Hidden In The Woods Of Boston's Franklin Park Lie Creepy And Long-Abandoned Bear Cages From An Old Zoo

While the lush Boston Common holds the title of America's oldest park, Franklin Park is the city's largest, at 485 acres. Within its confines are a pond, hiking paths, and the Franklin Park Zoo. Today's zoo is all fenced in at the northeast corner of the park, but once, it had a peripheral bear exhibit that required visitors to walk 10 minutes from where the current boundaries stand. The bear dens were glorious when they opened in the 20th century, but now, left abandoned in the shadowy underbrush of the park's Long Crouch Woods, they're not much more than an eerie relic to intrigue attentive park-goers.

The Franklin Park Zoo began as a loose concept by the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, the iconic link between the Chicago suburb of Riverside and New York City's Central Park. Olmsted's vision for Franklin Park emphasized an open layout with naturally meandering pathways and woods. Olmsted laid out preliminary designs for a zoo-like area that would have goats, donkeys, and bears, but he died before it materialized. Instead, his disciple Arthur Shurtleff took over, keeping in harmony with Olmsted's initial plans. The zoo design maintained the flowing, naturalistic setting, without fences separating it from the rest of the park, and was free to the public.

The bear dens, along with an aviary house, were one of the first zoo exhibits to open in 1912. At the time, they were a boon, said to have opened to an audience of nearly 10,000. The exhibit had a variety of bear species, brought in from as far as Germany. When the zoo lost funding in the 1950s, though, it had to start charging for admission. They put up a fence that excluded the bear dens, which were left there sans bears to slowly deteriorate.

You can find the lingering bear dens on the north side of Franklin Park, easily reached from the park entrances bordering Jamaica Plain, one of Boston's best neighborhoods known for its green spaces. For those flying in, it's about a 35-minute drive or 45-minute public transit ride from Boston Logan International Airport to the park's north end. The dens are actually quite straightforward to find — they're even marked on Google Maps — and, since they've long been separate from the current zoo, you don't need to pay anything to wander among them. You'll see a stately stone staircase off the side of a path north of the White Stadium. Climb up the stairs, and they'll take you up to the bear dens.

The four bear dens were designed in a half-circle around a central viewing platform, which is at the top of the staircase. Viewers were kept separated from the bears by a tall layer of shrubs, granite walls, and iron fencing. The dens once had pools for the bears to enjoy — they're empty today, but you can still see the basins, along with boulders from the exhibit. The second den has an impressive stone carving of two bears holding up the Boston city seal.

Though the retired bear dens are pretty dilapidated today, the city has invested in restoring them. The first stage of improvements began in 2025, focusing on the dens' safety. But there are longer-term plans to bring the site to life again — not with bears, but with programming and maybe even splash pads for kids in the former bear pools.