AVIS Andover Village Improvement Society

• Andover Village Improvement Society (AVIS) was founded in 1894 by a concerned group of citizens as part of a national movement to improve living conditions in an age of industrialization.

• A.V.I.S. merged with the Indian Ridge Association in 1917.

• AVIS is the second oldest land trust and conservation organization in the country. Only Beverly's Trustees of the Reservation, chartered in 1892, is older.

• One early project was to conserve a glacial deposit known as Indian Ridge.

• After World War II, from the mid 1950's through the 1960's and 1970's, there was concern that, with so much construction little or no open space would remain in Andover. Harold Rafton and others pursued the acquisition of properties through gift and purchase, vastly increasing AVIS acreage and the number of reservations.
  • Deer Jump Reservation is 92.6 acres and stretches 2.3 miles along the bank of the Merrimack River. Four tracts of land purchased 1960 and 1961 make up this reservation.
  • Vale Reservation is located between the railroad tracts and the Shawsheen River in Ballardvale. This land was purchased in 1959.
  • Shawsheen River Reservation is comprised of 26 acres of open grassland starting at the "Horn Bridge and running along the Shawsheen River. The land was purchased in 1963.
  • Indian Ridge Reservation, Baker's Meadow, is 3 parcels of land obtained at 3 different times: 1900,1958, and 1963.
  • High Plain Reservation is 172 acres at the junction of I93 and I495. It was purchased in 1963.

• AVIS is run by a 15 member volunteer board. Many more wardens, committee members and scouts help to maintain and improve the reservations.

See

• AVIS website

• AVIS, a History in Conservation. by Juliet Haines Mofford, 1980.

• Indian Ridge Scrapbook: Clippings Relating to Indian Ridge, Mass. compiled by Alice Buck.

...The Old Red House: an Abbot Homestead.... click to enlarge

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• "Merrimack reservation is brought back to life," Eagle Tribune, August 12, 1979, p. B3.

• "Conservation Land Improved," Andover Townsman, August 14, 1986, p. 26.

• "Conservation an expensive fight, even in 1897," Andover Townsman, December 7, 1989, p. 10.

• "It's a bird watcher's haven," Andover Townsman, December 28, 1989, p. 7.

• "Harold Rafton Reservation is a favorite," Andover Townsman, January 18, 1990, p. 2.

• "Goldsmith is her favorite," Andover Townsman, February 22, 1990, p. 10.

• "Two unusual AVIS treasures are close by: Skug River and Hammond Reservation," Andover Townsman, March 8, 1990, p. 10.

• "Following the Skug River to the Taft," Andover Townsman, March 15, 1990, p. 31.

• "AVIS will be 100 years old in 1994," Andover Townsman, March 29, 1990, p. 38.

• "AVIS works to buy meadow," Andover Townsman, May 10, 1990, p. 6.

• "AVIS' Purdon Reservation: Five acres of history," Andover Townsman, October 31, 1991, p. 6.

• "Georgia Stanley was eager to protect family land," Andover Townsman, November 21, 1991.

• "Visiting the magical AVIS Sanborn Reservation," Andover Townsman, may 7, 1992, p. 60.

• "100 years of saving the land: How AVIS has kept Andover Andover," Eagle Tribune, December 12, 1993, p. 1.

• "AVIS: 100 years conserving land," Andover Townsman, January 27, 1994, p. 1.

• "AVIS acquires more Taft land," Andover Townsman, August 28, 1997.

• "Light is gold, the vistas wide: Ward Reservation," Boston Globe, November 2, 1997.

• "Taft property makes nice hike," Andover Townsman, December 18, 1997, p. 43.

• "In Andover: land, lots of land, for public use," Boston Sunday Globe, April 14, 2002, p. M 20.

• "AVIS sues man who allegedly cut trees," Andover Townsman, June 20, 2002.

• "Suit asks: Who had right to chop trees?," Eagle Tribune, June 21, 2002, p. 1.

• "AVIS Keeping Andover Green," Eagle Tribune, July 6, 2004, pages 9, 10.

• "Group, tree-cutter agree to $24,000 settlement," Eagle Tribune, October 19, 2004, p. 13.

• "Reserving their place in history: Conservation land renamed after retiring improvement society members," Eagle Tribune, March 9, 2005, p. 11.

• "Peggy Keck and Nat Smith honored: AVIS names reservations after two open-space pioneers," Andover Townsman, March 10, 2005, p. 5.

• "Era ends at AVIS, leadership changes," Eagle Tribune, April 24, 2005, p. C7.

• "Boardwalks to connect more open spaces," Andover Townsman, August 18, 2005.

• "Heightened senses at Andover's Ward Reservation," Eagle Tribune, October 1, 2006.

• "Scenic stops around each corner at Goldsmith Woodlands," November 12, 2006.

• "Triple the pleasure when you go exploring Andover's outdoors," Eagle Tribune, December 17, 2006.

• "Volunteers rescue trail, AVIS footbridge: Taking the bridge from beavers," Andover Townsman, January 18, 2007, p. 19.

• "AVIS Recognized for Preserving Town's Natural Resources," Andover Townsman, April 19, 2012, page S7.

• "Storms throughout history cause devastation of town trees," Andover Townsman, January 3, 2013, page 10.

• "A trail of possibilities: First let of Greenway readies to open," Andover Townsman, April 18, 2013, p. 1.

• "A gift for the outdoors: Nature lover leaves $62,700 to AVIS," Andover Townsman, December 12, 2013, p. 1.