Cormier Woods Management Plan - The Trustees of Reservations

Cormier Woods Management Plan
2010
©
Section 1 Introduction
1
Section 2 Executive Summary
2
Section 3 Land Use History
3
Section 4 Cultural Resources
4
Section 5 Natural Resources
5
Section 6 Structural Resources
6
Section 7 The Visitor Experience
7
Section 8 Current Management
8
Section 9 Land Conservation
9
Table of Contents
Section 10 Recommended Actions
10
Section 11 Implementation
11
Section 12 Appendix
12
On the Cover: Looking North towards Dolbear/Chapin House on Chapin Street,
Cormier Woods Reservation, Uxbridge & Mendon.
Photo: C. Rodstrom
Maps:
Description and Page
Base Map, p. 2-4
Cultural Resources, Farmstead Area, p. 4-3
Cultural Resources of Cormier Woods, p. 4-10
Soil Types at Cormier Woods, p. 5-3
Regional Open Space Context, p. 5-7
Natural Communities at Cormier Woods, p. 5-9
Exotic Invasive Plants at Cormier Woods, p. 5-19
Structural Resources at Cormier Woods, p. 6-3
Trail Network at Cormier Woods, p. 7-3
Critical Lands at Cormier Woods, p. 9-9
Photos, Chapter 6 – Structural Resources: J. Younger
About the Maps Included in the Plan:
Unless otherwise noted, all maps are produced by The Trustees of Reservations’ Geographic
Information System. Production of these maps is made possible, in part, by a generous donation
from Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc. (ESRI).
The data displayed on these maps were obtained from a variety of sources including orthophotos,
field surveys, global positioning systems, and the Massachusetts Executive Office of
Environmental Affairs, MassGIS. Feature boundaries and locations are approximate and for
planning purposes only. Questions about individual datasets or maps can be directed to The
Trustees of Reservations, GIS Program.
All text, maps and photos in this document are property of The Trustees of Reservations.
Any unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.
This management plan was approved by the Field Operations Committee on
November 30, 2010.
Section 1: Introduction
1.1
Overview of the Planning Process
Since 1891, The Trustees of Reservations has worked to protect special places in
Massachusetts and maintain them to the highest standards. To ensure these standards are
met, a program of careful planning and sound management is essential. Comprehensive
property management plans are created for each reservation and updated approximately
every 10 years. In 2009, The Trustees completed the development of this management
plan for Cormier Woods. Minor modifications to the draft were made in 2010. The
planning process included:
o Describing in detail the site’s natural, scenic, and historical resources and
identifying management issues related to the protection of those resources.
o Forming a planning committee made up of Trustees staff and local volunteers.
o Developing a detailed list of management recommendations and a schedule for
implementing the actions.
o Developing a prescribed routine management program for the reservation that will
guide staff work plans and the allocation of human and financial resources.
1.2
Planning Framework
A framework, applied to all Trustees management planning processes, is comprised of
several elements.
First, The Trustees’ mission as set forth by founder Charles Eliot in 1891 and which
currently reads:
The Trustees of Reservations preserves, for public use and enjoyment, properties
of exceptional scenic, historic, and ecological value throughout Massachusetts
and protects special places across the state.
Second, all management plans will support initiatives outlined in The Trustees’ Strategic
Plan, Trustees 2017, as well as the Division of Field Operations’ 2003 operational plan,
Conservation in Action!.
Introduction
1- 1
Finally, several guiding principles reflect the general rules that will be applied when
carrying out work at all Trustees properties. These are value statements that may also
provide criteria for determining goals and recommended actions.
1. We must engage many more people in our stewardship and land conservation work.
By enlisting a diversity of constituencies, we will mobilize broad-based support for
land and resource protection in Massachusetts. Cormier Woods is one of our 100
classrooms where visitors can participate in a variety of enjoyable activities while
learning about conservation issues and stewardship strategies.
2. Resource protection is one of our fundamental responsibilities. Our stewardship
protects the historical, scenic, and ecological features that define the character of our
properties and contribute to our natural and cultural heritage. By providing and
interpreting exemplary stewardship of our properties, we demonstrate the importance
of conservation to our visitors, members, and the community at large.
3. Our ability to instill in people a strong conservation ethic is derived from our
properties being in good condition.
4. The prescribed level of management for a property is informed by the significance of
its resources as well as its engagement opportunity.
5. Through good communication and collaboration, we will confirm and strengthen our
partnership with the local community, members, volunteers, and other conservation
partners to achieve our long-term goals for the property. We view ourselves as a
community partner and a regional resource, investing in creative initiatives to build
shared values, perspectives and skills among a diverse constituency.
6. We consider volunteers to be an essential part of the successful management of our
reservations. We will work to inspire and enable a diverse group of people to
participate in the care of our properties and to advocate for conservation in their
communities and for conservation in general.
7. Successful management of our reservations relies on accurately determining and
securing the necessary financial resources and managing them well. To be
successful, we will actively seek the funds necessary to protect both our resources and
our visitors, and to provide a high quality visitor experience. We will nurture a
culture of financial responsibility, innovation, discipline and prudence.
