This ride features the former Fort Devens. We start with some off-road riding around Mirror Lake, then we ride to Ayer Center and tour portions of the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge along the Nashua River. The AdventuRide 2 route then goes to Historic Shirley Center while the AdventuRide 1 route explores the former military housing areas inside Fort Devens before returning to Mirror Lake.

We will meet at the Mirror Lake Recreation Area parking lot on Patton Road. We will use the parking lot outside the gate along the road rather than the parking lot at the beach.

Click on the map below to go to MapQuest for directions.

Click on the route map below for full size view.

Devens 1   Devens 2

Fort Devens made its mark on region

By C. David Gordon
Staff Writer

DEVENS - Thrust into existence virtually overnight during World War I, Camp Devens - later named Fort Devens - would find its fortunes wax and wane in step with America’s wars.

And its history is beyond that of a typical U.S. army base. Continuing a long tradition of Massachusetts as a center for technological advancements, in 1929 Devens was the venue for high-tech experiments, as in really-high, high-tech, or rockets, to be exact.

Robert Goddard, who became known as the “father of rocketry”, conducted rocket experiments on Devens land. Dying in 1945, he never saw his dream of rocketing a person to the moon. On Armed Forces Day in 1963, a steel tower was dedicated to his memory at Fort Devens.

History of Fort Devens
(from "http://simons_c.tripod.com/history.htm")

Camp Devens was established in 1917 on about 5,000 acres of land first leased, then later purchased from 112 owners who sold 250 parcels of land in the towns of Ayer, Harvard, Lancaster and Shirley, to the United States of America. Some was fine farm land along the Nashua River and other was "sprout" land where trees had been cut leaving stumps.

Construction, by the largest labor force ever assembled in the United States, to build an entire city for 10,000 requiring barracks, training buildings, water and sewer systems, raced at the rate of 10.4 new buildings every day. Only the Quartermaster Corps buildings remain from that period.

As one of 16 temporary training cantonments, Camp Devens processed and trained more than 100,000 soldiers of the 76th and 12th Divisions. In 1918, it became a separation center for over 150,000 troops upon their return from France. Put on inactive status, it served next as a summer training camp for National Guardsmen, Reservists and ROTC cadets.

Following years of debate regarding preparedness for another global war, passage of the National Defense Act in 1920 established an important role for the citizen army. Appropriations were made for permanent construction of buildings in 1927 but the stock market crash nearly called a halt. Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers, of Lowell, recognized the economic significance of Camp Devens to this largely agricultural community. Through her efforts, Camp Devens became Fort Devens, a permanent U.S. Army post in 1931. However, during the depression, construction was slow; most of the work was done by the Works Progress Administration.

Fort Devens Historic District is a fine and well preserved example of the United States Army post planning of the standardized building types constructed between 1929 and 1940. It includes important landscape structures which relate to its broad plan and contribute to the setting of the District. This permanent cantonment gives a sense of time and place. It is a clear connection to the City Beautiful and Garden City planning of that period. There is a pleasing harmony between the Georgian Revival red brick structures and the sturdy, simple, native landscaping of pine, oak, maple, black walnut, elm and other low maintenance material. The 103 contributing properties on the 300 acres at the main entrance at Verbeck Gate were placed on the National Register of Historic Districts in 1991. Two other historic areas eligible for listing in the National Register are the Quartermaster Area (1917) and the Civilian Military Training Corps Area (1938-39).

In 1940, the first peace time draft was instituted and Fort Devens became a reception center for hundreds of men from all over New England. Building boomed on the post. More than 1200 wooden barracks were thrown together during the early days of World War II and an airport, known later as Moore Army Airfield, was opened in 1942. Devens trained nurses, chaplains, cooks and bakers as well as the troops of the 1st, 32nd and 45th Infantry Divisions and the Fourth Women's Army Corps.

After serving as a demobilization center for New England troops the base was again declared excess and was put on caretaker status. The GI Bill of Rights brought so many students to colleges that the University of Massachusetts had an extension at Devens and Harvard University used it for student housing. With the outbreak of the Korean conflict, Devens was designated as a reception center for the third time in its history. No divisions, but many smaller units were assigned. During the Vietnam Conflict, several brigades were sent from Fort Devens. Over 3,000 Reservists and National Guard troops were deployed for Operation Desert Storm and Desert Shield in 1990-91.

Despite a valiant political effort to keep it open, Fort Devens closed in 1995, under the national Base Realignment and Closing Act. After a process involving planning for reuse, the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency assumed the economic development and management for a 40 year period. The South Post in Lancaster remains as a training area for Army reservists. If the Army ceases to need it, those 5,000 acres will become an extension of the Oxbow Wildlife Refuge of the U.S. Department of the Interior.