Station 0: Introduction

The Edmund Hill Woods Conservation area in Northborough, Massachusetts, includes a 75-acre parcel donated to the town by Edwin Proctor in 1967, and an 18-acre parcel near Colburn Street and Bearfoot Road that was purchased by the town in 2002 and now is the site of the Northborough Senior Center. Edwin Proctor, a Harvard graduate and teacher by profession, was born in Northborough and was very active in numerous civic organizations after his retirement from teaching in1948 until his death in 1978. He donated the land to be preserved in a wild state for the enjoyment of all and emphasized that the land be used recreationally.

The conservation area includes a system of trails, maintained by the Northborough Trails Committee that passes through forested uplands and wetlands. Most of the conservation area was cleared for farming, starting with settlement by Europeans in the early 1700’s and reached a peak in the mid 1800’s. Subsequently, farms were slowly abandoned and woods soon covered most of the area.

Continental glaciers shaped much of the landscape during the last two million years. The last glaciation covered the region from about 70,000 to 15,000 years ago. Glacially-formed features are described at several interpretive stations. Modifications of the landscape by humans, such as stone walls and ditched wetlands, are also discussed.

The interpretive trail network is approximately 2.5 miles long. Numbers on markers at interpretive stations can be accessed on-line at www.northboroughtrails.org