8. We will work to reduce our contribution to climate change and minimize
unsustainable environmental practices. We will share our experience and knowledge
with our members, visitors, and the public, and use this experience to advocate for the
development of a sustainable society.
9. We will work to secure and enhance our reservations by addressing management
issues and opportunities beyond the reservation’s boundaries. In particular, we will
Introduction
1- 2
work proactively to protect “critical lands” – adjacent or nearby properties that are
important to the character and effective stewardship of our reservations. We will also
work cooperatively with other nearby property owners, to maximize the collective
conservation value of the surrounding green-space network.
10. We will continue to adapt our management based on experience, newly gained
knowledge, and available human and financial resources.
1.3
Acknowledgments
The Trustees of Reservations is enormously grateful to all of the volunteers, staff, and
other professionals who have worked very hard to produce this management plan.
Leading the way was a Management Planning Team that consisted of the following:
Staff and Consultants:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Wayne Beitler, Community Conservation Specialist
Rob Daniels, GIS Specialist
Brian DeGasperis, Southeast Regional Ecologist
Edie Dondero, Planner
Mike Francis, Superintendent, Charles River Valley Management Unit
Steve Sloan, Greater Boston Regional Director
Volunteers:
•
•
•
•
Anne Mazar
Huck Truesdale
Philip Wheelock
Martin Zajac
In addition, special thanks are extended to the following individuals who also contributed
to the development of this management plan: Jill and Frank Kenrick; Miriam Scagnetti,
Program Assistant; Dick O’Brien, Western Region Operations Manager.
Thanks to the thoughtful participation of these individuals, and their passionate interest
and concern for this unique treasure, Cormier Woods will forever remain one of the
Commonwealth’s special places.
Introduction
1- 3
Section 2: Executive Summary
2.1
The Significance of Cormier Woods
Cormier Woods is an intact 18th Century
landscape clearly embodying the connections
between land and people over three centuries.
As The Trustees’ first Reservation in the
Blackstone Valley, Cormier Woods, with its rare
native grasslands, scenic agricultural setting, and
connection to an undeveloped and largely
unprotected landscape gives us a unique
opportunity to reach new audiences in a rapidly
suburbanizing part of the state. The enthusiastic
response by the residents and elected officials in
both Uxbridge and Mendon to the opening of our
100th property indicates strong potential for The
Trustees’ future growth in this area.
Map 1. Cormier Woods near the borders of Uxbridge,
Mendon, and Millville.
Cormier Woods’ 18th Century house and 18th/19th Century barn are important additions to
our portfolio of historic structures. The former pastures boast an unusual number of
native and rare plant species, and the surrounding mature woodlands feature impressive
glacial erratics and intriguing archaeological remains.
The Reservation’s proximity to the Blackstone Valley Heritage Corridor and to
Southwick’s Zoo could allow for productive future joint ventures. Local outdoor
enthusiasts’ long-standing appreciation for the surrounding undeveloped Chapin Street
properties could lead to strong local partnerships.
2.2
Summary of Significant Challenges and Opportunities
Sections Four through Nine of this plan describe in detail the current or anticipated
challenges confronting staff at Cormier Woods, and identify any potential management
opportunities. The recommended actions in Section 10 of this plan were crafted to
address these issues and opportunities, some of which are summarized here:
Current Management Issues and Challenges:
• Motorized vehicle use. There is well established use of motorized vehicles within
the reservation boundaries by local residents. Both snowmobiles and all-terrain
vehicles are ridden through the property, causing damage to fields and trails. In some
areas, individuals have been creating trails for this unauthorized use of the
reservation.
Executive Summary
2- 1
•
Invasive species. Cormier Woods is relatively free from invasive species, but
existing “hot spots” (for example, bittersweet in the stone walls along Chapin Street,
barberry and Norway maples around the White Homestead) will spread unless
checked.
•
Hunting. Although the number of local hunters is small, hunting is allowed on the
Reservation and occurs on nearby properties. Hunting is encouraged to control the
deer herd (thereby protecting rare grassland species) and to build public support for
The Trustees in Uxbridge and Mendon, but it is important to educate both hunters and
casual visitors to ensure a safe experience for everyone.
Significant Opportunities:
• Interpretation. The reservation is a rare example of a nearly intact eighteenthcentury landscape with original period structures. Interpretive opportunities related to
the history, ecological resources, and watershed conservation of both the property and
the community are manifold.
•
Increase local membership. Since Cormier Woods is the first Trustees property in
the Blackstone River Valley the organization was not well known in this geographic
region prior to the acquisition of this property. Cormier Woods provides The
Trustees with a foothold in the Valley from which to launch additional land
preservation projects and to increase local membership.
•
Land conservation opportunities. There are a number of privately owned lands
abutting Cormier Woods whose permanent protection, through acquisition or
conservation restrictions, would ensure the integrity of the reservation and its
significant resources.
2.3
A Vision for the Future
Based on the planning framework described in the preceding section and a
comprehensive study of the property’s significant features, a vision for the future of the
reservation has emerged. In the next 10 years, Cormier Woods will be:
•
Valued by the local community and the Towns of Uxbridge and Mendon as a highly
scenic, well-managed historic and public open space resource;
•
Appreciated for its position at the center of a wider network of protected public open
space in both towns;
Executive Summary
2- 2
•
Enjoyed as the setting for occasional special events such as specialist-led nature
walks and historic house tours and educational and social events held in the
rehabilitated historic barn;
•
Understood for its role as a home to rare plants and interesting animals;
•
Experienced as a window into a deeper historic and ecological world, assisted by
interpretive signage and property-specific materials;
•
More integrated with nearby heritage and conservation entities, especially the
Blackstone Valley Heritage Corridor.
