Middlesex Canal Association

The October 2024 issue was mailed to Members and Proprietors on Wednesday, October 2, 2024.

Calendar of Middlesex Canal Association Events and Related Events

The Middlesex Canal Museum and Visitors’ Center is open every Saturday and Sunday, noon-4, except holidays. [Facebook Page]

First Wednesday - MCA Board of Directors’ Meetings - The Board meets the first Wednesday of every month (except July and August), at the Museum, from 3:30 to 5:30pm Members and the public are invited to attend. [Note: Meetings are currently being held remotely via Zoom.]

Walks and Bicycle Tours: For more detailed information please access the MCA website at www.middlesexcanal.org about a week prior to the scheduled event.

Concord River — The Life of a River Herring
A talk Sunday, March 2, 2025, 1:00pm, at the Middlesex Canal Museum, 71 Faulkner St, Billerica 01862

The talk will examine the importance of alewife and blueback herring, including life history, food web dynamics, and fisheries. We will also focus on restoration strategies and lessons learned over the past 30 years.

Ben Gahagan, the speaker, is a biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. He has twenty years experience and is an expert in the biology and ecology of river herring and American shad. He is on the right in the photo, installing a video camera at the Centennial Dam fishway in Lowell.

The talk will be preceeded by a five-minute meeting of the Middlesex Canal Association. The free museum is open noon-4 on weekends. www.middlesexcanal.org

Directions to Middlesex Canal Museum and Visitors’ Center
By Car: From Rte. 128/95
Take Route 3 toward Nashua, to Exit 28 “Treble Cove Road, North Billerica, Carlisle”. At the end of the ramp, turn left onto Treble Cove Road in the direction of North Billerica. At about ¾ mile, bear left at the fork. After another ¾ mile, at the traffic light, cross straight over Route 3A (Boston Road). Go about ¼ mile to a 3 way-fork; take the middle road (Talbot Avenue) which will put St Andrew’s Church on your left. Go ¼ mile to a stop sign and bear right onto Old Elm Street. Go about ¼ mile to the falls, where Old Elm Street becomes Faulkner Street; the Museum is on your left and you can park across the street on your right, just beyond the falls. Watch out crossing the street!

From I-495
Take Exit 37, North Billerica, south roughly 2 plus miles to the stop sign at Mt. Pleasant Street, turn right, then bear right at the Y, go 700’ and turn left into the parking lot. The Museum is across the street (Faulkner Street).

By Train:
The Lowell Commuter line runs between Lowell and Boston’s North Station. From the station side of the tracks at North Billerica, the Museum is a 3-minute walk down Station Street and Faulkner Street on the right side.

The new museum at 2 Old Elm is moving along. Here's the ground floor w/stairs to the 2nd floor. (Feb 2021)

Riverfest VR (Virtual Reality) Project

Fall Meeting, 1:00pm, Sunday, Oct 27, 2024
Speaker: Neil Devins – “The Panama Canal: History and a Recent Visit”

Billerica North - Middlesex Canal

MIDDLESEX CANAL WALK

Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, 1:30pm, meet at the Middlesex Canal Visitor Center/Museum, located at the Billerica Falls of the Concord River, 71 Faulkner
Street, Billerica MA 01862. The visitor center opens at noon. Web site, www.middlesexcanal.org.

The walk covers remnants of the historic Middlesex Canal from North Billerica to Chelmsford. Sites will include the large stone with iron rings that anchored the west end of the floating towpath, which enabled canal boats to cross the summit pond at the Concord River. We will view a guard lock in the Talbot Millyard, which controlled the level of water in the canal north to the Merrimack, and the turning basin, which enabled 75' long canal boats to turn into the Red Lock. We will follow the canal to the canal plaque near 121 Riverneck Road, Chelmsford, if the beavers haven't flooded the towpath. A round trip of five miles.

