The Kingdom of Bale is a 7.9-acre property on North Road in Hardwick. The land is mostly a hayfield, mowed in mid-summer to allow the bobolinks and other grassland nesting birds to successfully fledge. A small copse of woods borders the road.
The East Quabbin Land Trust encourages visitors to all of its preserves. Please be respectful of the land and other visitors. EQLT has several policies that guide use of the land, including a Dog Walking Policy, Hunting and Fishing Policy and Recreational Trail Use Policy. There are no designated walking trails at the Kingdom of Bale, but when the grass is cut we encourage you to go explore the Kingdom of Bale.
Here is the conservation story about the Kingdom of Bale:
The metaphorical flag was set for the Kingdom of Bale decades ago during a hot summer day. A father was playing make-believe with his four-year-old daughter. As the princess was holding court from her stone throne, making laws and decisions to help her subjects through the warm summer weather, the question arose ‘What to call the kingdom?’ Looking around, the princess noticed an errant bale of hay that mistakenly landed in the copse of wood instead of the hay trailer. “The Kingdom of Bale” was the Princess’s resounding answer.
The Kingdom of Bale sits along North Road in Hardwick, close to the Barre town line. The throne sits next to a sugar maple in a grove of hardwoods with sugar maple, red oak, black cherry, American hophornbeam and white ash. Every farm in New England has a rock pile, and this copse is the area for this farmland. Not far is the hay field, a seven-acre rectangular shaped parcel that was part of a larger farm subdivided decades ago. Fortunately, the Kingdom of Bale was never fortified with a house. Chet and Melinda Boronski always wanted to see the property protected. That chance came in 2021 when the former owner was ready to sell. Chet jumped at the chance to buy the land, which sits next to his residence.
The prime agricultural soils are growing a good crop of hay with clover and mixed pasture grasses. Bobolinks nest in the field, and cutting is delayed allowing the young time to fledge. The land’s western edge borders on a part of the Muddy Brook Wildlife Management Area.
Chet donated the property to the East Quabbin Land Trust and the Hardwick Conservation Commission holds the conservation restriction, permanently precluding development while allowing farming and forest management to continue. The public is welcome to explore the Kingdom of Bale, though no walking trails are envisioned through the hayfield. The Massachusetts Conservation Land Tax Credit program is supporting this conservation effort through a tax credit payment of one half of the donation value to the Boronski’s.