2.4
Implementing the Management Plan
Section 10 of this plan includes 31 recommended management actions that have been
crafted to achieve the vision for the future of Cormier Woods described above. The total
cost of implementing these actions over the next 10 years (FY2010-2019) is estimated to
be $ 107,450. These funds could be derived from a variety of sources including the
property’s annual operating budget, the organization’s capital budget and/or other outside
sources of income such as grants or donations.
Executive Summary
2- 3
Map 2: Base Map of Cormier Woods
Executive Summary
2- 4
Section 3: Land Use History
3.1
Introduction
From the melting of the last glacier onward, the Blackstone River served as a major north-south
prehistoric and Contact Period transportation corridor from the Narragansett Bay coastal area to
the interior, upland zone of Massachusetts. Its tributary streams, with associated ponds and
wetlands, attracted Native Americans who seasonally exploited local floral, faunal, and aquatic
resources. During the historic period, the Blackstone, together with its tributaries, the Mumford
and West Rivers, provided a level floodplain for agriculture and easily harnessed waterpower for
early mills, drawing residents and entrepreneurs to the town of Uxbridge, Massachusetts.
Along the border between Uxbridge and its mother town of Mendon, a quiet 173 acres of land
has become the reservation of Cormier Woods. Its prominent cultural feature, an 18th-century
gambrel-roofed house, is actually only the tip of an unexpected historic iceberg. From the 1700s
until today, the property described as Moses Chapin’s farm has managed to retain most of the
significant structures and all of its original landscape features. As such, it is an extremely rare
heritage landscape, possibly the only one of its kind in central Massachusetts. This section
documents the lineage of the property’s residents and describes the uses of this property from the
time of first known occupation to the present. The uses have left traces on the landscape, cultural
resources that color a visitor’s experience and guide The Trustees’ stewardship. These cultural
resources will be detailed in Section Four.
3.2
Prehistory and the Nipmuc
Uxbridge’s prehistory is associated with inland tribes of Native Americans. These groups appear
to have defined their territories in terms of river drainages. The Blackstone River watershed, for
instance, was an area of native occupation in south-central New England, as were the Quinebaug,
Connecticut, and Sudbury-Concord-Merrimac watersheds.1
Archeological evidence from the Blackstone River watershed suggests that prehistoric land use
and occupation was concentrated along tributary streams, and encompassed elevated upland
areas as well as riverine wetlands. Most known sites appear to have been small, temporary camps
where resource procurement, tool repair, and other short-term activities were carried out by small
groups of people. Recent cultural resource survey work along the Route 146 corridor through
Uxbridge supports this. A 1982 survey examined five small rock shelters along the road’s rightof-way, finding substantial evidence of repeated occupation from the Mid- to Late Archaic
through Late Woodland periods (7500 – 350 years ago). In Uxbridge, evidence of two densely
occupied sites has also been recorded by early collectors and recent cultural resource surveys.
Both sites were located above the Blackstone floodplain, and included artifacts dating from the
Middle Archaic Period and later.
1
cf: Connole (1976)
Land Use History
3- 1
By the time New England Indians entered the written record in the early 17th century, their tribal
political and social organization, and their territorial definition had evolved into the form we
generalize as the New England Native American lifestyle, characterized by social organization
centered around the clan, or extended family, at the most intimate level; the village that defined
boundaries and organized political life; and the tribe, which served a broader, cultural function
for its members.2 Economy and land use were dictated by other factors:
Gender roles and seasonal diversity shaped the native economy. At the
village during the spring and summer, women cared for fields of corn, beans
and squash while men fished and hunted small animals. In the fall, women
harvested the crops while men conducted diplomacy and war. In some areas
in the late fall, villagers dispersed in clan groups for men to hunt big game,
[and] reassembled during the winter in sheltered, wooded valleys.... Fields
could be used for eight to ten years before declining in fertility and requiring
fertilization with fish or the burning of woods to create new fields. This
“slash and burn” agriculture created a wide range of habitats for a rich
variety of game animals.
Within this broad framework, the Nipmuc had defined their own characteristic tribal lifestyle: a
seasonal, semi-migratory pattern of movement and habitation, generally in small clans, within a
broad geographic area that was much more sparsely populated than those occupied by shore and
river Indians.
Politically, the Nipmuc Nation was distinguished from neighboring tribes by their intermediary
status. The Nipmuc, “people of the small pond place” or “fresh water people”3 were located in
central Massachusetts, northern Rhode Island and northeast Connecticut. They occupied areas
along the upper tributaries and headwater ponds of major rivers that drain the interior highlands.
