Metro West

deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum

Lincoln

30 acres

deCordova's mission is to inspire, educate, and delight with contemporary art from New England and beyond through outdoor sculptures in the landscape and museum exhibitions.

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Plan Your Visit
  • Overview
  • Ideas for Your Visit
  • Admission & Hours
  • Directions & Contact Info
  • What You'll Find
  • Facilities & Accessibility
  • Venue Rental
  • Property Map
  • Regulations & Advisories

Overview

deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum is the largest park of its kind in New England. Providing a constantly changing landscape of large-scale, outdoor, modern and contemporary sculpture and site-specific installations of more than 60 works.

Patrons of deCordova can enjoy year round activities in the Sculpture Park and Museum, including snowshoe tours, yoga in the park, nature tours, curator and artist conversations, and many special talks, screenings, and events. deCordova is also home to Lincoln Nursery School, the first preschool embedded in a contemporary art museum in the United States

Please note the temporary suspension of the indoor galleries at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. The Sculpture Park remains open, and no other facilities, programs, events, or activities are affected, including the store or café. The temporary suspension allows us to upgrade our HVAC and climate control systems to ensure that our indoor exhibition spaces meet The Trustees’ and the museum industries’ stringent standards. We expect this process to take two-three years and we will share updates and ways to get involved in the coming months. For more information, please click here.

Twisted Tree Café is now open at deCordova!
Open Tuesday-Friday, 10AM-3PM and Saturday-Sunday, 10AM-4PM

Massachusetts Cultural Council Foundation for Metro West

Ideas for Your Visit

There is something for everyone at deCordova. Visit ground-breaking contemporary art exhibitions and family friendly learning spaces inside the museum. Pack a picnic and spread out on 30 acres of trails, lawns, and gardens. Children will enjoy self-guided tours and scavenger hunts. Go into our app and learn about various sculpture throughout the park at your leisure or follow along with a digital tour.

Please note the temporary suspension of the indoor galleries at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. Please find FAQs on the indoor museum exhibition hiatus here.

Take a look at our current and past exhibitions here

Virtual and in-person programs are available for all ages and abilities – take a look here.

View the Sculpture Park here.

See highlights from our Permanent Collection here.

Print out (or use on your phone!) our scavenger hunt, found here.

Group Visit Information

Admission & Hours

Passes are released every week on Tuesday around noon for the following two weeks. Although the indoor exhibitions are on a temporary hiatus, the Park grounds, store, and café are all open as usual. 

Sculpture Park Grounds

Please note the temporary suspension of the indoor galleries at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. The Sculpture Park remains open, and no other facilities, programs, events, or activities are affected, including the store or cafe. The temporary suspension allows us to upgrade our HVAC and climate control systems to ensure that our indoor exhibition spaces meet The Trustees’ and the museum industries’ stringent standards. We expect this process to take two-three years and we will share updates and ways to get involved in the coming months. For more information, please click here.

Admission Fees

  • FREE for Trustees Members, Lincoln residents, children 12 and under
  • $14 Adults
  • $12 Seniors
  • $12 Students
  • FREE for visitors with EBT, WIC, Mass Health, and METCO students and their families. Please select the EBT option when you check out and bring any supporting documentation to your visit.

Starting Tuesday, September 3

  • Closed Monday*–Tuesday
  • Wednesday–Sunday, 10AM–4PM
  • *Open Holiday Mondays, 10AM–4PM (MLK Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Indigenous Peoples’ Day, & Veteran’s Day)

deCordova | Store Hours

  • Tuesday–Friday, 10AM–4PM
  • Saturday & Sunday, 10AM–5PM
  • Closed Mondays*
  • *Open Holiday Mondays, 10AM–4PM (MLK Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Indigenous Peoples’ Day, & Veteran’s Day)

Twisted Tree Café Hours

  • Tuesday–Friday, 10AM–3PM
  • Saturday & Sunday, 10AM–4PM
  • Closed Mondays*
  • *Open Holiday Mondays, 10AM–3PM (MLK Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Indigenous Peoples’ Day, & Veteran’s Day)

New England Museum Association members receive FREE reciprocal admission. Please email tickets@thetrustees.org for more information.

If you are interested in setting up a group visit, please reach out to decordovagroups@thetrustees.org. We welcome school and youth groups for experiential educational programs. Please visit our Education Page for details.

 

Directions & Contact Info

51 Sandy Pond Road
Lincoln, MA 01773
Phone: 781.259.8355

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Get directions on Google Maps.

deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum is located 20 miles from Boston, 15 miles from Cambridge, and is easily accessible from several major highways.

What You'll Find

deCordova is internationally recognized as a major venue for the exhibition and interpretation of modern and contemporary outdoor sculpture. The Sculpture Park occupies the entire campus: 30 acres of beautifully landscaped lawns, forests, fields, gardens, and terraces on a rolling site along the shore of Flint’s Pond in Lincoln, Massachusetts. At any given time, more than 50 sculptures are on display in the Sculpture Park, which is open every day during the summer and Wednesdays through Sundays during the winter.

To see all current sculptures in the park, please click here. 

Virtual and in-person programs are available for all ages and abilities – take a look here.

