Editor’s Note: In 2006 the Freedom’s Way Heritage Association embarked on an ambitious project to conduct “reconnaissance surveys” under the aegis of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) for 22 communities. Harvard was one of the communities that participated in the survey and later conducted an additional pilot project about the town’s roads, also with DCR. The Context Report for the entire 22 communities (all part of the 45-town Freedom’s Way National Heritage Area) and the separate Harvard Reconnaissance Report contain professionally documented historical information about the town of Harvard. All three documents are available in full on the Freedom’s Way National Heritage Area website: www.freedomsway.org.
These studies are full of useful information about the land and history of Devens, much of it unknown to newer residents of Harvard. In preparation for the upcoming forum to be hosted by the Master Plan Steering Committee on Nov. 12 in Volunteers Hall, we asked Marge Darby, a co-founder of Freedom’s Way, to summarize their findings.
For close to 200 years after Harvard separated from its “mother” town of Lancaster, Harvard residents considered themselves part of a community that was mostly agricultural. The Worcester Nashua Railroad had begun service in 1846 and ran through town from the southwest northward to Ayer Junction. There were two rail stops in Harvard. One depot was about a mile from the center, at the end of Depot Road, and the Still River depot was even nearer to the center of that village.
Three distinct villages
The 2006 Harvard-DCR Reconnaissance Report states, “Over time three distinct villages emerged in Harvard with Harvard Center as the initial civic center of the community with a focal town common. Still River was an agricultural village formed as a linear settlement along the ridge overlooking the Nashua River. The Shaker colony in the northeast part of town remained active throughout the 19th century, reaching its peak population during the middle of that century.”
This was a prosperous time for the local farmers whose large farms ran along a high kame, or plateau, that was bordered by the Nashua River, Harvard’s western boundary. Farmers welcomed the railway, as it opened markets otherwise inaccessible to them. Many shifted their production to dairy, and the orchards had become well established by the end of the century.
The survey continues, “By the early 20th century Harvard had also become a rural retreat that attracted influential individuals, many with unusual ideas, such as Bronson Alcott, Clara Endicott Sears, and Fiske Warren. Others came to Harvard in summer, building their summer homes around the Common. Those of more modest means initially stayed at the Inn or with local families, and later bought or built summer cottages on the shores or islands of Bare Hill Pond.”
Fiske Warren’s experiment was actually a form of socialism, in that he felt that land belonged to the community and that only the improvements on the land (houses) could be individually owned. Many people moved to Harvard to be part of his enclaves, which were part of a worldwide movement. Warren’s idea attracted an unusual collection of residents willing to experiment in lifestyle and land ownership arrangements. Since so much acreage was included in the enclaves, the result was an unusual long-term protection of the landscape. Although the enclaves no longer exist, the sense of community they engendered still lingers.
From farms to arms
In 1917, in large part due to the availability of rail service, 2,700 acres of Harvard land changed from a farming community to become part of a large military training and induction center for all of New England. The portions of Devens land within the boundaries of Harvard, Ayer, Shirley, and Lancaster have always remained under the jurisdiction, if not the governance, of those established communities, and the original boundary markers still exist.
Toward the end of the 20th century, rumors about the decommissioning of Fort Devens circulated for several years. Finally in 1992, the Army confirmed its intention to close the post. The presence of military personnel had become a critical economic base for the towns by supporting local retailers and merchants and employing local service providers. Army personnel, some active, others retired, lived within all the communities—and they paid local property taxes.
Scary stories alarmed residents: A regional spokesperson proposed that all of Devens be set aside as the one place in the commonwealth where all of the types of development that are forbidden elsewhere could be permitted, including nuclear waste. But scarier still was the prospect of the towns having to grapple with complex issues on their own.
Steps to reuse plan
The towns of Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley worked to establish a balanced reuse plan of sustainable development, including water and soil protection and remediation, aquifer protection, a housing component, job-generating businesses, and open space. Lancaster was a full partner in the early endeavors. The Devens/Lancaster parcel, which the Army still uses for training, is fairly equal in size to the total lands in Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley (Lancaster acres are 4,525; Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley total 4,656). Once it was agreed that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would expand the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge to include the Lancaster land, the town dropped out as a partner.
A four-day, multidisciplinary, all-volunteer planning event, or charrette, was held April 15–18, 1993, at Fort Devens. The charrette attracted 140 people with a diversity of expertise in the design, engineering, and social disciplines. Volunteers from the towns, the Massachusetts Audubon Society, and the Nashua River Watershed Association; professionals from the surrounding region; representatives from the state and federal government and wildlife agencies; and graduate students from Tufts University and the University of Massachusetts all participated.
Eventually, the results of this effort were incorporated into a Devens Reuse Plan and Bylaws known as Chapter 498, which also created a Devens Regional Enterprise Zone (DREZ) locally overseen by the Devens Enterprise Commission (DEC). In a so-called Super Town Meeting, all three towns voted to accept this remarkable arrangement whereby MassDevelopment, as the state’s land-use entity, owns and develops the land and the DEC, whose members are representatives of the concerned communities and the region, acts in all capacities usually served by local boards.
“We take seriously the directions provided in the Reuse Plan and Bylaws,” says Peter Lowitt, the DEC land-use administrator and director, that is, “to successfully balance social, environmental, and economic issues and further the reuse plan goals of sustainable redevelopment while maintaining and enhancing the natural resource base.”
Sustainable development
The DEC has translated these lofty goals into on-the-ground accomplishments pertaining to sustainable development, including environmental remediation, cleanup of hazardous sites, appropriate drainage, and the protection of the river systems and river terraces. Today, with much of the land zoned for development already filled, the commission has “continued its efforts to assist businesses in the region and in Devens in particular to green their operations.” According to the DEC’s latest five-year review, the newest Bristol-Myers Squibb additions will include a “green wall”—greenery grown from the top of the building to hide the edge and give screening—as part of the protection of the viewshed of Fruitlands Museum and Prospect Hill in Harvard, the latter mentioned in Thoreau’s 1842 “A Walk to Wachusett Mountain,” though not mentioned by name.
The latest endeavor will be the “daylighting” of Willow Brook. The DEC has signed a wetlands order of conditions to remediate the streambed of this brook that is now partially buried, flowing through an underground culvert. Willow Brook will soon see daylight again.
What is more remarkable than the daylighting of Willow Brook has been the consistent attention and cooperation of town volunteers and other individuals who have worked since 1992 to help enhance the Devens environment and monitor its development. There are many volunteers and professionals like Heidi Ricci from Shirley, the chairwoman of the open space committee that worked hard for more than two decades to make sure the protection of one-third of Devens actually came to fruition, as promised in the reuse plan.
In addition to Ricci, many local officials and DEC members have maintained that whether or not the Devens lands are returned to local jurisdictions or remain a separate entity, they will be an enhancement, not a blight. It is a regional tradition to value our land. Devens is a part of us.