Henry Thoreau traveled on this part of the canal September 1, 1839, and wrote of it,

“in the lapse of ages, Nature will recover and indemnify herself, and gradually plant fit shrubs and flowers along its borders. Already the kingfisher sat upon a pine over the water, and the bream and pickerel swam below. Thus all works pass directly out of the hands of the architect into the hands of Nature, to be perfected.”
A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

The walk is an opportunity to experience his prediction after a lapse of 185 years.

Directions. Rte. 3 to exit 78, Treble Cove Road, then follow the Middlesex Canal signs. After crossing the Billerica Falls bridge over the Concord River, the parking lot is 90' on the right. Treble Cove Road, exit 78, is 7 miles north of Rte. 128 (I-95).

On I-495, take the N. Billerica exit south to the road's end at a T intersection, turn right, then bear right at the Y, go 700' and turn left into the parking lot. The museum is across the street. North Billerica, exit 91, is between Rte. 3 and I-93.

Fall Walk, 1:30pm, Sunday, Oct 13, 2024
Billerica north to Chelmsford. Meet at the Billerica Falls, 71 Faulkner St, Billerica 01862. Leader: Robert Winters

22nd Fall Bike Tour, 9:00am, Saturday, Oct 5, 2024
Meet at the Middlesex Canal plaque right of the entrance to Sullivan Sq T Sta, 1 Cambridge St, Charlestown 02129. Leaders, Dick Bauer and Bill Kuttner.

Historic Bicycle Tour of Middlesex Canal

This Saturday, October 5, 2024, the Middlesex Canal Association and the Middlesex Canal Commission will sponsor the 20th annual historic bicycle tour of the Middlesex Canal.

Canal lock The Canal was the “big dig” of the end of the 18th century. Completed in 1803 after 10 years of construction, the Canal connected the Merrimack River in what is now Lowell with the Charles River near Sullivan Square in Charlestown. In many ways it served as a model for later canals including the Erie Canal. The Canal remained in operation for 50 years, providing both passenger and freight service, but could not compete successfully with the Boston and Lowell Railroad which began operation in the 1830’s.

The ride will start at the Canal marker on the front of the Sullivan Square MBTA station just to the right of the main entrance. We will leave promptly at 9:00am. From there we will ride about 38 miles to Lowell, in time to catch the 5:30 train back to Boston. We will make a lunch stop in Woburn, so we recommend that you bring a lunch.

Along the canal Most of the route is pretty flat and level and we will travel about 10 miles per hour. Along the way we will stop at a number of remnants and restored sections of the Canal, as well the Historic Mill Village and Canal Museum on the Millpond in North Billerica, the Mansion of Loammi Baldwin, the chief engineer of the Canal (who discovered the Baldwin apple while building the Canal), several of the remaining aqueducts (which carried the Canal over rivers and brooks), and will get to walk along the bed of the Canal and see traces of the ropes that connected the horses to the canal boats.

The ride will be led by Dick Bauer and Bill Kuttner of the Middlesex Canal Commission. Helmets required. Steady rain cancels. For more information, contact Dick at dick.bauer@alum.mit.edu (857-540-6293), or Bill at bkuttner@alum.mit.edu (617-945-3987).

For more information about the Middlesex Canal and the Middlesex Canal Association go to: http://www.middlesexcanal.org

For more information about the Middlesex Canal Commission go to: http://www.middlesexcanal.org/commission/

Annual Meeting, 1:00pm, Sunday, April 28, 2024
Meet in the Reardon Room of the museum, 71 Faulkner St, Billerica 01862

Bike Tour South, 11:15am, Saturday, April 6, 2024
The Middlesex Canal Bike Ride scheduled for Saturday April 6th has been cancelled due to inclement weather (cold, wet, and miserable). If we reschedule, we will let you know; otherwise we’ll see you in the fall. - Dick Bauer, Bill Kuttner
Meet at the Lowell train station. Leaders: Dick Bauer and Bill Kuttner. The 11:15am time will change with the MBTA Lowell line schedule.

