“We can never have enough of nature.” —Henry David Thoreau
I lingered at Fruitlands after attending “Nature: A Walking Play.” The four scenes of the performance took place in various meadows that were filled with goldenrod, white whorled wood asters, purple joe-pye weed, milkweed, and grasses turning brown. The sky was blue, clear of power lines and towers. In the distance, Wachusett Mountain could be glimpsed between the trees. A few monarch butterflies fluttered above the plants, dragonflies zoomed around, and a hawk flew in circles overhead. The sound of rustling leaves could be heard during the silences. I was in the 19th-century world of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau—except when the sight of a faraway airplane or the sound of a car on Prospect Hill Road intruded. The view to the Nashua River and Wachusett would have been unobstructed, the trees having been sacrificed for fuel or agriculture.
After the show, I ambled through the exhibit, “Echoes in Time: New Interpretations of the Fruitlands Museum Collection,” in the Native American galleries, attended a short talk about the transcendentalists under a big pine tree, and ended up on the yellow trail just beyond the Shaker Gallery. And that was just the place to absorb Emerson’s and Thoreau’s thoughts and words, my experience of the play still fresh.
Mt. Wachusett can be seen from the top of the blue trail at Fruitlands.(Courtesy photo)
At the top of a hill on the yellow trail, there is a sign from a 2020 exhibition, “Polly Thayer Starr: Nearer the Essence,” suggesting that you sketch what you see. In the play, Emerson encourages Thoreau to keep a journal of his observations and discoveries as he walks through nature. This suggestion encourages walkers to closely observe and converse with the surrounding landscape, even without pen or paper.
A sign farther along the trail describes the Phinehas Willard farm site. These signs along the trails are welcome. They describe and inform, and the imagination can relax a bit while it takes in some facts. A sign on the orange trail reminds us that Native Americans lived in this area long ago and still do.
From the red trail, I caught glimpses of the railroad track through the trees. The site of an old brick factory is along the trail near the railroad track. Two scenes in “Nature” dramatize the conflict between industry and nature, progress and exploitation. On this same track, in our own times, January 2020, environmental activists dramatically halted a train carrying coal from West Virginia to a power plant in New Hampshire. But here on the Fruitlands trails, nature and forest have prevailed.
The sand along a low section of the red trail called Glacial Beach and the clay for making those bricks were once the bottom of a glacial lake thousands of years ago. Just beyond the railroad tracks is the Nashua River. As you climb out of this low section of trail, you pass large glacial erratic boulders and arrive at a meadow, a straight overgrown road, and a place where the red, blue, and orange trails intersect.
My presence startled a hawk who flew out of a tree. Soon a group of young turkeys excitedly emerged from their hiding place in the underbrush.
The turkeys and I took the blue trail, then we parted ways at the sign on the white trail that says “To The Pergolas,” where I imagined the artfully landscaped early 20th-century summer estate of Clara Endicott Sears. Only a few granite steps, partially buried in foliage, remain of the mansion, but the view remains.
For more information
For a map and trail information: fruitlands.thetrustees.org. For tickets and reservations: thetrustees.org.
The trails are moderately hilly and well groomed. Wooden bridges cross streams and most wet areas. The scenic landscape is varied and interesting. You can make a walk of a mile or more depending on your choice of trails. Stay on trails to avoid poison ivy and ticks. Leashed dogs are allowed.
