Station 1: The Sanderson Farm Interpretive Trail

The house on the left was built by Jonathan Sanderson sometime after 1763, the year he first began to clear the forest for his farm. The house looks out on the original road from Petersham to Athol

At the height of agriculture in the 1840's, the front windows of the house must have looked out across the valley on your left over a virtually open landscape.

The lane running up the hill in front of the house is lined by sugar maples, which were planted there to facilitate the collection of sap.

Stone fence posts are still visible on the right side of the lane. These were commonly quarried from granite boulders and the drill marks can still be clearly seen.