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Pepperell Springs Conservation Area
Location: Access from Heald St., Maple St, Oak Hill St. and Chestnut St.
At a Special Town
Meeting in October of 2004 that consisted of just one Article, the Town of
Pepperell, with the help of many private donations and the efforts of the Trust
for Public Land, the Nashoba Conservation Trust, the Nissitissit River Land
Trust, and the Nashua River Watershed Association, voted unanimously to purchase
and protect this lovely 265-acre property. The land is now owned by the Town of
Pepperell with a Conservation Restriction held by the Massachusetts Department
of Fish and Game on all but a small parcel around and including an existing
commerical building, which is planned to become the home of the Pepperell Department of Public Works Water
Division.
Pepperell Springs was formally a spring water source for a beverage company named Pepperell Springs, later owned and operated under the name Belmont Springs. While no longer an active bottled water spring, the land overlies part of an aquifer that supplies drinking water for the Town of Pepperell. The land also boasts rare and endanger species habitat, restful woods, and wonderful walking and hiking trails, including a section of the Jeff Smith Trail that connects Heald Pond to the south with the Gulf Brook Conservation Area to the north.
The section of the Jeff Smith Trail (blue dots) the runs through scenic Gulf Brook ravine offers some of the most beautiful hiking in Pepperell. The trail into the ravine starts directly across Heald St. from Heald Pond. When the trail actual enters the ravine a few hundred feet in from the road it is steep and narrow in places, but worth the effort with scenes that resemble hiking trails in northern New Hampshire and Vermont.
Pepperell Springs can
be accessed from several points: on Heald St. at the end of Heald Pond and from
walking trails off Maple, Oak Hill, and Chestnut Streets. All trail entrances
are marked with Conservation Land signs. To reach the central parking lot for
Pepperell Springs, from Town Hall (corner of Main St. and Park St.), take Heald
St. (off Park) about 1 miles to Maple St and take a right. After about 1/4 mile,
Maple St comes to a fork with Maple St. continuing to the right and Chestnut
beginning to the left. Follow Chestnut about a half mile to just past where the
road turns to gravel. There is a gravel parking area across from the old
Pepperell Springs bottling building. You can enter the property across the
street from the parking area along a gated dirt road or any of the marked
walking trails along Chestnut St.
Recreational Uses:
Hiking (easy to
challenging)
Horseback riding
Bird watching
Nature
observation
Hunting & Fishing
If you have any information to add to the description of this or any other recreation parcel in Pepperell, or Conservation website related questions or comments, please contact the Conservation Commission.