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Nashoba Brook Conservation Land
The Nashoba Brook Conservation Land's 123 acres were donated to the town beginning in 1987 as part of the Arbors cluster development approval process, and as such they are exempt from further development. This conservation area is one of a group of three contiguous conservation lands that now comprise a total of 413 acres. Each of the three conservation areas-Nashoba Brook, Spring Hill, and Camp Acton-has its own yellow-blazed loop trail with separate entrances. Two short connectors (red-blazed) link Nashoba Brook conservation area to the abutting Spring Hill conservation area, and, on the more easterly side of the Spring Hill loop trail, two additional connectors, also red-blazed, link Spring Hill to Camp Acton's loop trail. Please refer to the Spring Hill and Camp Acton descriptions for further details of those conservation areas. The two major entrances to the Nashoba Brook conservation area are from Davis Road, off Rt. 2A, and from the end of Wheeler Lane, off Rt. 27. Both have parking. There are two minor entrances with limited parking on Milldam Road reached from Route 27 on Northbriar Road. One is across from its intersection with the end of Northbriar Road and is marked with an entrance sign. The other, with no sign, is at the Milldam Road cul-de-sac. The main loop trail (yellow-blazed) parallels the Brook on both its sides, crossing it twice. Although both sides of the loop trail may be accessed from the Wheeler Lane entrance because of the Wheeler Lane bridge, this entrance leads easily into the northwesterly side of the loop. The Davis Road entrance connects to the southeasterly side. The round trip is approximately 2 miles in length. On the Davis Road side of the Brook, a secondary (blue-blazed) trail runs close to the water for a short distance and gives access to the Pencil Factory Site and its educational kiosk. Two red-blazed connector trails leave the southeasterly side of the loop trail to link this property with the Spring Hill loop trail. One is a short distance from the Davis Road entrance and the other a short distance from the Wheeler Lane entrance.
After leaving the Wheeler Lane parking area beside an old cellar hole, the yellow trail passes through an avenue with over-arching trees, that is defined by two parallel old dry-stone walls. The trail soon passes beside a wetlands on a 180-foot boardwalk constructed in 1997 by LSCom volunteers with a grant from the state's Department of Environmental Management (DEM). It then crosses the Nashoba Brook on a sturdy footbridge built with the same grant and follows along the southeasterly bank of the Brook to the site of a 19th-century pencil factory, where a four-sided kiosk displays information about the history and ecology of the area. 0.4 mile beyond the kiosk, the trail arrives at the Davis Road parking area. The loop trail, after passing its connection with the Davis Road entrance, follows along the southeasterly side of the Brook through a mixed forest, crossing several wet areas on short boardwalks or stepping stones, and passing the two junctions with the connectors to the Spring Hill conservation area. The main trail then descends to a wide footbridge across the upper Nashoba Brook, bringing the hiker back to the Wheeler Lane parking lot just beyond. Across the small meadow at the parking area, another, shorter bridge over a stone sluiceway provides access to the old Robbins Mill site, Robbins Mill Pond, and dam. The stonework in this area is well worth appreciating. This conservation area is probably the most scenic and varied of all the town's conservation lands, due in large part to the mostly unspoiled Nashoba Brook that runs through the land from north to south. The exceptional stonework, including the foundations of early mills, two earthfill dams, many stone walls, and the enigmatic corbelled stone chamber built into a hillside, together with a variety of riverine and upland habitats, make this conservation area a jewel of its kind.
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