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Danforth Historical Information
The Brook:
Danforth Brook Brook begins as Mill Brook in wetlands in the
southeast corner of Bolton and runs through Hudson into Bruce's
Pond, formerly known as Horseshoe Pond, under Main Street,
and out to the Assabet River.
Geological History:
"The brook flows through a portion of the Nashoba Rock
Formation, a huge mass of metamorphic rocks over 5,000 feet
thick extending northwest across east-central Massachusetts.
The rocks in the area of Danforth Falls are of the "ground
morraine" variety comprising underlying bedrock and unsorted,
angular rock fragments ranging in size from minute particles
to large boulders. The waterfall itself travels over a bedrock
lip in Danforth Brook and enters a glacially-eroded poor created
during the Permo-Carboniferous ice age approximately 350 million
years ago.
Most of the rocks in the Danforth area
are results of Permo-Carboniferous glacial deposits in the
vicinity of West Pond, Bolton, during the Carboniferous Period
of the Paleozoic Era. the Carboniferous Period lasted nearly
70 million years. Soil in the Danforth area cover underlying
bedrock and is neither thick nor mature. Post-glacial downcutting
of bedrock exceeds 10 feet in some spots of the Danforth territory."*
Early Settlements around Danforth
Brook:
The 1986 "Assabet Riverway Plan" speculates that the Nipmucks
settled the well-drained terraces and knolls overlooking the
Assabet. However there have been no archeological finds in
Hudson to prove this theory. Bolton just to the northwest
of Hudson was home to the Wampanoag tribe.
The Bicentennial Scrapbook published by the Hudson Historical
Society in 1976 lists the following naming chronology for
Hudson.
1656-1700 - Indian Plantation, Cow Commons
1700-1800 - The Mills
1800-1828 - New City
1828-1866 - Feltonville
1866 - Hudson
The 1800's Onward:
In 1866 the Honorable Charles Hudson offered the town $500
to start a public library and the town was named in his honor.
In 1868 a 2-mile square parcel was annexed from Bolton for
$10,000. This tract included the area known as Danforth Falls
named after Octa Danforth who lived on the property's Lincoln
Street side prior to Hudson's incorporation in 1866.
While the Assabet was used as a vehicle for industry and disposal
since the first European settlements, the tributaries - like
Danforth Brook - were generally unpolluted according to the
1986 Assabet Riverway Plan.
Danforth Falls Area:
Most of the area around Danforth Brook remained farm land
until it was developed residentially. However, the land around
the Falls has long been of special interest.
If you walk to the Falls, you can still
see cleared land that was once a railroad bed for the Hudson
and Lancaster Railroad, built in the 1870's. It ran from the
corner of Main and Broad Street in Hudson and shared a passenger
station with the Marlborough Branch railroad. It crossed the
Mill Pond (Bruce Pond) from North to South by Larkin Lumber
and it is rumored that at extreme low water levels some traces
can still be seen. At Bolton center it crossed into Lancaster
by the Clinton Town Line. The cost to build the railroad was
$250,000 and the Board of Director's meetings of this company
were so rancorous that people emerged with black eyes. Construction
of the line was delayed and by the time it was completed the
Massachusetts Central had opened and made the branch redundant.
It never had a revenue run and by 1900 had been sold for scrap.
In 1968 a 52 acre parcel of land south
of Danforth Falls was purchased by the town of Hudson at the
cost of $1,000 an acre with 50% of the cost being funded by
the Massachusetts Self Help Program. This land included 45
acres of forest, 5 grassy acres and 2 acres covered by water.
The lower portion of Danforth Brook and a pool beneath the
waterfall were open for fishing. The Falls, themselves, however,
were not included in this purchase and remained the property
of Dorothy Mayo.
Mrs. Mayo and her husband Howard, Bolton
residents, purchased the land surrounding the falls area and
another 28 acres north into Bolton in 1938. Howard Mayo was
a hydraulic specialist in New England for the Allis-Chalmers
Co. and used Danforth Brook and the Falls as an experimental
site for miniature-scale water wheels. A full-scale, newly
assembled bucket-type model, first tested by Mayo in the Danforth
area, was installed at a Sturbridge Village fulling mill shortly
after Mr. Mayo's death in 1970. His intent, according to his
widow, was to install an overshot wooden water wheel on the
Bolton waterway. The Mayo family owned the Falls and the land
immediately surrounding it until 2001.
In 1972 a tree planting day and clean up
of the conservation area was scheduled. 250 trees were planted
in the Danforth Falls area and local scout troops collected
10 dump truck loads of trash and filled almost 500 plastic
bags. In 1977 the area was closed to motor vehicles because
of late night rowdyism and conflicts between cross-country
skiers and snowmobilers. The cross country ski trails that
once existed in this area have been obscured. The land continued
to be vandalized and used as a dumping ground. In 1989 a major
clean up led by Conservation Commissioner Paul Byrne and conservationist
Martin Moran removed enough trash (including furniture) to
fill a 20 cubic yard dumpster. They built a gate to keep cars
out of the property and created a small parking lot at the
entrance.
The land surrounding the Falls, and the
Falls, were purchased in 2001 by the town for a price of $100,000,
50% of which was contributed by private donations, $12,500
from the Hudson Savings Bank, $25,000 by Zamer, Inc. and the
remaining $12,500 by an anonymous donor. This land is administered
by the Conservation Commission and the Recreation Commission.
Danforth Falls can be reached by walking from the Danforth
Lot on Route 85 (Lincoln Street) or from the back parking
lot of the Farley School on Packard Street.
References:
* Information about the Danforth area was
taken from articles in the Hudson Daily Sun, much of it from
an article written by David Fox and published November 21,
1974. Note that the geological information is a direct quote
from his article. Information about the Lancaster Railroad
was provided by Duncan Power of the Assabet River Rail Trail.
Aside from the Hudson Daily Sun article,
we have found little written about the Danforth Brook area.
We would be very grateful for any corrections and additions
that you could provide.
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