On Saturday, April 6, 2024, the Middlesex Canal Association will lead a bicycle tour of the Middlesex Canal. Completed in 1803 after 10 years of digging a ditch 3½' deep, 30' wide and 27 miles long, the canal connected the Merrimack River at Lowell with the Charles River at Boston. It was the greatest work of its kind in the US until the Erie Canal. The canal operated for 50 years, but the one horsepower canal boat quickly lost to its 1835 competitor, the 30 horsepower steam locomotive.

The ride will start at the the Lowell train station after 11:15am (+/-) when the train from Boston arrives. This year an early group will take the 8:30am (+/-) train from North Station to allow more time in Lowell and breakfast at the Owl Diner, a US Historic Place, www.owldiner.com. Train fare is $10 unlimited. Tour visits Lowell canals, River Walk, Francis Gate, canal plaque at Hadley Field, then south on the route of the canal. Buy lunch in Billerica, visit the canal visitor center/museum, then on to Boston. Or take the N. Billerica 3:38pm to Boston.

Long day, but sunset is late. Cyclists wanting a shorter tour can plan their own start and stop using the Lowell Line schedule at www.mbta.com. Anderson/Woburn station off 128/I-95 and I-93 is popular. Also N. Billerica - the visitor center is only two blocks from the station and is open noon-4.

The route is pretty flat - the summit pond is only 24' above the Merrimack - and we will average 5 miles per hour, so the ride will be an easy one for most cyclists. Along the way we will stop at remnants of the canal including two aqueducts, the one lock remaining of twenty, and the northern end of the floating towpath, as well as the house of Loammi Baldwin, the engineer of the canal (and propagator of the Baldwin apple). The ride will be led by Bill Kuttner of the Shirley Eustis House (617- 241-9383, bkuttner@alum.mit.edu) and Dick Bauer of the Middlesex Canal Commission (857-540-6293, dick.bauer@alum.mit.edu). Helmets required. Steady rain cancels.
The map for the bike tour is in two parts, tinyurl.com/lowellsouth and tinyurl.com/wedgemere.

Spring Walk, 1:30pm, Sunday, March 17, 2024
Winchester south to Medford – Middlesex Canal, Winchester/Medford. 3-mi. level history walk will follow the route of the Middlesex Canal through parts of Medford and Winchester. Sites along the way include the aqueduct and mooring basin, those segments of the canal bed and berm visible off the parkway, and the stone wall of the Governor Brooks estate, in Medford. Meet 1:30pm at Sandy (Shannon) Beach lot at Upper Mystic Lake on Mystic Valley Pkwy., 1.3 mi. N of Rte. 60. Joint w/BWMG and Middlesex Canal Association. Info: www.middlesexcanal.org. Leader: Robert Winters [Meetup Group Listing: https://www.meetup.com/boston-walking/events/299573528/]

Winter Meeting, 1:00pm, Sunday, February 18, 2024
“Towpath to Bike Path” – Douglas Chandler will talk about using the towpath of the historic Middlesex Canal as the connecting link for bike paths between the Minuteman at Bedford, the Bruce Feeman at Lowell, and north over the Rourke Bridge. Mr. Chandler is a proprietor of the Middlesex Canal Association and a member of the State’s Middlesex Canal Commission. Mr. Chandler’s talk will be in the Reardon Room, Middlesex Canal Museum-Visitor Center, at the Billerica Falls of the Concord River, 71 Faulkner St., Billerica MA 01862. The Visitor Center opens at noon. The Middlesex Canal Association will have a ten-minute meeting before the talk. If a storm requires change, a message will be on the museum phone, 978-670-2740. [flyer for meeting]

Connection between Freeman Rail Trail and Riverneck Road, Chelmsford Mass

21st Fall Bicycle Tour of Middlesex Canal, Saturday, Sept 30, 2023

We meet 9:00am at the Middlesex Canal plaque right of the entrance to Sullivan Sq T Sta. (1 Cambridge St, Charlestown 02129), follow the canal route 38 miles to Lowell. Snack at Kiwanis Park across canal from Sichuan Garden restaurant (2 Alfred St, Woburn 01801, after 12:15 PM), visit at Canal Museum (71 Faulkner St, Billerica 01862, before 3 PM), arrive in Lowell in time for 5:30 PM train to Boston. Google “Canal Ride Cue Sheet”. Riders can choose their own time to join or leave the group by using the Lowell Line which parallels the canal. For example, an abbreviated ride can be had by parking at Sichuan Garden, just off Rte. 128 at Rte. 38, cycling with the group to the museum or Lowell, and returning by train to Anderson/Woburn at 3:49pm or 5:49pm, three miles from Sichuan Garden. Lowell Line commuter rail schedule subject to change.

