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State Park Parking — Daily Fees Waived on Three Plates, and Veterans-Only Spaces

The Department of Conservation and Recreation waives daily parking fees at all its facilities for vehicles carrying disability plates or placards, Purple Heart Recipient plates, or disabled veteran plates. Separately, designated veterans-only spaces are set aside at around thirty DCR facilities for any Massachusetts veterans plate — and for out-of-state veteran plates too.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

The Department of Conservation and Recreation waives daily parking fees at all its facilities for vehicles carrying disability plates or placards, Purple Heart Recipient plates, or disabled veteran plates. Separately, designated veterans-only spaces are set aside at around thirty DCR facilities for any Massachusetts veterans plate — and for out-of-state veteran plates too.

What it's worth: Daily parking fees waived at all DCR facilities on three plate types, plus reserved spaces at around thirty facilities

  • The Department states that daily parking fees are waived at all DCR facilities for vehicles with disability license plates or placards, Purple Heart Recipient license plates, or disabled veteran license plates.
  • The designated veterans-only spaces are a separate arrangement with a wider plate list: Veteran, Disabled Veteran, Bronze Star, Silver Star, Purple Heart, Congressional Medal of Honor, Legion of Valor, Pearl Harbor Survivor, Distinguished Flying Cross, Ex-POW and Medal of Liberty. Out-of-state veteran plates are also eligible to use them.
  • Those spaces are first come, first served, and posted parking restrictions still apply.
  • No annual figure is published here because the saving depends on how often you visit and which facility; the waiver is of the daily fee rather than of the annual pass price.

Who is entitled to it

  • The waiver and the designated spaces both run on a plate issued to the veteran.
  • Your home is in Massachusetts.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

  1. 1Check which plate you actually hold. The daily fee waiver runs on three things only: a disability plate or placard, a Purple Heart Recipient plate, or a disabled veteran plate. A plain Veteran plate is not on that list.
  2. 2If you hold a plain Veteran plate, you still get the designated spaces. The Department names Veteran, Disabled Veteran, Bronze Star, Silver Star, Purple Heart, Congressional Medal of Honor, Legion of Valor, Pearl Harbor Survivor, Distinguished Flying Cross, Ex-POW and Medal of Liberty plates for those.
  3. 3Visiting from outside the Commonwealth? Out-of-state veteran plates are eligible to use the designated veterans-only spaces, which is unusual enough to be worth knowing at the gate.
  4. 4Look for the spaces at the facilities the Department names, which include Castle Island in South Boston, Wollaston and Nantasket Beaches, Revere Beach, Breakheart Reservation in Saugus, Houghton’s Pond in Milton, Nickerson State Park in Brewster, Wompatuck State Park in Hingham, Lake Park at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester and the Mt. Greylock Visitor Center lot in Lanesborough.
  5. 5Read the posted restrictions anyway. The spaces are first come, first served and the Department is explicit that patrons must adhere to all posted parking restrictions.
  6. 6At Nantasket Beach, the designated spaces are in the free lot only, which the Department flags separately.
  7. 7If you are ticketed in error, appeal rather than pay. The Department takes appeals online or by mail and answers within 30 days, and the DCR Parking Ticket Office is on 617-626-1419. Waiting past 21 days adds a further fine.
Form
None at the gate — the plate is the credential
File with
No filing; obtain the plate from the Registry of Motor Vehicles first
No renewal
Once granted it does not need renewing.
CorrectionThe daily fee waiver and the reserved spaces are two different things with two different plate lists. A plain Veteran plate opens the designated spaces but is not among the three plates the Department names for the fee waiver.
Worth knowingOut-of-state veteran plates are accepted in the designated spaces. A veteran visiting family here does not need a Massachusetts plate to use them.
Known gapThe Department publishes the fee waiver without citing its authority, and the text of M.G.L. c.132A §2D — which the Trial Court Law Libraries describe as giving free park access to Purple Heart recipients — was not read: it links out to malegislature.gov, which refused retrieval this session. Whether the statutory right is wider than the published waiver is unresolved.

Sources

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.