In Uxbridge specifically, a clan or band of Nipmuc occupied two distinct areas near the present
Rhode Island border. One site, a Plantation called Shockologue according to a 1675 dispatch,
centered on Shokalog Pond in southwest Uxbridge. The second occupation area was apparently
more drawn out, extending from the flood plain at the junction of the Mumford, Blackstone and
West Rivers down the Blackstone to the vicinity of Emerson Brook. Archeological evidence
suggests that the focus of pre-contact settlement was in the area of today’s downtown Uxbridge,
but traditional knowledge places the site to the south, at the falls of the Blackstone in today’s
Ironstone village. Whatever its geographical location, the settlement was a late-blooming
Christian Indian town known as Waentug or Wacentug (Waucantuck).
During the mid-17th century, Anglo settlement and land use in the vicinity of Cormier Woods
began with the founding of Mendon in 1667. Mendon, including all or most of Uxbridge,
Northbridge, Blackstone, Millville and Milford, was conceived as a buffer settlement on the
western frontier. Together with the “friendly” Christian Indian settlement of Hassanamesit
(Grafton) and the more northerly plantation of Lancaster (1653), Mendon’s settlement, clearing,
2
3
This and following paragraphs derived from Mandell; 10 ff.
www.dickshovel.com/nipmuc.html
Land Use History
3- 2
and habitation by Anglo-Europeans was intended to move the unsettled (and thus, to European
thinking, unreliable) Nipmuc population farther away from the range of established
Commonwealth towns.
The strategy was painfully effective. Mendon and Lancaster were among the first Massachusetts
settlements attacked during King Philip’s War (1675-1676), and the region’s Native Americans
either fled westward, seeking protection among Philip’s supporters, or were captured by the
English. Fighting in south central Massachusetts ended in two years, but the war altered the
social landscape of southern New England. While Nipmuc culture ceased to flourish around the
time of the American Revolution, stories from the 19th century provide evidence of continued
Native American presence in the Blackstone Valley.4
One such story came from the Bassett farmstead in Uxbridge, immediately north of Cormier
Woods. A relative who still occupies the farm on Henry Street recalled that an ancestral Bassett
“always left the shed door open for the Indians traveling to town with their wares.”5 The “town”
would have been Mendon, Uxbridge center, or Ironstone, in south Uxbridge – all traditional
Indian village sites. The Indians, Nipmuc coming perhaps from Grafton or less settled areas such
as Douglas, were preserving traditional practices such as weaving and herbal medicine by
integrating them into the Anglo market economy. For decades the baskets, brooms and folk
medicines of rural New England were largely provided by Native American traders.
3.3
Colonial Mendon and Uxbridge: Eight Square Miles of Land
Grants
Circa 1680: English settlers began returning to the eight-square-mile area of Mendon. At first
they concentrated their house lots along the broad north-south ridge that later defined Mendon as
a classic hill town, or they settled in the vicinity of the nearby Mill River.
The largest house lot was 40 acres, ranging downward to a five acre minimum. This starting lot
size determined a man’s proportion of all subsequent divisions of the town’s common land.
Some divisions provided acreage for specific uses: meadow, upland, swamp (as in cedar swamp).
Other divisions were less specific, and made allowance for bad land, steep, rocky or otherwise
useless acreage, that might make up part of the dividend.
Records of Mendon’s early land grants provide the first evidence of land use in Uxbridge, which
was then the western section of Mendon. Proprietor Joseph White took up a number of his grants
in the area that has since become Cormier Woods.
4
Notable among recent revisionists are Thomas L. Doughton [“Unseen Neighbors: Native Americans of Central
Massachusetts, A People Who Had ‘Vanished’” in After King Philip’s War; Presence and Persistence in Indian
New England. University Press of New England, 1997] and Daniel R. Mandell [Behind the Frontier: Indians in 18th
Century Eastern Massachusetts. University of Nebraska Press, 1996].
5
Jane Hanscom as told to Frances Clark, personal communication.
Land Use History
3- 3
1686: Joseph White’s original land grants were all recorded in the official town Proprietors’
Records,6 including a 35 acre house lot, a 35 acre “doubling lot” of upland, plus 11 separate
small pieces of natural meadow.
Some of White’s first grants indicate his early interest in what would become Uxbridge land,
located near the West River.
• 2nd division of meadow: three and a half acres in five separate pieces including part of it
upon the West River Where the Rock medow brook comes into the west River.
• swamp lot: 5 ¾ acres, 13 rods in four parcels, part of it Lying upon the south east side of
the West River bounded up streem upon ye Rock medow brook; Down streame to a point
of upland with a sponge up into the upland to a marked Tree.7
• 1691: White’s Great Lot (primarily land for field crops) was laid out in three parcels
totaling 128 acres. A small portion of it was near his house in Mendon village, but the
remainder was on the West River, including 50 acres immediately north of his Rock
Meadow Brook meadow lot.
As top-quality land was claimed and divided, proprietors had to look for less level, wooded
acreage to clear, stump, and use however possible.8 In the increasingly difficult search for arable
land, the younger generation farmers were establishing homesteads away from the town center.
By 1720 second-generation brothers Thomas and Joseph White Jr. owned houses in Uxbridge,
somewhere between Mendon Street (Rte 16) and Rock Meadow Brook. This was not, apparently,
their preferred location, for after their father’s death the brothers returned to the White
homestead in Mendon village, with its better land and more settled society. They both died in
Mendon.
