WELCOME STATION

WELCOME. You are standing at the entrance to the All-Person GILMORE POND WOODLAND PARK’s Nature Sensory Trail, created by the Westborough Community Land Trust (WCLT). It was built especially accessible for people with mobility and sensory challenges. Across from you, Gilmore Pond glints in the sun.

The trail makes a one-third mile loop around the pond. Six stations encourage using your senses—sight, smell, hearing, and touch–to enjoy nature from different perspectives.

Follow a rope hand rail to the right, past different terrain, woods, and plants. You will find the stations marked by a bead on the rope: the Welcome Station, Station at the Dam, the Bird Station, the Bridge Station, the Forest Station, and the Wildflower Station. Spend time at each station to use your senses to learn about the diverse wildlife—plants, trees, birds, reptiles, and other animals that thrive here.

How was the pond formed here?

The 2.6-acre Gilmore Pond is part of the headwaters of Jackstraw Brook. It was dug in the 1930s by Howard Gilmore as an irrigation pond for Fay Mountain Farm, the largest apple orchard in Westborough through the 1970s. Gilmore Pond was the site of picnics, swimming, skating parties, plus the best bass fishing in Westborough.

Is Gilmore Pond well known for anything?

Gilmore Pond may be most famous as the birthplace of the Westborough High School ice hockey team. In the late 1950s, with Dick Gilmore as its coach, the team began scrimmaging on the winter ice at Gilmore Pond.

How did the Gilmore Pond area become a Woodland Park?

Fay Mountain Farm was sold to Quicks’ Orchard in 1970. In June 2003, 12.96 acres of open space land were conveyed to the Westborough Community Land Trust as part of the Orchard Hill development agreement. To create this all-sensory park, WCLT received several grants: from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), from the Westborough Civic Club, and from a private gift recognizing WCLT’s 25th Anniversary.

What kind of work has been done to create this park?

Creating accessible trails, eliminating invasive plants, removing dead willows from the pond, repairing the dam, and protecting wetlands were the priorities.

Waterman Design developed a plan for the trails in 2007. Constructing the first trails to and around the pond were Eagle Scout projects. Boy Scouts, with their parents and leaders, cleared invasive plants, opening the forest. To restore native plants, volunteers transplanted wildflowers, with help from Brownies. WCLT volunteers built the bridge and boardwalk, with help from Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School students.

How much labor did it take to create the Nature Sensory Trail?

In total it took approximately 1,000 hours of physical labor to complete this project. Approximately 60 WCLT Stewardship volunteers and family members contributed almost 700 hours to the on-site construction.

As you walk around Gilmore Pond, enjoy this beautiful woodland sanctuary that engages all your senses.

[go to Wildflower Station]

[go to Station at the Dam]

ADDITIONAL INFO

History of Gilmore Pond By Kristina Nilson Allen, Westborough Community Land Trust
History of Gilmore Pond

Location of trailhead, 19 Quick Farm Rd
Map showing trailhead location