The ride will be an easy one for most cyclists. The route is pretty flat, and we will average 5 miles per hour. Along the way we will stop at several canal remnants and restored sections. Steady rain cancels. Helmets required. Leaders, Dick Bauer, dick.bauer@alum.mit.edu, 857-540-6293, and Bill Kuttner, bkuttner@alum.mit.edu, 617-241-9383. More information, www.middlesexcanal.org.

Flyer for Sept 30 Bike Ride

Bike Tour South, 11:15am, Saturday, April 29, 2023 [rescheduled from Sunday, April 23, 2023]
Meet at the Lowell Train Station. Leaders Dick Bauer and Bill Kuttner

The Middlesex Canal Association Presents:
Spring Bicycle Tour of Historic Middlesex Canal

On Saturday, April 29, 2023, the Middlesex Canal Association will present its spring bicycle tour of the Middlesex Canal. The Canal was the “big dig” of the end of the 18th century. Completed in 1803 after 10 years of construction, the Canal connected the Merrimac River in what is now Lowell with the Charles River at Sullivan Square in Charlestown. In many ways it served as a model for later canals including the Erie Canal. The Canal remained in operation for 50 years, providing both passenger and freight service, but could not compete successfully with the Boston and Lowell Railroad which began operation in the 1830’s.

Canal image The ride will depart from the Lowell Train Station at 11:15am. You can take your bicycle on the 10:30am train from North Station which arrives in Lowell at 11:15. (Riders can also board at West Medford at 10:41 or Wedgemere at 10:44 or just meet at Lowell Station). There will also be an early group that will take the 8:30 AM train from North Station to allow more time in Lowell and breakfast at the historic Owl Diner, aka the Four Sisters. Route visits the Pawtucket and other Lowell canals, river walk, Francis Gate, and then Middlesex Canal remnants in Chelmsford. Quick visit to Canal Museum, then on to Boston.

Lunch at Route 3A mini-mall in Billerica. Long day, but sunset is late. Riders needing to leave early can get the train to Boston at 1:38 at North Billerica or at 3:45 at Wilmington. Participants are responsible for one-way train fare [$10.50 from Boston to Lowell, or get an unlimited weekend pass for $10]. Complete Lowell line schedules can be downloaded if anyone wishes to plan a rail travel itinerary specific to their needs.

Along the canal The route is pretty flat and level with a top sustained speed of about 12 miles per hour, so the ride will be an easy one for most cyclists. Along the way we will stop at a number of remnants and restored sections of the Canal, as well as the Mansion of Loammi Baldwin, the chief engineer of the Canal (who discovered the Baldwin apple while building the Canal), the two remaining aqueducts (which carried the Canal over rivers and brooks), and the northern end of the floating towpath that carried horses over the Millpond.

The ride will be led by Bill Kuttner (617-241-9383, bkuttner@alum.mit.edu) and Dick Bauer (857-540-6293, dick.bauer@alum.mit.edu) of the Middlesex Canal Commission. Helmets required. Steady rain cancels.

For more information about the Middlesex Canal go to: http://www.middlesexcanal.org

Annual Meeting, 1:00pm, Sunday, April 30, 2023
Douglas Chandler
“Towpath to Bike Trail”

Douglas Chandler will talk about using the towpath of the historic Middlesex Canal as the connecting link for bike paths between Lowell, Boston, and Framingham. Mr. Chandler is a proprietor of the Middlesex Canal Association and a member of the State’s Middlesex Canal Comission.