In the meantime, however, roads were being laid out in all parts of town, connecting family land
grants and outlying farmsteads with the center and with each other. By the third generation,
Whites were in Uxbridge to stay. The second generation Joseph’s family established a
connection to the Cormier property, for his grandson, fourth generation Joseph, owned the land
that would become the core of Cormier Woods.9
1733: Joseph (2) White laid out a 51-acre piece of upland and meadow, half of which he had
bought from Seth Chapin. The parcel may have included part of Cormier Woods, although the
description does not provide definitive evidence. The land consisted of 51 acres, and two threerod ways10 crossed the property. White’s southern neighbor was Daniel Taft; Steven Fish abutted
on the north; his own land bracketed the Chapin piece on east and west. In later deeds both Taft
6
PropRecs 1899; 20-24
sponge refers to a piece of swampy ground, often tongue-shaped [Oxford English Dictionary].
8
Not until 1735, at Mendon’s 9th Division, was a land grant specifically described as woodland. This choice of
words likely meant that normal “upland” – most of which would have been wooded in earlier divisions– was
sufficiently cleared that proprietors had reached the point of needing land specifically for the timber harvest it could
produce, whether or not it would subsequently be good agricultural land.
9
See appendix for a tentative genealogy of this confusing family.
10
a standard form of road measurement. A 2-rod way was a small cart path, often very local; a 3-rod way was a
normal town or inter-town road; 4-rod ways were the colonial equivalent of highways, often described as “county”
or “country” roads on early maps. The measurement referred to the width of public right-of-way, a rod being 16.5
feet long.
7
Land Use History
3- 4
and Fish appear as abutters to the Cormier property, while Chapin Street and an old north-south
roadway cross near the Mendon-Uxbridge line.
Captain Joseph White (1), the original Mendon proprietor, died in 1706. His son, Captain Joseph
White (2), died in 1736. By the end of the second generation the family had amassed at least 681
acres in Mendon and Uxbridge, almost all by virtue of original proprietorship.
3.4
Building a Farm (1744 – 1829)
1744: Joseph White (4) and his wife Judith sold off four acres, an insubstantial piece of their
inherited property, to William Dolbear, a local shoemaker. Dolbear is something of a mystery.
The family name is not found in any of the vital records of the region and, although subsequent
deeds refer to David and John Dolbear, their relationships are speculative. It is likely that David
and John were both sons of William and Mary Dolbear. David was also a shoemaker, or
cordwainer, while John was a farmer in Scituate, Rhode Island.
Dolbear built a house on his four acre piece of land, between the summer of 1744 and the spring
of 1752. When the house was done, he deeded ownership of half of the property to David, still
reserving the Improvement of the one full half of both housing and lands during the whole Term
of my Natural Life and the Life of my wife or the Longest Liver of either of us.11 This
arrangement, not unusual during the 18th century, allowed two generations of a family to occupy
the same house, while owning house and land in common – not literally divided. A similar
arrangement would take place in the Chapin family fifty years later.
A few definitive statements can be made about the gambrel-roofed cottage on Chapin Street:
• The house is characteristic in size, shape, structure and finish of homes built during the
mid- to late-18th century in southern New England.
• Its size is often associated with middling craftsmen or farmers. In other words, it does not
suggest a wealthy owner, but it is not the most humble dwelling type of the period.
• The broad, gambrel roof is more commonly found on Rhode Island houses, although
even there, simple gable roofs were much more common, requiring less skill to construct.
Some speculate that Quakers, moving into central Massachusetts from Rhode Island during the
18th century, introduced this style – which might explain why gambrel roofs are found
predominantly in Worcester County12 - but although a number of families around the Cormier
property were Quakers (Bassetts, Tafts, Farnums, Southwicks and Aldrichs) and three other
gambrel-roof Capes survive in Uxbridge, no connection has been found between the Society of
Friends and either Dolbear or Chapin.
The historic features that characterize the Dolbear-Chapin House are detailed in Section Four of
this plan. Two features in particular have special significance in the history of Cormier Woods,
and are worth highlighting here.
11
12
WD 34:36.
M. Steinitz, MHC, personal communication.
Land Use History
3- 5
The double staircases: Two intact, original double staircases run from the first floor to the
second floor and from the back room of the second floor into the attic. Neither staircase has been
significantly altered. They begin with two central steps up and divide into separate runs leading
in opposite directions. Technologically, this construction is supported by an especially large
chimney stack. Socially, the design supports a multi-generational family living arrangement that
apparently existed from the time of the building’s original construction. In 1752 William deeded
half of the house to David (presumably his brother). In 1764 John Dolbear reserved half the
house for William when the remainder was sold to Joseph Chapin. In 1798 Joseph, with great
specificity, deeded half to his son John. As late as 1930, the building appears on the federal
census containing two separate households: a Kozloski older generation, and their daughter’s
Cormier family. Over the centuries, much of the building’s interior has been refinished or
altered. The preserved staircases, however, testify to a long ongoing need to define each
household’s private space.
