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 [ image by Jim McElholm-Single Source Inc. ] |
Forests have played an essential role in the town of Douglas since its creation. The forests here were harvested to provide everything from firewood and planking to axe handles for the Douglas Axe Company. Today those same forests attract people to Douglas as a place for recreation and reflection.
E.L.
Jenckes Store Museum
East Douglas
Douglas
State Forest
E.L.
Jenckes Store Museum
Built in 1833, the Jenckes Store is a classic example of a small town
general store. Now operated as a museum by the Douglas Historical Society,
the store is stocked today as it would have been a century ago. Open seasonally;
call for programs and special events.
283 Main Street
Douglas, MA 01516
(508) 476-3856
East
Douglas
East Douglas is a charming village that evolved from a farming community
into an industrial village. Along with textile mills, East Douglas was
also home to the Douglas Axe Manufacturing Company which took advantage
of the town’s natural resources of wood and waterpower.
Main Street (Rt. 16)
Douglas, MA
Douglas
State Forest
This popular 4,640-acre state forest offers a variety of recreational
opportunities. Visitors can enjoy swimming, boating and fishing at Wallum
Lake and hiking, horseback riding, cross-country skiing on miles of woodland
trails. Douglas State Forest also includes a rare example of Atlantic
White Cedar swampland that can be explored along a swamp trail. Open Sunrise
to Sunset.
Douglas State Forest
Wallum Lake Road
Douglas, MA 01516
(508) 476-7872
http://mass.gov/dcr/parks/central/doug.htm
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| [ image by R.Christopher Noonan, Preservation Services, Inc. ] |
Sutton is proud of its agricultural heritage, producing corn, fruits and dairy products for towns throughout the region. The town center is a classic example of a crossroads farming community. But even Sutton was touched on its fringes by the industrial revolution as attested to by the mill villages of Manchaug and Wilkinsonville.
Waters
Farm
Purgatory Chasm
Manchaug Village
Waters
Farm
Waters Farm is a living history farm museum that celebrates 19th century
rural life. The farmhouse and its contents, used for over 200 years by
the same family, are intact. Located on 130 acres of fields and woods
are the farmhouse, blacksmith shop and shingle mill. Call for programs
and special events.
4 Uxbridge Road
Sutton, MA 01590
(508) 865-0101
Purgatory
Chasm
A unique natural landmark, Purgatory Chasm runs for a quarter of a mile
between granite walls rising as high as 70 feet. Popular with picnickers
and rock-climbers alike, the Chasm is believed to have its origin in the
sudden release of dammed-up glacial meltwater near the end of the last
Ice Age, approximately 14,000 years ago.
Trails lead to a variety of rock formations, with such romantic names
as The Corn Crib, The Coffin, The Pulpit, Lovers' Leap and Fat Man's Misery.
Open from sunrise to sunset.
Purgatory
Road
Sutton, MA 01590
(508) 234-3733
http://mass.gov/dcr/parks/central/purg.htm
Manchaug
Village
Manchaug is a wonderfully preserved mill village along the banks of the
Mumford River. The mills here for many years were owned by B.B. and R.
Knight, makers of Fruit of the Loom. The attractive stone mills have been
revitalized and are being reused for a number of small businesses.
Main Street at Whintins Road
Sutton, MA
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| [ image by Jim McElholm-Single Source Inc. ] | [ image by Jim McElholm-Single Source Inc. ] |
Harnessing water as a source of power was the key to industrialization in the Blackstone River Valley. A prime example of this is Northbridge, with its chain of mills along the Blackstone, and the wonderful series of dams and holding ponds that turned the small Mumford River into the driving engine of the massive Whitin Machine Works.
Blackstone
River and Canal Heritage State Park - Plummer’s Landing
Whitinsville
Lookout Rock
Blackstone
River and Canal Heritage State Park -
Plummer’s
Landing
Plummer’s landing is the northern end of the Blackstone River and
Canal Heritage State Park. In 1837, Israel Plummer built a general store
and warehouse here next to a canal lock. Today Plummer’s landing
serves as a trail head and canoe access site. Open dawn to dusk.
Church Street
Northbridge, MA
http://mass.gov/dcr/parks/central/blst.htm
Whitinsville
Whitinsville was the home of the Whitin Machine Works, an internationally
renowned maker of textile machinery. “The Shop” specialized
in making machines for picking, carding and spinning cotton and wool.
Touring Whitinsville today you can still see much of the original village,
including the worker housing, churches and the Community Center.
Main Street
Northbridge, MA
Lookout
Rock
Lookout Rock provides one of the most spectacular views in the Blackstone
Valley. Standing atop the rock, you have a view of the Blackstone River
snaking its way through Northbridge and Uxbridge and through the Rice
City Pond. Open from dawn to dusk.
Quaker Street
Northbridge, MA
http://www.state.ma.us/dem/parks/blst.htm
