TEMPLETON RECONNAISSANCE REPORT UPPER QUABOAG WATERSHED AND NORTH QUABBIN REGION LANDSCAPE INVENTORY MASSACHUSETTS HERITAGE LANDSCAPE INVENTORY PROGRAM Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission North Quabbin Regional Landscape Partnership PROJECT TEAM Massachusetts Department of Conservation Local Heritage Landscape Participants and Recreation (continued) Jessica Rowcroft, Preservation Planner Bureau of Planning and Resource Protection Committee Julie Farrell, Board of Selectmen and OS Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Committee Commission Joyce Grucan, Community Preservation Adam Burney, Associate Land Use Planner Committee (CPC) Peter Haley, Planning Board North Quabbin Regional Landscape John Henshaw, Board of Slectmen, OS Partnership Committee, CPC Jay Rasku, Partnership Coordinator Roger Henshaw, Resident Eloise Kenney, Resident Project Consultants Daniel Kittredge, The Gardner News Dodson Associates, Ltd. David Koonce, Resident Peter Flinker, Principal Zach Koziol, CPC and Con Comm Sarah la Cour, Project Manager Dana May, Resident Reid Bertone-Johnson , Associate Michael Morgan, Resident Hillary King, Associate Kirk Moschetti, Planing Board Bob Olsen, Resident Public Archeology Laboratory (PAL) Dennis Rich, CPC, Planning Board Virginia Adams Christine Stone Holly Herbster Chris Symonds, CPC Dave Symonds, Con Comm Local Project Coordinator Karen Tucker, OS Committee Chantell Wead, Planning Agent Bob Whalen, Planning Board Gerald White, Planning Board Local Heritage Landscape Participants Maureen White, Resident Harry Aldrich, Narragansett Historical Society John Brook, Resident Doris Brooks, Resident Jo-Anne Burdin, Conservation Commission (Con Comm), Open Space (OS) Committee David Dwelly, Resident Justin Duplessis, Con Comm and OS Spring 2008 COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS • EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS Department of Conservation and Recreation Deval L. Patrick Ian A. Bowles, Secretary, Executive 251 Causeway Street, Suite 600 Governor Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs Boston MA 02114-2119 617-626-1250 617-626-1351 Fax Timothy P. Murray Richard K. Sullivan, Jr., Commissioner www.mass.gov/dcr Lt. Governor Department of Conservation & Recreation CONTENTS Introduction . 1 PART I: Heritage Landscape Inventory Local History . 3 Priority Heritage Landscapes . 5 Templeton Center Brooks Village South Templeton Otter River Corridor Templeton Developmental Center (TDC) Templeton Priority Heritage Landscape Map . 28 PART II: Planning for Heritage Landscapes Inventory and Documentation . 29 Planning and Zoning Tools and Techniques . 31 Implementation Strategies . 38 Conclusion . 39 Appendix A: Heritage Landscapes Identified by Community . 41 Appendix B: Preservation and Planning Tools . 45 Appendix C: Works Cited . 61 INTRODUCTION Heritage landscapes are special places created by human interaction with the natural environment that help define the character of a community and reflect its past. They are dynamic and evolving, reflect the history of a community and provide a sense of place. They show the natural ecology that influenced land use patterns and often have scenic qualities. This wealth of landscapes is central to each community’s character, yet heritage landscapes are vulnerable and ever changing. For this reason it is important to take the first step toward their preservation by identifying those landscapes that are particularly valued by the community – a favorite local farm, a distinctive neighborhood or mill village, a unique natural feature or an important river corridor. To this end, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and its regional partners, the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission (CMRPC) and the North Quabbin Regional Landscape Partnership (NQRLP), have collaborated to bring the Heritage Landscape Inventory program to fifteen communities in central Massachusetts. The goals of the program are to help communities identify a wide range of landscape resources, particularly those that are significant and unprotected, and to provide communities with strategies for preserving heritage landscapes. The communities within the Upper Quaboag Watershed and North Quabbin region of central Massachusetts share a common dispersed settlement pattern as well as an early agricultural economy and later shift into manufacturing. Developed along a series of major waterways and their tributaries, including the Millers, Quaboag and Ware Rivers, Upper Quaboag Watershed and North Quabbin Region this region contains vast cultural and historic Heritage Landscape Inventory project area resources and uncommon natural beauty. The heritage landscapes in the participating communities