House orientation and site: The building sits close to the south side of Chapin Street,
apparently facing the road and any passersby in familiar rural fashion. The appearance is
historically misleading, however, a result of recent building reorientation. In fact, the DolbearChapin House was originally built with its front facing south, away from the road. The building’s
interior layout leaves no doubt of this orientation. Two first-floor parlor/sitting rooms and two
second-floor bedchambers were laid out on the south side to take full advantage of winter solar
gain, while the north side of the house was almost entirely occupied by a ground floor kitchen
where a fire would have been burning constantly, and by second-story storage or work space
without any heat source at all.13 During the 20th century the Kozloskis built a screen porch off
the house’s north side. Not until their grandson, James Cormier, removed the porch, replaced a
battered door, and restored the clapboard siding did the two-hundred-year-old house officially
“face” Chapin Street.
There are two explanations for the building’s particular site. First, William Dolbear did not have
a choice of street side location: the four acres he bought were all on the south side of the road. A
second determining factor was the lay of the land itself. Dolbear must have had difficulty
locating a patch of ground that was neither on top of solid ledge nor prone to flooding by ground
water sources that overflowed during rainy seasons. He did find dry ground, and as part of his
efficient use of structural space, he built his house over an unusually deep full cellar.14 Dolbear’s
house was perched at the southeastern edge of granite ledge that outcrops along the road in both
directions. In order for the building to have any dooryard at all, Dolbear needed to come up with
dirt. He did so by digging the cellar and dumping its dirt and rocks around the outside of the
foundation in a small, level terrace: exactly two rods to the south, and three rods to the east, with
retaining walls defining its limits. Dolbear (or his builder) was efficient, as well as a good civil
engineer. The retaining wall was built with an indent forming the lower level of a shop building
whose upper story was level with the house. Conceivably, the “corn barn” that once stood next to
13
except, of course, radiant heat from the massive brick chimney over the kitchen hearth.
Many rural colonial houses included only a partial cellar, large enough for food storage but requiring much less
labor to excavate than a full cellar. Obviously, more rock meant less cellar space. The Cormier cellar, approx. 6 feet
deep below grade, is essentially rock-free except for the northeast corner, where ledge minimally intrudes into the
space.
14
Land Use History
3- 6
the shop was similarly constructed, with one masonry exercise serving two purposes, but recent
garage construction has eliminated this footprint.
1764: John Dolbear of Rhode Island, possibly David’s son, sold the half-parcel that had
belonged to David. Bought by Joseph Chapin, the property was still encumbered by the
stipulation that William and Mary Dolbear be allowed to remain in their half of the house until
their deaths.15 Over the next thirty years Joseph Chapin would build up the small homestead into
a respectable 160-acre farm with a varied array of buildings.
Chapin was a committed patriot, a member of the town’s 1774 Committee of Correspondence,
and commander of the Uxbridge minutemen when they responded to the alarm from Concord
and Lexington in 1775. His engagement in Revolutionary activity undoubtedly increased his
status in the town. He likely also benefited from his relationship with the Taft family, original
Mendon proprietors whose vast family owned large tracts of land in Uxbridge, including land
adjacent to the small Dolbear parcel. Joseph Chapin married Ruth Taft in 1758. The couple had
three children, and every one of them in turn married a Taft.16 Ruth died in 1797 and Joseph
apparently decided it was time to make arrangements for his remaining years. By then his son
Moses, recently married, was probably living in the family home with his wife and newborn son,
and working the farm with his father.
1798: Joseph Chapin sold one half of the farm to Moses, in a familiar colonial transaction that
guaranteed long-term advantages to both generations. The deed includes land use descriptions
and boundary identifications, confirms the house orientation and provides a likely terminus ante
quem17 for construction of the property’s rare English-tie framed barn. [See history report]
Joseph died ten years later. Moses and brother Amariah, in accordance with their father’s will,
split the Chapin land holdings. Amariah turned over almost the entire home farm to Moses,
resulting in a 133 acre parcel that remained unchanged until Jim Cormier’s purchase of adjacent
land nearly two hundred years later in 1998.
Judging from Joseph Chapin’s inventory the “Moses Chapin Farm” was a traditional mixed
agricultural concern. The barn and a lean-to addition housed a horse, a few hogs, cows, and
perhaps a dozen sheep.18 Farm fields grew flax, rye and – at least that year – poor corn, while an
orchard produced fruit and honey. They also churned milk, made cheese, and practiced
carpentry. A treasured chaise was kept in its own building, the chaise house, and was bequeathed
to Joseph’s second wife along with the horse to pull it. Over the next twenty years Moses
continued to run the farm. By the mid-1820s, his eldest sons were married, leaving Moses with
little farm help and debts to pay.
15
When these took place, or whether the elderly couple moved out, is unknown. A “list of male inhabitants over 15
years”, compiled for Uxbridge in 1777, lists Joseph’s name with Taft, Aldrich, Fish and White men believed to have
lived in the Chapin Street vicinity. William Dolbear is not on the list. [MA Archives v 161:117-122]
16
See Chapin genealogy in Appendix.
17
“date before which”
18
It is difficult to guess herd size, since Chapin’s inventory only reflected the livestock considered to be his at the
time of death. Had Moses invested more heavily in the sheep whose wool was in great demand by new local mills?
Did they, in fact, co-own a much larger herd with Amariah, who lived next door? No other period documents are
available to shed light on this.