Please note the temporary suspension of the indoor galleries at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. The Sculpture Park remains open, and no other facilities, programs, events, or activities are affected, including the store or cafe. The temporary suspension allows us to upgrade our HVAC and climate control systems to ensure that our indoor exhibition spaces meet The Trustees’ and the museum industries’ stringent standards. We expect this process to take two-three years and we will share updates and ways to get involved in the coming months. For more information, please click here.

To learn about our exhibitions, please click here.

Explore our hands-on learning spaces here.

Print out (or use on your phone!) our scavenger hunt, found here.

See highlights from our Permanent Collection here.

Save the Date every June for the Party for the Sculpture Park! This year we are excited to welcome guests on Sunday, June 8.

Group Visits

Established in 1950, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum is the largest park of its kind in New England encompassing 30 acres, 20 miles west of Boston. In 2009, deCordova changed its name from deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park to deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum to emphasize its renewed focus on sculpture and to support the institution’s goal of becoming a premier Sculpture Park. Providing a constantly changing landscape of large-scale, outdoor, modern and contemporary sculpture and site-specific installations, the Sculpture Park hosts more than 50 works, the majority of which are on loan to the Museum. Inside, the Museum features a robust slate of rotating exhibitions and innovative interpretive programming.

Facilities & Accessibility

Museum
The museum building is fully accessible, except for a small portion of The Dewey Family Hall.

Wheelchair Accessible Bathrooms
There are accessible bathrooms on the third floor of the museum, accessed by an elevator.  The bathrooms in the courtyard are not wheelchair accessible. However, the bathrooms in the café are wheelchair accessible.

Wheelchair Accessible Parking
There are two wheelchair accessible spots next to the front entrance of the museum.  There are also a number of accessible spots in the main parking lot, for guests looking to access the store/café or Sculpture Park.

There are two accessible spots in the upper level lot for access to special events.

Wheelchair Accessible Picnic Tables
There are two accessible picnic tables in the Courtyard.

Wheelchair Accessible Trails
Most of the Sculpture Park grounds consists of grass and paved path/drive. There is one accessible pathway through the property, with other locations wheelchair friendly (with assistance). There are a few sculptures located in areas of uneven ground and steep incline. Andy Goldsworthy’s Watershed is accessible from the upper staff parking lot which has accessible parking available to visitors.

UP Organization
DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum is proud to be a designated UP organization as part of an accessibility program developed by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. UP supports the growth and development of organizations that recognize the power of inclusive design to grow audiences and enhance cultural experiences for all, and that embrace inclusivity as core to their mission.

Venue Rental

DeCordova offers a unique backdrop of contemporary art for an unforgettable wedding in its indoor and outdoor spaces. Enjoy cocktails on the Sculpture Terrace, dinner and dancing in the galleries, or plan a tented event in the park.

Learn More

DEWEY FAMILY HALL

Featuring vibrant works from local emerging artists, this versatile space can be used for many different events, from meetings and receptions to dinner and dancing.

Capa​city

120 people for dinner and dancing
150 people for dinner or luncheon, no dancing
175 people for theater-style seating
175 for standing reception

SCULPTURE TERRACE

Adjacent to the iconic brick turrets of the original deCordova Mansion, and overlooking picturesque Flint Pond, a stunning location for wedding ceremonies, cocktail receptions and open-air dinners.

PONDSIDE TERRACE AND TENT

Nestled in the trees above Flint Pond, this exceptional events space and sailcloth tent is the best of everything deCordova has to offer for private events. Equipped with lights, catering tent and power, the tent pad with surrounding grass provides both comfort and beauty for an ideal flow cocktail receptions into seated dinner.

Capacity

230 people for dinner and dancing
300 people for plated dinner

Property Map

Free trail maps are distributed from the ticket booth. Please understand that supplies periodically run out.

We recommend that you take a photo of the map on your phone so you can refer to it during your visit, or download a trail map before you head out.

Regulations & Advisories

Please note the Courtyard bathrooms are closed January – Spring

  • PHOTOGRAPHY: The Trustees is not allowing professional portrait photography sessions at our museum properties including deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum and Fruitlands Museum. A nearby alternative is The Old Manse in Concord. Please click here to purchase a permit for The Old Manse.
  • We welcome dogs, please keep them on a leash and pick-up after them.
  • Please note that a small portion of the Museum’s Dewey Family Hall is not wheelchair accessible.
  • Hunting is not permitted at this reservation. Learn more about hunting on Trustees properties.
Before Setting Out
More to Explore

Performance Series: Antje Duvekot & Goodnight Moonshine

Join us in the gallery for an evening with a musical performance with award-winning artist Antje Duvekot and guitar and vocal duet Goodnight Moonshine.

Tickets

Advance Passes

deCordova grounds are currently open in a controlled manner to prevent overcrowding. Advance passes are strongly suggested.
Passes
Upcoming Events

History

deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum is located on the former estate of Julian and Elizabeth “Lizzie” de Cordova (1851-1945). The self-educated son of a Jamaican merchant, Julian de Cordova became a successful tea broker, wholesale merchant, investor, and president of the Union Glass Company in Somerville, Massachusetts. Although he married into the locally prominent Dana family of Boston, Julian achieved prosperity without the advantages of inheritance or social position.

Read More
The View From Here
See What People Say

Spent an excellent few hours roaming the grounds at the deCordova Sculpture Park in Lincoln, Ma. The weather was great and the art sculptures were enjoyable.

Jim C, Recent Visitor

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