Spencer State Forest

Spencer State Forest
Massachusetts State Forest
Corridor 71
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
County	Worcester
Town	Spencer

Elevation	679 ft (207 m) ^[1]
Coordinates	42°12′54″N 72°00′04″W / 42.21500°N 72.00111°W / 42.21500; -72.00111Coordinates: 42°12′54″N 72°00′04″W / 42.21500°N 72.00111°W / 42.21500; -72.00111 ^[1]

Area	903 acres (365 ha) ^[2]

Biome	Oak-hickory forest, northern hardwood forest, wetlands
Plant	Red oak, eastern white pine

Established	1922 ^[3]^[4]
Management	Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation
- Forest HQ	51 Howe Pond Road, Spencer, Massachusetts
- coordinates	42°13′00″N 71°59′48″W / 42.21667°N 71.99667°W / 42.21667; -71.99667

Location in Massachusetts
Website: Spencer State Forest

Spencer State Forest is a Massachusetts state forest and recreation reserve located in the town of Spencer, managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.^[5] The 92 mile (148 km) Midstate Trail passes through the state forest.^[6] The Commonwealth of Massachusetts also conducts logging in some parts of the property.

Geography

Spencer State Forest is divided among three non-contiguous parcels. The most notable of these, located in south Spencer, is the Howe Pond parcel, an estate formerly belonging to Elias Howe, the inventor of the sewing machine. The Howe family of Spencer did much to make the town famous in the annals of ingenious Americans. William Howe of Spencer developed a wooden truss bridge named for him, his brother, Tyler Howe, patented a spring bed. Their nephew, Elias Howe, Jr., may well have eclipsed them when he invented the lockstitch sewing machine. The Howe Pond parcel (historically referred to as Howe State Park) includes a mill pond and dam constructed by the inventor. Swimming, once permitted is not currently permitted in the pond; lifeguards are no longer present in season due to State DCR cutbacks. The Howe Pond parcel also includes picnic tables and outdoor grills. The public restrooms have been shuttered for a decade. It is located off Massachusetts Route 31 via Howe Pond Road. Spencer State Forest Friends Group--The Friends of Howe Park and Spencer State Forest are members of The Massachusetts Forest and Park Friends Network, an independent grassroots organization of volunteer "Friends" groups working together to better protect and enhance Massachusetts’ state forests, parks, and trails. http://www.networkingfriends.net/resources.html

Spencer State Forest Trails The 92 mile Mid-State Trail is the longest trail marked by yellow triangles and extends from Douglas State Forest at the Massachusetts/Rhode Island border in the south to New Hampshire. In Spencer, it enters from Charlton via Four Chimneys Wildlife Area on Borkum Road traversing Spencer State Forest sections on East Charlton Road, Ash Street, then leads off-street through both private lands and the forest to R Jones Road where it crosses a primitive parking lot continuing on through Spencer's newly designated Sibley/Warner Farm conservation lands through to Route 9 near the Spencer/Leicester Line.

The Mid-State Trail ties Spencer State Forest parcels, Moose Hill and Buck Hill Wildlife Management areas, Sugden Reservoir, Thompson and Browning Ponds, Camp Marshall 4H Camp, Treasure Valley Boy Scout reservation, Sampson's Pebble geological feature and leads into the town of Oakham. In Spencer, Mid-State trail parking is roadside at East Charlton and I Capen Roads and in the Buck Hill areas.

The trail north of Route 9 through Moose Hill Wildlife Management Area crosses picturesque Moose Hill levy pond created in the 1960s for flood control. Ski enthusiast/historians will note the former 1960's era Moose Hill Ski area referenced which ferried skiers on a hay wagon, truck bed and primitive rope tow up to the top of Moose Hill above the levy area.^[7]

The upper section of Spencer State Forest is in northern Spencer, in the area of Turkey Hill Brook. A primitive lean-to for overnight campers is located on the property atop the 1,014 foot (309 m) drumlin Buck Hill. A parking lot is located off McCormick Road in Spencer.