Mr. Chandler’s talk will be in the Reardon Room, Middlesex Canal Visitor Center/Museum, at the Billerica Falls of the Concord River, 71 Faulkner St., Billerica MA 01862. The Visitor Center opens at noon. The meeting will be Zoomed starting at 12:30pm with call-to-order at 1:00pm, https://rb.gy/82f4j Meeting ID: 875 2471 6938, Passcode: 685592, Tel. 646-876-9923.

The Middlesex Canal Association will have a ten-minute meeting before the talk.

Spring Walk, 1:30pm, Sunday, March 19, 2023
Maple Meadow Aqueduct
Meet at the kiosk, 35 Towpath Drive Wilmington, MA 01887

Maple Meadow Aqueduct - Spring Walk 2023
Maple Meadow Aqueduct - photo from Oct 18, 2020 Fall Walk

The walkers in the photo are standing at the Maple Meadow Aqueduct, the beginning of 14 acres with 0.8 miles of canal, a gift in 1983 of Stanley Webber and his daughter, Julia Ann Fielding, to the Middlesex Canal Association. On Sunday, March 19, 2023, the Association will lead a walk in the Webber/Fielding gift. Meet at the kiosk, 35 Towpath Drive, Wilmington 01887, at 1:30pm. The Wilmington Train Station is 1/2 mile from 35 Towpath Drive. The walk is easy – it’s a towpath, less than two miles, round trip. Beautiful green, spring is the next day. An article on the canal cross section is at https://tinyurl.com/xsection8.

Meet at the kiosk

Along the canal

End of the line - before the bonus

Grooves from towlines

The road not taken

Hike Beautiful Billerica, 9:45am, Saturday, March 11, 2023
Marlies Henderson, two hour walk south to the smallpox cemetery. Sign-up required at Billerica Recreation Department, $7.00 wait list, https://www.facebook.com/groups/HikeBeautifulBillerica

MCA Winter Meeting – Sunday, February 19, 2023, 1:00pm: Zoë Lawson will speak on “Spinning as Industry”. It is an enjoyable mill talk that will be held at 1:00pm at the Middlesex Canal Museum, 71 Faulkner St., North Billerica.

Zoë Lawson answers the question: Why was Lowell considered a utopia? View the video, “Spinning as Industry”, recorded at the Charles River Museum, and come with your questions for an expert on cloth-making before Lowell and the power loom. The Winter Meeting of the Association, a few minutes, will precede the conversation. Snow announcement at the museum, 978-670-2740.

A technical writer by day, Zoë Lawson is a spinster and public historian by vocation. She has been spinning for more than 35 years and has given numerous demonstrations at historic sites in the Boston area. An active 18th-century re-enactor, Lawson recently began to explore Medieval textile and fiber production. She enjoys experimenting with historical tools and methods and teaching spinning to anyone who wants to learn by doing. (from Charles River Museum Website)

Sunday, October 16, 2022 – Fall Walk

1:30pm Meet at the gazebo near the museum, 71 Faulkner St, Billerica, for a walk south to the smallpox cemetery, a round trip of less than three miles.
Listed with Boston Walking Meetup Group: https://www.meetup.com/boston-walking/events/289023098/

Canal Walk - Sunday, Oct 16, 2022, 1:30pm

Level, 3-mi. round trip, south to smallpox cemetery. Meet at the gazebo in Billerica Falls Park of the Concord River, 71 Faulkner Street, Billerica MA 01862, two blocks from train station. Leader: Robert Winters (robert@middlesexcanal.org, 617-661-9230).

Sunday, October 2, 2022 – 20th Fall Bike Tour (postponed from October 1)

9:00am Meet at the Middlesex Canal plaque right of the entrance to Sullivan Sq T Sta. (1 Cambridge St, Charlestown 02129). Dick Bauer and Bill Kuttner

Bicycle Tour of Middlesex Canal - Sunday, Oct 2, 2022 (postponed from Saturday, October 1)