Land Use History
3- 7
1829: Moses and Betsey Chapin sold their 133 acre homestead farm with the buildings thereon
situated partly in...Uxbridge and partly in Mendon to Ellis Albee, owner of a similar-sized farm
to the southward, for $3,500.19 The Chapin to Albee deed highlights two features of Cormier
Woods that still exist.
The stone walls: Many Chapin boundary markers were stone walls, indicating that most of the
land was cleared and the present stone walls were constructed by the 1820s.
The dam and “water trenches:” The deed makes one reservation: Also a privilege for Luke
Taft to pass through said premises for to draw his hay from his meadow...also the privilege of
keeping up the dam for the purpose of flowing his meadow.... Luke Taft owned land southwest of
the Chapin farm in the vicinity of Blackstone Street. His meadow lots, source of fresh meadow
hay, were along Still Corner Brook, which cuts from Mendon into the southeast corner of
Cormier Woods. The brook is also fed from a smaller stream east of Cormier, which at present
backs up into a sizable wetland due to remnants of an earthen dam.
Physical evidence here supports documentary evidence of a traditional agrarian practice: farmers
were manipulating small streams and seasonal waterways before the mid-19th century, by
damming and channeling water flow, in order to maximize useful meadow land. The remnant
stonework and earthworks associated with this practice can easily be misleading, resembling
waterpower technology, but the 1829 deed makes the historic purpose clear.20
The practice is also supported by the reminiscence of a Bassett family member who, as a child in
the 1830s, made annual visits to his grandparents’ farm on Henry Street. Part of the Bassett
property encompassed Meadow Brook, a stream similar in size and type to Still Corner Brook. A
favorite problem of Uncle’s, Joseph Bassett Holder remembered, was to irrigate the meadows
and intervale, and by vigorous labor he had constructed a series of trenches and locks whereby
the waters of the neighboring brooks would be distributed for the benefit of his grass crop.21
Evidence of these water trenches still survives today, and their success was likely the inspiration
for Chapin and Taft to make the same efforts on their own lands.
3.5
A Century of Status Quo (1829-1925)
Beginning with Ellis Albee, ownership of the Chapin Farm became a real estate investment for
most of its owners, rather than a homestead. The land was transferred, in one form or another,
nine times in the following century. The farm remained intact through every transaction. It was
often mortgaged and the mortgages themselves transferred ownership. However, it is only
possible to identify with certainty two owners who actually lived on the property.
By the mid-19th century Uxbridge was a rapidly growing town with a range of economic
opportunities. It had been an early leader in the industrialization of southern New England.
19
WD 265:105. See history report.
A more dramatic example of this practice is located just beyond the west edge of the Cormier 40-acre parcel, on
Cole property, where a substantial earthen dam with slab-lined sluiceway still stands near extensive wetlands.
21
Holder 1902; Ch. XXI
20
Land Use History
3- 8
Numerous streams and two of its three rivers – the West and the Mumford – had provided
motive power for mills in the town since late in the 17th century. In 1795 the town boasted three
sawmills, four gristmills and a fulling mill – all traditional agrarian enterprises – plus two
triphammers to work the iron ore found in the south of town, and a gin distillery.22 Roads and
river both provided transportation to and from the Pawtucket market, only a few miles across the
Rhode Island border. The Blackstone Canal, completed in 1828, provided a transportation
alternative and a level of stream-power control that had not been possible along the marshy
meanders of the natural river course. Within a decade there were over 20 mills in Uxbridge along
the Blackstone alone, with others on its tributaries. Uxbridge was a significant industrial town
and would remain so through much of the 20th century.
1850: Of Uxbridge’s 511 households (and more than half of its homeowners) 163 lived on land
used for farming. In southeastern Uxbridge, John Chapin (living on the old Chapin farm) and his
neighbors Ellis Albee (who owned two farms), George Southwick, Ephraim Bassett, Luke Taft,
Wheeler Aldrich, and two remaining White family members made up the farming population.
Among them, they owned 890 acres of land, of which two-thirds qualified as improved
acreage.23 Most men had a horse and, more telling, all but one farmer also had a yoke of oxen,
animals particularly dependable for working heavy soils. Every farm had a few milk cows and
swine, for household use and to provide marketable butter and meat. Most farmers grew some
rye and oats, and every one included fodder corn, potatoes,24 and hay among their crops.
The Chapin Farm stood out in two ways from its Uxbridge neighbors. First, it had the best crop
land in the neighborhood. Or, perhaps John Chapin had the most thoroughly exploited farm in
the region. When comparing Chapin’s crop totals to others, it is immediately apparent why Ellis
Albee wanted to buy this land. On 80 acres, John Chapin managed to grow three times as much
rye and twice as much corn as any of his neighbors. His oat harvest was nearly the largest, his
potato and hay crops were the largest, and only two neighbors had more valuable orchard
produce. He sold twice as much meat as anyone else.