Areas comprising the Spencer State Forest and adjacent Wildlife Management Areas (WMA), Howe and Browning Ponds, Sugden Reservoir and the following entwined brooks present an outstanding array of water resources for serene intimate aquatic aficionado's enjoyment.

Turkey Hill Brook flows from Paxton to Spencer in the northeast corner of town. "Dams were erected along the brook to power the wire mills that dotted this area, but the only remaining dam is the one that forms Thompson Pond. The brook joins the Seven Mile River northeast of Pine Grove Cemetery.

The Seven Mile River originates in Rutland and was dammed to form Browning Pond. It merges with Turkey Hill Brook and connects to the Quaboag River in East Brookfield. Seven miles from Brookfield, the river served as a landmark when Brookfield was the only settlement between Worcester and the Connecticut Valley.

Cranberry River flows from Charlton and was dammed to form Cranberry Meadow Pond in the southeast corner of town and dammed again to form Howe Pond at Howe State Park, joining the Seven Mile River near Route 9.

The overall geography includes hilly terrain, creeks, wetlands, and transitional oak-hickory to northern hardwood forest types.

The Depot Trail, Spencer's rail trail is a 2 ½‐mile walking trail along an abandoned railroad bed running from South Spencer Road to Chestnut Street, and connects into Spencer State Forest trails. There is lower section of Howe Pond with benches, fishing and portaged watercraft launching. Trail parking is adjacent to the railroad overpass parking on South Spencer Road.

The Spencer Snowbirds Snowmobile Club, a private organization formed in 1972, maintains a network of snowmobile trails throughout the town, crossing both public and private property. Trail riding permits, membership and landowner memberships are detailed at http://www.spencersnowbirds.com/phpweb/

Howe State Park originated as part of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) legacy formed in 1933's height of the Great Depression, when newly inaugurated President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first New Deal initiatives established the Emergency Conservation Work Act (ECW), popularly known as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and/or "Roosevelt's Tree Army." Both an economic relief and conservation program, CCC provided jobs for unemployed young men and veterans to support their families, while focusing on improving the nation’s open space and recreational resources. The CCC program in Massachusetts (1933-1942), was concerned with improvement and development of state park resources. Approximately 68 camps enrolled nearly 100,000 men. The CCC touched both the lives of these enrollees and their families and left a lasting legacy of state forest improvements and recreational resources still evident today.

Massachusetts State Parks system was in its infancy when the CCC was established in 1933. Now, more than seventy-five years later, the work of the CCC still forms the cornerstones of the system as we know it today. Spencer State Forest, as many others, emerged from cut-over lands acquired for less than $5 per acre and largely inaccessible areas due to lack of roads and recreational facilities into being Spencer's community resource with beach, roads, trails, ponds, forest plantations and recreational facilities built by the CCC, and found in every region of the state. Currently the Howe Park area is mothballed.

References

1 2 "Howe Pond Dam". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey.
↑ "2012 Acreage Listing" (PDF). Department of Conservation and Recreation. April 2012. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
↑ Shary Page Berg (1999). Beth McKinney, ed. "The Civilian Conservation Corps: A Statewide Survey of Civilian Conservation Corps Resources". Massachusetts Office of Historic Resources. pp. 47–48. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
↑ Massachusetts WPA Writers' Project (1941). "State Forests and Parks of Massachusetts: A Recreation Guide". American Guide Series. Boston, Massachusetts: The Department of Conservation. p. 18. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
↑ "Spencer State Forest". MassParks. Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
↑ The Midstate Trail Guide, 5th edition (2006). Worcester, Massachusetts: The Midstate Trail Committee
↑ "Moose Hill". New England Lost Ski Areas Project. Retrieved January 31, 2014.