We meet at 9:00am at the Middlesex Canal plaque right of the entrance to Sullivan Sq. T Sta. (1 Cambridge St, Charlestown 02129), follow the canal route 38 miles to Lowell. Snack at Kiwanis Park across canal from Sichuan Garden restaurant (2 Alfred St, Woburn 01801, after 12:15pm), visit at Canal Museum (71 Faulkner St, Billerica 01862, before 3:00pm), arrive in Lowell in time for 5:30pm train to Boston. Canal Ride Cue Sheet (2010, but basically the same). Riders can choose their own time to join or leave the group by using the Lowell Line which parallels the canal. For example, an abbreviated ride can be had by parking at Sichuan Garden, just off Rte. 128 at Rte. 38, cycling with the group to the museum or Lowell, and returning by train to Anderson/Woburn at 3:19pm or 5:19pm, three miles from Sichuan Garden.

The ride will be an easy one for most cyclists. The route is pretty flat, and we will average 5 miles per hour. Along the way we will stop at several canal remnants and restored sections. Steady rain cancels. Helmets required. Leaders: Dick Bauer (dick.bauer@alum.mit.edu, 857-540-6293) and Bill Kuttner (bkuttner@alum.mit.edu, 617-241-9383). More information, www.middlesexcanal.org.

A SPECIAL MEETING OF THE MIDDLESEX CANAL COMMISSION IS CALLED FOR Wed, June 22, 2022 at the Middlesex Canal Museum and Visitor Center, 71 Faulkner St, North Billerica, Massachusetts. The Museum will open at 3pm and the meeting will be called to order at 3:30pm.

The subject of meeting: What is the Future of the Talbot Mills Dam, the Summit Pond and the Middlesex Canal Heritage Park?

NOAA's public meeting on removal of the Talbot/Billerica Falls Dam, draining the summit pond, is a week after the MCC special meeting.

Summit Pond - Dam

Sat, June 18, 2022. A Walk in the Wake of Henry David Thoreau. This is a SuAsCo event (Sudbury-Assabet-Concord Riverfest) and NOT an AMC walk. RSVP preferred but not required. 10:00am. Join experienced guide Marlies Henderson, CIG, to explore extant portions of the Middlesex Canal, reading passages from Henry David Thoreau describing the towpath, from the Billerica Falls towards Middlesex Village. Focus will be on camaraderie and local history. Meet at the gazebo at the falls for a three hour easy walk. Knee high boots recommended if extending the walk beyond a flooded 500 foot section. Location: Meet at North Billerica Historic Mills District (71 Faulkner St, N. Billerica). L Marlies Henderson

Sunday, May 15, 2022– Spring (Annual) Meeting of the Middlesex Canal Association

Dry Dam, 1957 photo
Talbot/Billerica Falls Dam, built 1828, 5.8 to 8.28' high plus 7¾" flashboards. 1957 photo

Mr. Eric Hutchins, fisheries biologist, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will give an update on the return of alewives to the Concord River since the Dec 2016 Fish Restoration Feasibility Study Final Report.

The Middlesex Canal Association is opposed to the razing of the Billerica Falls Dam and consequent draining of the summit pond of the Middlesex Canal, an historic engineering landmark. Its opposition is expressed in Appendix I, “Comments”, at rb.gy/ikeqdf of the 2016 Final Report. The Final Report is at rb.gy/3mbvqd, download at View/Open.

The 61st Annual Meeting of the Association, a few minutes, will precede the update.

Public Meeting
Sunday, May 15, 1:00pm
Middlesex Canal Association, 71 Faulkner St, Billerica.

Flyer for the meeting

The Middlesex Canal Association Presents:
Spring Bicycle Tour of Historic Middlesex Canal

On Sunday, April 24, 2022, the Middlesex Canal Association will present its spring bicycle tour of the Middlesex Canal. The Canal was the “Big Dig” of the end of the 18th century. Completed in 1803 after 10 years of construction, the Canal connected the Merrimac River in what is now Lowell with the Charles River at Sullivan Square in Charlestown. In many ways it served as a model for later canals including the Erie Canal. The Canal remained in operation for 50 years, providing both passenger and freight service, but could not compete successfully with the Boston and Lowell Railroad which began operation in the 1830’s.

