JC Phillips Nature Preserve

JC Phillips Nature Preserve, Beverly, Mass

The JC Phillips Nature Preserve is 85 acres in the Northwest corner of Moraine Farm in Beverly, Mass. Moraine was purchased by the Phillips family in 1880 and John Charles Phillips hired famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead to design and lay out a functioning farm and homestead. Sadly, JC Phillips passed away in 1885 and never saw Olmstead's completed design.

The Phillips family continued to live on the property with his sons purchasing adjoining properties and expanding Moraine Farm. JC's son Ambassador William Phillips and his wife Caroline built a Italianate mansion named Highover in 1913 on what is now the Nature Preserve. The mansion burned down in 1968 but some of its ruins and footprint are still there. Ambassador Phillips served in the State Department for much of the first half of the 20th century, with postings in China, Western Europe, and India. He died in 1968, the mansion was sold, and it burned soon after.

The Nature Preserve is now jointly managed by the Trustees of Reservations and the Essex County Greenbelt. Highover's remains are at the top of a winding uphill drive. Ironically, there are fire hydrants at the bottom and top. Other paths circle the hill and everything intersects on the base of Wenham Lake. The path to the top and down to the Lake is quite steep. I didn't explore further but some of these trails might continue around the Lake.

From where Highover once stood, it's quiet and peaceful. I couldn't hear the traffic on Rte 97 or 1A. An inscription on a marble water fountain mentions sharing the peaceful surroundings with the birds. Another nice thing: no homeless people living in the woods.

There are only a few pictures of Highover on the web. And very few details on the home itself. It's not clear where the fountain stood - inside as a grotto or outside as part of a garden. The photos do not show the columns at the top of the drive. And the cedar-lined allee running down to the Lake is overgrown and filled in. It seems as though the plan is to let nature reclaim the land rather than do any preservation work. Even the masonry artifacts remain scattered around the ruins (it's good that they haven't been pilfered).