reflect the agrarian and industrial past while providing recreational and educational opportunities for today. From scenic town commons and natural areas to civic buildings and burial grounds, the heritage landscapes within the region collectively tell the story of their varied and often turbulent, history. Massachusetts Heritage Landscape Inventory Program Templeton Reconnaissance Report Methodology The methodology for the Heritage Landscape Inventory program was developed in a pilot project conducted in southeast Massachusetts. It is outlined in the DCR publication Reading the Land, which has provided guidance for the program since its inception. In summary, each community organized a heritage landscape identification meeting during which residents and town officials identify and prioritize the landscapes that embody the community’s character and its history. This meeting is followed by a fieldwork session including the consulting team, accompanied by interested community members. The final product for each community is an individualized Heritage Landscape Reconnaissance Report. This report outlines the community’s landscape history, discusses broader land planning issues identified by the community, describes the priority heritage landscapes and issues associated with them and concludes with preservation recommendations. Massachusetts Heritage Landscape Inventory Program Templeton Reconnaissance Report PART I: HERITAGE LANDSCAPE INVENTORY LOCAL HISTORY The history of Templeton is intimately tied to the character of the landscape. As described in an 879 History of Worcester County, Templeton is in the northern part of Worcester County, 6 miles from the City of Worcester, in the highlands between the Atlantic and the Connecticut Valley. “The leading feature in its topography is the broad valley of the Burnshirt and Meetinghouse, or Trout Brook, extending in a northerly and southerly direction through the central part of the township… the Burnshirt flowing south to the Ware River near Coldbrook, Trout Brook flowing north to Otter River in the northerly part of the township. The land rises to the east of this valley, forming a broad and comparatively level plateau, sloping to the north, on which is situated Templeton centre. It rises quite abruptly to the west, extending into Phillipston in broken ridges, culminating in Prospect Hill at the extreme north-west, which affords a beautiful and extensive view of the surrounding country.” (Varanus P. Parkhurst, History of Worcester County, 1879. p. 392). The glaciers that created this landscape left behind deep deposits of sand and gravel along the rivers, other areas of dense, poorly-drained till, and a limited amount of good farmland. Before European settlement, the area was probably not the site of a permanent Native American community, but used seasonally for hunting, fishing, and gathering by small groups. While not settled, the land was probably regularly managed; burned regularly to encourage forage for deer and other game animals, with cultivation of oaks and chestnuts to provide additional food for wildlife as well as human consumption. Like other towns in the highlands of Worcester County, Templeton’s settlement by the English began in the 1894 USGS Map - http://docs.unh.edu/nhtopos/nhtopos.htm aftermath of the King Phillip’s War of 1675. In 1685 a group of petitioners in Lynn, Reading, Beverly and Hingham Massachusetts Heritage Landscape Inventory Program Templeton Reconnaissance Report asked the Massachusetts Bay Colony for a grant of land, in lieu of cash payment for their services in helping to defeat the Narragansett tribe in Rhode Island. More than 45 years later, the 840 members of the “Narragansett Society” (or their heirs) finally received grants amounting to a township 6 miles by 6 miles square (about 23,000 acres) for each 120 men. As was customary, the proprietors of each township were supposed to settle sixty families and a “learned Orthodox minister” within seven years. For the proprietors, this was more of a real estate venture than anything else; they would provide the initial improvements, then most would sell their shares to others who would actually settle the town. Narragansett Society #6 met several times to get organized and raise the capital to survey the town and begin improvements. In 1734 they chose a committee to lay out roads, locate a site for the meetinghouse, and survey an initial subdivision of 123 forty-acre lots. The site they chose, which became Templeton Common, was on the central plateau, a logical crossing point for north-south and east-west roads, and more or less convenient to outlying farms. Meeting in the town for the first time in 7, the proprietors began plans for road clearing, and contracted for the construction of