Canal image The ride will depart from the Lowell Train Station at 11:15am. You can take your bicycle on the 10:51am train from Anderson Station (Woburn) which arrives in Lowell at 11:15am. There is no train service from Boston. Riders can also just meet at Lowell Station. Route visits the Pawtucket and other Lowell canals, river walk, Francis Gate, and then Middlesex Canal remnants in Chelmsford. Quick visit to Canal Museum, then on to Boston.

We will stop along the way for a picnic lunch, so bring something to eat. Long day, but sunset is late. For riders who need to get back to Anderson instead of going all the way to Boston, a group will split off and return to Anderson.

Along the canal The route is pretty flat and level, so the ride will be easy to moderate for most cyclists. Along the way we will stop at a number of remnants and restored sections of the Canal, as well as the Mansion of Loammi Baldwin, the chief engineer of the Canal (who discovered the Baldwin apple while building the Canal), the two remaining aqueducts (which carried the Canal over rivers and brooks), and the northern end of the floating towpath that carried horses over the Millpond.

For more information about the Middlesex Canal go to: http://www.middlesexcanal.org

WARNING: The MBTA is NOT running trains all the way from Boston to Lowell. Trains will only be running between Anderson Station (Woburn) and Lowell. The MBTA will be running buses between North Station and Anderson, but will NOT be permitting bikes on the buses. There will be no way to get bikes from North Station to Anderson on the MBTA. Therefore, you should start the trip at Anderson. There is a very large parking lot at Anderson. The trains to Lowell are scheduled to leave Anderson at 10:51am, and arrive in Lowell at 11:15am. See the MBTA train schedules and service alerts here.

Roadside Exhibit

Sunday, March 20, 2022 – Spring Walk, Billerica - Chelmsford

1:30pm. Billerica to Chelmsford walk along canal to Chelmsford plaque near 121 Riverneck Road. Sites visited on the tour will include the recently restored guard lock, the anchor stone for the floating towpath that bridged the Concord River, and many stretches of the watered canal. Meet at the Middlesex Canal Museum and Visitors’ Center 71 Faulkner Street, North Billerica, MA 01862.
Note: There may be wet conditions along part of the route that may necessitate high boots or a shortened route. The walk will be led by Robert Winters with the assistance of others.

Planned Route from N. Billerica Museum to Riverneck Rd, Chelmsford (click on each for full resolution)

Sat, Mar 12, 2022 – Hike Beautiful Billerica

Sun, Feb 20, 2022 – Winter Meeting of the Middlesex Canal Association

1:00pm. Horses and Oxen. No Mules. Adrienne Card, who raises horses and cattle, talks about tow animals. For ZOOM meeting instructions, see www.middlesexcanal.org

Sun, Oct 24, 2021 – Fall Meeting of the Middlesex Canal Association. Sunday, 1:00pm, Oct 24, 2021. The featured speaker will be Dick Hawes, "George E. Mansfield and the Billerica & Bedford Railroad". Instructions for the Zoom meeting will be posted prior to the meeting at www.middlesexcanal.org.

The Bicycle Tour South, if it takes place, will be dependent on the eventual schedule of the Lowell Line weekend trains. Details will be posted at www.middlesexcanal.org.

Sunday, October 17, 2021 – Fall Walk (Winchester - Medford). Meet 1:30pm at Sandy Beach parking lot (a.k.a. Shannon Beach), 4 Mystic Valley Parkway, Winchester 01890. This is a round trip walk of 4 miles on pavement. Leaders: Robert Winters, Jim Winkler
https://www.meetup.com/Middlesex-Canal-Association-Spring-Fall-Walk/

Sunday, October 3, 2021 – Middlesex Canal - Ribbon Cutting at the new museum (2 Old Elm St., N. Billerica)
Between 9:45am and 11am, State Representative Lombardo and State Senator Friedman will cut the ribbon of an historical interpretive sign on the recently completed, SuAsCo River Stewardship Council sponsored, Observation Deck off the former Talbot Woolen Cloth Warehouse. The building is being rehabilitated for adaptive reuse as the Middlesex Canal Museum & Visitor Center. The North Billerica location has historical significance in many respects, tracing human civilization going back 11,000 years!

