fitchburg-hometown
(We are half way though a 95 mile motorcar trip around Fitchburg enjoying
scenic New England. The original book provides a map for this tour.  Our
location is Hardwick, southwest of Barre, Mass.)

Go back to the center and head north on Rte. 32A towards Petersham.  About a
third of a mile from the village will be the interesction with Old Petersham
Rd., at a large white mansion.  Go up this road until its end, then merge
back with Rte. 32A.  This is the original section of road,  and has several
nice houses along the way.  Rte. 32A is the border of Quabbin Reservoir,
constructed in the 1930's for use as Boston's drinking water.  This has
created a "buffer zone" around Hardwick and Petersham, enabling them to keep
their green, quiet country atmosphere for years to come.  Four towns were
erased from sight (except to the perceptive hiker) to create Quabbin.
Greenwich, the oldest dates from 1754.  The others, carved from Greenwich
and surrounding towns, were Enfield, Prescott and Dana.  Since 1938, these
four towns have ceased to exist, their lands being ceded to neighbors.  If
you want to do a little ghost-hunting, though, it's still possible to wander
around what's left of Dana Common, the only Worcester County town absorbed
by the Reservoir.  At the second gate after the Petersham line,
approximatedly six miles from Hardwick, park your car and walk in.  The old
road passes a granit town line marker dividing Petersham from Dana.  About a
mile and a half beyond is the common, at an intersetion with several other
paved roads.  Take a few minutes and see the cellar holes, porch railings,
telephone poles and sidewalks gradually being covered by moss and
undergrowth with the pavement quietly disappearing under the still blue of
the reservoir.

Go back to Rte.32A and continue heading north.  Come to a stop at Rte. 122
and take a right, but only for a quarter mile.  Then take a left turn onto
Main St. (Rte.32 north) and into the 18th-and 19th-century aura of
Petersham.  Its long, wide village street is bordered by handsome old trees
and evenly spaced houses.  In the center is an old general store with an ice
cream parlor out back.  This might be a nice place to pick up a few items
for a picnic lunch on the village green.  In the summertime, you can even
catch a band playing in the bandstand, a tradition long since abandoned by
most communities.  At the north end of the village, bear left at a little
sign entitled "Petersham Craft Center." This sliver of roadway will bring
you back out onto the main road again,  but it gives you a chance to see
some more fine houses as well as a  quaint little church.

Turn right onto Rte, 101 at the big old white mansion.  After crossing the
Phillipston town line, look for an intersection with several signs, "Fox
Run" among them.  At this fork, bear left onto Petersham Rd., and follow it
into Phillipston Center.  When you get to the tiny common, take a left, then
almost immediately bear left onto Athol Rd.  After two miles or so, bear
right where the road splits (the left-hand fork takes you to the "Fox run"
restaurant).  When you come to a stop sign at Rte. 2A, cross over the
highway onto Highland Ave.  The Red Apple Farm, a great place to buy apples,
is one mile up on your left.  At the end of Highland Ave., go around the
triangle and take a left, going up the hill.  At the end of this road, take
a left onto Rte. 68 west and follow it into Royalston Center.  First you
come to South Royalston, once a prosperous mill town, but as the mills were
destroyed by fire nearly a half century ago, there isn't too much activity
there.  Some of the buildings are run-down , but the village's quiet state
of disrepair is somewhat appealing.  Continue up and over the hills for four
miles to Royalston Center, in our opinion the prettiest town in the state.
Hardly changed in a hundred years, Royalston is a good example of what could
be found throughout New England until World War II, when the building boom
of subsequent years changed rural New England into suburbia and worse.
Perched high on a hill, the sleepy town center is a half mile long parade of
houses, with a church, a town hall and post office.  Every building but two
is of white clapboard with green shutters (the dissenters are yellow).
Royalston was, for many years, a summer retreat for Bostonians and New
Yorkers, but as the trend of summer vacationing headed less inland and more
towards the ocean, the houses became vacant.

In the Center, the outstanding buildings is the unusually large Bullock
Mansion, once the home of Massachusetts Gov Alexander Bullock.  The original
section of the house dates back to ca. 1785 but is hidden from the street by
the 1812 additions.  This addition contains a ball-room (later converted to
apartments), a former general store, porches and a balustrade atop the roof.
The old village weighing scales still stand in front of the abandoned
general store, a yellow building with black shutters.

Several small waterfalls are located in the town.  Doane's Falls, off the
Athol Rd. at the Mill Rd. intersection is about two miles below the center.
You can park your car near the stone bridge on Athol Rd. and wander around
the falls.  Royal Falls, located off Falls Rd., will be found by taking Rte.
68 west from the Center proceeding down the steep ridge and bearing right at
the first road.  The Falls Rd. becomes dirt but go as far as the hollow in
order to park the car.  Then walk up the hill a very short distance, and the
path to the falls will be on your left.  Springtime is the best time to view
them, as they are at their peak display from the melting winter snows.

At the north end of the common, bear right and shortly bear right again.
About four miles out from the village, the road becomes dirt, but continue
anyway.  At the end of this road, take a right onto a paved highway (you are
now in New Hampshire).  Follow this road to its end, at a narrow railroad
underpass.  Go under the tracks, come to a complete stop (please) and turn
right onto Rte. 119. Follow Rte. 119 east through Fitzwilliam Depot to the
Fitzwilliam town common.  This is another near-perfect New England town,
nestled in the shadow of Mt. Monadnock.  As you approach the center, you
will notice an old "pointed finger" road sign of a bygone era. The
Fitzwilliam Inn has been in continuous use as a hostelry for more than 170
years, and you can still get a delicious meal here today.

Head out Rte. 119 east towards Rindge.  In Rindge is located the Cathedral
of the Pines, an outdoor amphitheater used for religious services.  Sunrise
services are very popular here, as one glimpses the breaking rays of the sun
on the peak of Mt Monadnock.  To reach the spot, take a left at the
controlled traffic lights on Rte. 119 in Rindge, and follow signs for the
Cathedral.) Rte.119 continues eastward, passing by Mt Watatic on your left
after the Massachusetts state line.  Proceed through Asbby Common, and enter
Fitchburg via Ashby state Road.

(That's the end of the the tour.  I am on the last couple pages of this
book.  The next 'Part' will finish it.  Have you enjoyed it?  Would you like
another?  Have you any suggestions of publications of interest?  I have
noticed a big collection of Fitchburg books in the Bibliography section of
Doris Kirkpatrick's "The City and the River".  Are any of you familiar with
any of these works?)