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.