Gilmore Pond's Sensory Trail Gives an Old Orchard Pond Its Own Voice

The Westborough Community Land Trust scheduled the grand opening of its All-Persons Sensory Nature Trail at Gilmore Pond Woodland Park for this afternoon, Sunday, October 4, from 1:30 to 3 p.m. The plan was a short ribbon cutting followed by guided tours of the loop, meeting at the trail entrance near 19 Quick Farm Road. Weather pushed the date back. The trust's 2026 annual report had expected the improved trail to open in September.

The loop itself isn't new. It's the same path around the pond that opened in October 2021. What changed this year is that the trail now tells you about itself. You scan a QR code at each of six stations along a rope handrail, and an audio tour talks you through the pond's birds, plants, and water. Part of that tour is the story of how a farm irrigation pond became Westborough's first sensory trail. The land has been rebuilt for a new purpose about once a generation, and in 2026 the trust added a recorded history of those changes.

What You'll Find on the Loop Today

The land trust describes the trail as a one-third-mile loop around the pond. Six stations ask you to use sight, smell, hearing, and touch, and Wicked Local described the trail as "built to be enjoyed by everyone, including those with mobility and sensory challenges." Coverage of the 2021 opening called it a quarter-mile loop. Either way, a walk around takes a few minutes, so you can fit it into a Sunday without planning the day around it.

A bead on the rope marks each station. Here they are in walking order:

1. Welcome Station. An introduction to the sensory approach, the pond and farm history, the pond's hockey past, and how the park came to be.
2. Station at the Dam. Sun, water, the spillway, the watershed, and seasonal wetland plants. Water leaves the pond over the spillway and flows into Jackstraw Brook.
3. Bird Station. A prompt to stand still and listen, with descriptions of chickadee, blue jay, titmouse, and red-bellied woodpecker calls.
4. Bridge Station. The inlet, marsh marigolds, frogs, turtles, snakes, fish, and how the pond's food web connects them.
5. Forest Station. The sounds and smells of the woods, the scent of the trees, and how leaf litter and soil feel underfoot.
6. Wildflower Station. Seasonal woodland flowers and an invitation to slow down.

Each QR code opens the audio tour plus more information about the plants, trees, birds, reptiles, and other wildlife that live around the pond. You can find every station's content on the trust's Gilmore Pond overview page, so you can also listen at home before you go or after a walk. The 2026 annual report lists three pieces of work behind this phase: recording the audio, buying accessible signage, and a major effort to replace invasive plants with native ones.

The Pond Was Dug for Apples

The Welcome Station history goes back further than most people who drive Quick Farm Road would guess. In the 1930s, Howard Pool Gilmore dug the 2.6-acre pond to irrigate his orchard and protect the farm from fire. A gravity-fed pipe and hydrants carried water to the farm buildings without a pump.

The pond served a large operation. Three generations of Gilmores ran Fay Mountain Farm from 1910 through 1970 and built the largest orchard in Westborough. At its 1960 to 1965 peak, the orchard produced 50,000 bushels a year.

When the water froze, the pond took on a second role. Families skated on it, and in the late 1950s it hosted hockey scrimmages that helped start the Westborough High School hockey team. A teenager in a Westborough hockey jersey today belongs to a program with roots in a farm pond about a mile from many of the neighborhoods that send kids to the team.

How a Farm Pond Became Public Land

The Gilmores sold the farm and pond to Quick's Orchard in 1970. The step that opened it to the public came more than three decades later. On June 26, 2003, Stephen Venicasa of Casa Builders conveyed a 12.96-acre open-space parcel to the land trust under the Orchard Hill development agreement. The homes along that stretch and the woodland park around the pond came out of the same agreement.

The trail took years after that. The record shows each step and who did the work:

The 2021 opening date depends on the source. Local coverage announced October 24, and the land trust's own history says the goal was reached on October 25.

The MassTrails grant didn't pay for everything. The trust also credits the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Westborough Civic Club with grants, plus a private gift honoring the trust's 25th anniversary. In early 2021, Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School instructor Wayne Coulson and 17 of his students put more than 300 hours into the boardwalk. Eagle Scout projects led by Riley Clark and Evan Fallon added 150 hours of brush and invasive-plant clearing.

The trust also names seven volunteers who each gave more than 25 hours: Mark Fox, Scott Henderson, Joe Levesque, Keith Martin, Burt Osterweis, Hank Rauch, and Chris Sassetti. Martin managed the construction. In total, the trust counts about 700 on-site hours from roughly 60 stewardship volunteers and family members, and at least 1,000 hours of physical labor.

Because of that history, the Welcome Station's audio about how the park was created sits on top of the work it describes. The stone dust under your feet and the boardwalk at the inlet are the 2021 layer. The rope, the beads, and the voice in your phone are the 2026 layer.

Before You Head Over

• Parking. There's no dedicated lot in the trust's directions. Park on only one side of Quick Farm Road and be considerate of the neighbors.
• The surface. The 2021 construction used firm stone dust with bridging, boardwalks, and a continuous hand rope, designed to be friendly for wheelchairs and strollers.
• The map. The trust's Upper Jackstraw Brook and Gilmore Pond map has a printable PDF.
• Your phone. The audio comes through the QR codes, so bring a charged phone and headphones if you'd like to listen without disturbing the birds the Bird Station asks you to hear.

The Rest of the Land Trust's Fall Calendar

If the Gilmore loop gets you thinking about Westborough's other conservation land, the trust has several guided outings coming up on its 2026 events calendar. Most require registration, and the trust asks walkers to check its site for cancellations before leaving home.

Mushroom Walk, Sunday, October 11, 1 to 3 p.m. Mycologist Larry Millman, author of Fascinating Fungi of New England and Fungipedia, leads a short identification walk. The walk covers identification only, not which mushrooms are edible. It's free, limited to 15 people, and reservations are taken by email starting October 1. If more people sign up than there are spots, WCLT members and Westborough residents get preference. Registrants receive the location.

Monday Morning Bird Walk, October 26, 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. Nick Paulson leads this walk along the north shore of Lake Chauncy in the Wayne F. MacCallum Wildlife Management Area, looking for waterfowl, late-migrating land birds, and early winter arrivals. It's co-sponsored with the Forbush Bird Club. Pre-registration opens Friday, October 23, and closes at 5 p.m. on Sunday, October 25.

Birding In and Around Westborough and Northborough, Sunday, November 1, 7:30 to 11 a.m. This one starts at Solomon Pond and then drives to ponds and fields in both towns and the MacCallum area. The group meets in the parking lot of TKU Kuppanna Restaurant, 35 Solomon Pond Road in Northborough.

Family Nature Hike and Scavenger Hunt, Sunday, November 15, 1 to 3 p.m. A kid-length hike at the MacCallum Wildlife Management Area followed by a scavenger hunt for ages 6 and up, with prizes. Parents or guardians stay with their children.

If you're out before then, the Westborough Rotary Farmers Market runs Thursdays from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. on the Bay State Commons Town Green at 10 Union Street through October 8, which makes this Thursday the last market of the season.

I love when a piece of Westborough's past turns up in a place you walk by every week, and Gilmore Pond's orchard and hockey history is a good example. If you're a longtime Quick Farm Road neighbor wondering how the pond and the land around it figure into your home's value, Edith Paley would be glad to walk you through it. Request your free home valuation.