Spring (Annual) Meeting: 1:00pm, Sunday, May 16, 2021 (date was changed from May 2)
Topic: J. Breen will present a talk/video on the Middlesex Canal between I-495 and the Merrimack, Lowell's part of the 27¼ miles. [Note: Virtual "doors open" at 12:45pm for meeting.]

Walk leader Robert Winters jingles the rings of the anchor stone of the floating towpath, October 2014

Southern terminus of the Middlesex Canal (Sullivan Square, Charlestown)
[Canal Street is now Rutherford Street]

1794. - Chap. 0067
[January Session, ch. 43]
AN ACT IN ADDITION TO AN ACT ENTITLED "AN ACT FOR INCORPORATING JAMES SULLIVAN & OTHERS BY THE NAME & STILE OF THE PROPRIETORS OF THE MIDDLESEX CANAL."

Be it enacted by the Senate & House of Representatives in General Court assembled & by the authority of the same, That the property of the said Proprietors in the said Canal, & in any other Canal connected therewith, which they shall effect, pursuant to any authority of the Government, & all real estate of which the said Corporation shall be seized shall be divided into eight hundred shares & that each share therein shall give the person holding the same one vote in the proceedings of the said corporation, provided that no one proprietor shall have a right to more than twenty five votes on any occasion; And that the shares in the same Canal, including the towing paths & wharves thereon, shall be so far considered as personal estate, that the same may be transferred according to such rules & regulations as the said Corporation shall establish; And that the proprietors shall be subjected to taxes therefor in the towns & parishes where they shall severally reside as for personal estate.

And be it further enacted, that the said Corporation shall have power to receive & hold real estate as appendant to the same Canal & for the purpose of facilitating the business of the same, to the value of thirty thousand pounds, over & above the value of the Canal itself simply considered; And that the Corporation shall be liable to pay taxes therefor in the Town & Parish where the same may be; And such taxes may be assessed on the corporation or on its tenants at the discretion of the Town where the tax shall be made.

And whereas the said Corporation hath petitioned the Legislature for an extension of their powers for the purpose of making other Canals to be connected, & to communicate with the said Middlesex Canal: The object of which petition being to render the waters of Concord River boatable as far up as the same can be usefully improved for that purpose & to improve the banks of Medford river, so as to render the Canal more easy & useful, as well as to open a Canal round the shallows in the town of Dunstable on the banks of Merrimack river; And also to extend said Canal to the waters of Charles River or the town of Boston.

Be it therefore farther enacted that the said proprietors of the Middlesex Canal shall be empowered to render the waters of Concord river boatable as far as Sudbury Causeway & as much farther as the same can be usefully improved for that end; & to open any Canal at any place in the said County of Middlesex that may be necessary to connect the said Concord river with the said Middlesex Canal for that purpose, and also to extend said Canal from Medford to the waters of the town of Boston or Charles river in such way as to said proprietors may seem most advantageous & with all the privileges, & under the same restrictions & regulations as are granted & provided in said Act; And that the said proprietors shall be liable to have damages recovered against them by any individual who shall be injured or damnified in his property in such new Canal by the same mode of process, & in the same manner as is in the same act provided: And that for the use of any such new Canal or boatable waters the said proprietors may receive the same rate of toll which is by the same act established for the said Middlesex Canal.

"Whereas it is provided in an Act entitled an Act for incorporating James Sullivan & others by the name & stile of the proprietors of the Middlesex Canal "That no part of the waters of Shawshine river shall be diverted from their natural course for the purpose aforesaid" It is hereby declared to be the true intent & meaning of the foregoing restrictive clause that the ponds & those streams which continue a visible current thro' the year & usually empty into Shawshine River are to be considered as part of the waters of the said River.

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Concord River — The Life of a River Herring A talk Sunday, March 2, 2025, 1:00pm, at the Middlesex Canal Museum, 71 Faulkner St, Billerica 01862