External links

Spencer State Forest Department of Conservation and Recreation
Spencer State Forest Trail Map Department of Conservation and Recreation

Protected areas of Massachusetts

Federal

National Historical Parks	Adams Blackstone River Valley Boston Lowell Minute Man New Bedford Whaling

National Historic Sites	Boston African American Frederick Law Olmsted John Fitzgerald Kennedy Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters Salem Maritime Saugus Iron Works Springfield Armory

Other National Park Service Units	Appalachian National Scenic Trail Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area Cape Cod National Seashore

National Wildlife Refuges	Assabet River Great Meadows Mashpee Massasoit Monomoy Nantucket Nomans Land Oxbow Parker River Silvio O. Conte Thacher Island

Other	Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve West Hill Dam (USACE)

State Parks

Parks	Alewife Brook Ames Nowell Ashland Bash Bish Falls Blackstone River and Canal Heritage Borderland Boston Harbor Islands Bradley Palmer C. M. Gardner Callahan Castle Island State Park Chicopee Memorial City Square Clarksburg Cochituate Connecticut River Greenway Demarest Lloyd Dighton Rock Dunn Ellisville Harbor Fall River Heritage Gardner Heritage Great Brook Farm Halibut Point Hampton Ponds Holyoke Heritage Hopkinton Lake Lorraine Lake Wyola Lawrence Heritage Lowell Heritage Lynn Heritage Massasoit Maudslay Moore Mount Holyoke Range Natural Bridge Nickerson Pearl Hill Pilgrim Quinsigamond Robinson Roxbury Heritage Rutland Skinner South Cape Beach Wahconah Falls Webb Memorial Wells Western Gateway Heritage Whitehall Wompatuck

Reservations	Beaver Brook Belle Isle Marsh Blue Hills Breakheart Charles River Chestnut Hill Cutler Dorchester Shores Elm Bank Fort Phoenix Hammond Pond Hemlock Gorge Horseneck Beach Jug End Lynn Shore Middlesex Fells Mount Everett Mount Greylock Mount Sugarloaf Mount Tom Myles Standish Mystic River Nahant Beach Nantasket Beach Nasketucket Bay Neponset River Pope John Paul II Purgatory Chasm Quincy Quarries Quincy Shore Revere Beach Rumney Marsh Salisbury Beach Sandy Point Scusset Beach Stony Brook Upper Charles River Wachusett Mountain Walden Pond West Island Weymouth Wilson Mountain

Other	Appalachian Trail Ashuwillticook Rail Trail Cape Cod Rail Trail Fort Revere Lake Dennison Recreation Area Lower Neponset River Trail Nashua River Rail Trail Norwottuck Rail Trail Quabbin Reservoir Southwest Corridor Park Squantum Point Park Streeter Point Recreation Area Sudbury Reservoir Wachusett Reservoir Ware River Watershed Area

