at 10:30 a.m., and later registrants should check their email Saturday morning. Kids are welcome. Dogs are not allowed in Peters or Chase. Expect uneven, possibly wet ground, and the stroll goes ahead in misty rain.
The town's news page, which carried the rail trail grant announcement, also lists the next open-space conversation in town, a Tree Preservation Committee forum on Thursday, November 19, at Caryl Community Center, 4 Springdale Avenue. Arrival and registration start at 6:30 p.m., and the interactive presentation begins at 7:00 p.m.
We follow Dover's open space and town projects closely because they shape everyday life here. If you'd like to talk through what the rail trail or any other Dover project could mean for your plans, The Walsh Team Partners would be glad to help. Request a complimentary consultation.
