This route starts on the Nashua River Rail Trail and explores historic Groton Center and scenic rural Groton.

We will meet at the Nashua River Rail Trail in Groton Center. From Main Street (Route 119) look for the Groton Town Hall and turn onto Station Avenue and proceed down to the end. Do not park down by the bus company, they tend to get upset.

From: http://www.capecodhistory.us/Mass1890/Groton1890.htm

Groton Massachusetts, 1890

Groton is an ancient, handsome and nourishing town, situated in the northwesterly section of Middlesex County, about 32 miles northwest of Boston. It is bounded on the north by Pepperell and Dunstable, on the east by Tyngsborough and Westford, on the south by Ayer, on the west by Shirley and Pepperell, which are separated by a long western horn of Groton having Townsend at its western end. The assessed area is 19,770 acres; of which 6,368 are woodland.

Through the town north and south, with a station at the centre, runs the Worcester, Nashua and Portland Division of the Boston and Maine Railroad; while the Peterboro' and Shirley Branch of the Fitchburg Railroad runs through the town northwestward, having a station, at West Groton; at East Groton is the Ayer and Lowell Branch of the Boston and Maine, and the Acton Branch of the Concord Railroad; while Ayer Junction furnishes connection with points south, east and west. Factory Village also is conveniently near the central stations.

The scenery is beautifully diversified by hill and valley, lake and river, forest and cultivated farm. Among the conspicuous eminences are Gibbet Hill at the centre; the Chestnut Hills, running northeasterly toward Dunstable; Horse Hill, on the borders of that town; Bear Hill, midway of the eastern line; and the Throne, a noted hill in the long angle forming the northwestern part of the town. There is also a group of hills east of the centre which afford fine views of the adjacent landscapes. The chestnut, various kinds of oak, white and hard pine, lock and white maple, white birch and walnut, grow thriftily about these rocky elevations; while on the lower lands the elm is abundant. Of the several beautiful ponds, Martin's, near the centre, Baddacook (containing 103 acres) and Whitney's (71 acres) are the largest. In addition to their several outlets is Squannacook River, which forms the southwestern line of the town, and joins the larger Nashua at the border of Ayer. The latter river sweeps across the town northward through a beautiful intervale, then forms for several miles the tortuous boundary with Pepperell. James Brook and Gratuity Brook, rising near the centre, now—the first southerly, the other northwesterly—into the Nashua River. Wrangling Brook, by a very circuitous course, in West Groton, runs also into the Nashua; while Unkety Brook and Cow-pond Brook now northerly, the first through Dunstable into the Nashua River, and the latter into Massapoag Pond, at the angle of Groton, Dunstable and Tyngsborough.