State Forests

Wildlife Management Areas

Wildlife Management Areas	Agawam Lake Agawam Mill Pond Ashby Ashfield Hawley Attitash Ayer Game Farm Baddacook Pond Bakers Pond Bay Circuit Trail Bearse Pond Becket Bennett Birch Hill Black Brook Blackstone / West River Bolton Flats Boxboro Station Brayton Point Salt Marsh Breakneck Brook Brewer Brook Bullock Ledge Burrage Pond Canoe River Catamount Chalet Chase Garden Creek Salt Marsh Childs River Chockalog Swamp Church Homestead Clapps Pond Clinton Bluff Concord River Connecticut River Cook Pond Copicut Coy Hill Crane Pond Cummington Cusky Pond Dartmoor Farm Darwin Scott Memorial Day Mountain Deerfield River Dogfish Bar Beach Coastal Dolomite Ledges Dunstable Brook E. Kent Swift Eagle Island East Mountain Eastham Salt Marsh Elbow Meadow English Salt Marsh Eugene D. Moran Facing Rock Fairfield Brook Farmington River Fish Brook Fisherville Pond Fisk Forestdale Lot Fisk Meadows Five Mile River Flagg Swamp Flint Pond Four Chimneys Fox Den Fox Island Salt Marsh Frances A. Crane Freetown Swamp George L. Darey Housatonic Valley Glen Echo Lake Gosnold Grassy Pond (Dennis) Grassy Pond (Plymouth) Green River (Franklin County) Green River (Berkshire County) Greenfield River Halfway Pond Hamilton Hancock Harlow / Cooks Pond Haskell Swamp Hauk Swamp Hawksnest State Park Hawley Head Of The Plains Herman Covey High Ridge Hinsdale Flats Hiram H. Fox Hockomock Swamp Hog Pond Lot Honey Pot Hoosatonic River Hoosic River Hop Brook Housatonic River Hubbard Brook Hunting Hills Hyannis Ponds Ipswich River John J. Kelly Joint Base Cape Cod Jug End Fen Jug End Kampoosa Fen Katama Plains Knops Pond Konkapot River Lackey Pond Lake Lorraine Lake Rohunta Lake Snipatuit Lake Warner Lanesboro Lawrence Brook Lawrence Pond Lot Leadmine Leyden Lilly Pond Little Alum Pond Long Sought For Pond Maple Hill Maple Springs Martha Deering Martin H. Burns Mascuppic Lake Mashpee Pine Barrens Mashpee Pond Lot Mashpee River Mckinstry Brook Meetinghouse Swamp Merrill Pond Miacomet Heath Mill River Millers River Mine Brook Montague Plains Montague Moose Brook Moose Brook Moose Hill Mossy Pond Mount Watatic Reservation Mt. Esther Mt. Toby Highlands Mt. Toby Mt. Tom Muddy Brook Muddy Pond Mulpus Brook Nashua River Natty Brook Nemasket River Nissitissit River Noquochoke Nordeen Marsh North Brookfield North Shore Salt Marsh Northboro Oakham Olivers Pond Orange Otis Packard Pond Palmer Pantry Brook Pauchaug Brook Peru Peterson Swamp Phillipston Podunk Marsh Poland Brook Popple Camp Popponesset Beach Poutwater Pond Powell Brook Prince River Provincetown Route 6 Corridor Purchade Brook Quaboag Quacumquasit Quag Pond Bog Quashnet River Quashnet Woods State Reservation Quinapoxet River Quinsigamond Marsh Quisset Raccoon Hill Rainbow Beach Red Brook Richardson Robbins Pond Rochester Rocky Gutter Rowe Salisbury Salt Marsh Salisbury Salt Marsh Sandwich Game Farm Sandy Pond Satan's Kingdom Savage Hill Savoy Sawmill River Scorton Creek Coastal SE Mass Bioreserve Sevenmile River Shattuck Brook Sheperds Island Shubael Pond Sibley Brook Sly Pond South Barrier Beach South Meadow Pond South Shore Salt Marsh South Triangle Pond Southampton Southwick Spectacle Pond Springhill Lot Sputtermill Pond Squannacook River Stafford Hill Sudbury River Sunderland Islands Taconic Mountain Taunton River Taunton River Tekoa Mountain Thad Ellis Thayer Pond Three Mile Pond Townsend Townsend Hill Trapfall Brook Triangle Pond Tully Brook Tully Mountain Tully River Wakeby Pond Wales Walnut Hill Ware River Warwick Wendell West Meadows Westboro Westfield River Westfield Weymouth Back River Whately Great Swamp Whately Ponds Whately Wilbraham Game Farm William Forward Williams River Williamsburg Winimusset Wolf Swamp

Wildlife Sanctuaries	Billingsgate Island Carr Island E. Howe Forbush Egg Rock Grace A. Robson J.C. Phillips Knight Penikese Island Ram Island (Salisbury) Ram Island (Mattapoisett) Susan B. Minns Tarpaulin Cove Watatic Mountain

The Nature Conservancy

Black Pond Bog Boat Meadow Francis Newhall Woods Grassy Pond Greene Swamp Halfway Pond Island Hawley Bog Hockomock Swamp Hoft Farm Homer-Watcha Preserve Katama Plains McElwain-Olsen Miacomet Moors Reed Brook Drury Sandy Neck David H. Smith Preserve and Fire Trail Stacy Mountain Tatkon

Trustees of Reservations

Audubon Society Wildlife Sanctuaries

Arcadia Broad Meadow Brook Broadmoor Daniel Webster Drumlin Farm High Ledges Ipswich River Moose Hill North River Pleasant Valley Stony Brook Wachussett Meadow Wellfleet Bay

Other

Concord Land Conservation Trust Harvard Forest Lincoln Land Conservation Trust Lloyd Center for the Environment Lynn Woods Reservation Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary

Category
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
Commons

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