Chapin’s land utilization ran the gamut from a small, closely-tended market garden producing
perishable vegetables, through a small managed orchard, to large crop acreage and hayfields,
open and woodland pasture. The uses to which he put his land reflect the topography and quality
of the land itself: sheltered level garden ground, upper hillside orchard, oats in the good soil;
potatoes and corn in rougher ground; rye near the base of a hill in heavy, damper conditions; hay,
clover, and other grass seeds where spots were available, taking advantage of the swales,
22
While the distillery was probably a half-cocked ‘independent America’ experiment, not uncommon during the
period, its presence probably also reflected a large juniper population on the rocky slopes and cleared pastures of the
town.
23
In 1850 “unimproved” land included areas that were just too steep or too wet to be useful even for pasture and,
probably more important, also included woodlands – an inclusion suggesting that the federal government, at least,
did not associate land management with wooded acreage. This oversight was corrected by 1880.
24
Despite traditional association of potato growing with the coming of the Irish in the early 19th century, potatoes
had actually been a staple New England crop since the 1700s. Irish immigration to central Massachusetts, where
they provided much of the hard labor for the Blackstone Canal and subsequently for the railroads, undoubtedly
favored expansion of potato culture, but an equally strong reason was the potato’s willingness to grow in the poor,
shallow soils that characterize much of the area. Farmers could count on an average return of 25-30 bushels of
potatoes per acre. [based on 1870 figures]
Land Use History
3- 9
wetlands and “water trenches” that would encourage midsummer growth. Swine could occupy
the hog pasture established by John’s ancestor Joseph Chapin. The dairy herd could pasture in
the thinly wooded upland south of Chapin Street, following the stone-wall-lined herd-walk to
and from the barn each day.
The second outstanding feature of the Chapin Farm is that it was a tenant farm. Part of John
Chapin’s lease arrangement with Albee, and perhaps part of his rent money, depended on cows.25
Chapin had a herd of 13 milk cows on his spread, with Albee stabling another seven on the
Albee farm. Yet despite Chapin owning more than three times the average number of cattle, he
produced no butter or cheese at all. Albee, on the other hand, was credited with 350 pounds of
butter and 50 of cheese – totals as high as any in the vicinity (with the exception of Quaker
Ephraim Bassett, whose legendary work ethic and 14 cows produced 1,000 pounds of butter). It
is likely that Chapin turned over all the milk from his herd to Ellis Albee, who worked it into
butter or cheese, thereby practicing an economy of scale that would become widespread
throughout the region later in the century.
1870: Twenty years later, ownership of the Chapin farm had changed again. Albee bequeathed
the property to his granddaughter; it quickly went through two other sales, and by 1870 was
occupied by Sarah (Daniels) Henry and her farmer-husband Charles. Given the size of the
farmhouse, it must have been crowded, for besides the adult Henrys there were two young sons,
a female servant, and a farm laborer living on the property.26
The Henrys lived in a farming neighborhood where many of the households included more than
one generation. To the north was the Bassett family, ranging from Ephraim, now 80 years old but
still patriarch of the clan, to son Samuel and his family down to two-year-old Samuel Jr. Nearby
lived the widow Alma Fisher, age 63, with a companion, but Albert Henry’s family of four also
shared her house. Albert was the farmer on the widow Fisher’s land. Westward toward
Blackstone Street, Grosvenor Aldrich, age 48, owned another farm and two of his four sons
worked with him.
1880: The last federal agricultural census profiles a farm economy that, in many ways, had not
changed appreciably in Uxbridge since 1850. This fact in itself is surprising, as towns elsewhere
in Massachusetts were seeing significant agricultural change, either adjustments in crop size and
type for new industrial and urban markets, or reduction in both the number and size of farms as
the costs of working second-rate soil outweighed the advantages.27 A few new pieces of evidence
enrich the 1850 picture.
Uxbridge maintained its number of active farms. Farm size averaged just over 80 acres; small
relative to farms in other parts of Massachusetts. Oxen, almost extinct as work animals
elsewhere, were still commonly used, and small dairy herds still produced the largest marketable
25
This analysis is drawn from the census numbers. A formal lease has not been found.
Again, the use of the double staircase as a divider must have come in handy. Information is from the 1870 federal
population census for Uxbridge.
27
The apparent stability of Uxbridge agriculture needs further investigation, and a more rigorous analysis of
available census data. It is unexpected, and not immediately explicable.
26
Land Use History
3- 10
commodity, in the forms of butter and milk.28 Approximately half of land on Uxbridge farms was
classified as “woodland and forest.” These woodlands were used in a variety of ways, but on
average, farmers cut and sold 18 cords of wood per year. This was an easy harvest: small caliper,
second-growth trees and saplings that had repopulated previously cleared areas provided a
reliable, if not large, income as firewood, box wood and (a specialty of the area) hickory handles
for axes and other tools manufactured nearby.
Uxbridge farmers tended to raise two to four dozen hens, primarily for their eggs. Production of
corn was down dramatically, but New England-adapted crops such as potatoes and apples
maintained their importance, with potatoes producing an average of 25-30 bushels per acre,
while apples could be expected to produce a bushel per tree.
1908: Sarah Henry sold the property. Over the next 17 years it changed ownership three more
times. At one point the house is thought to have stood vacant, and a period photograph suggests
the land may have been untended. But 1925 brought a new lease on life to the Moses Chapin
farm, when it was purchased by an immigrant Polish family.
3.6
Kozloski and Cormier (1925-2005)
Alexander Alexandrovich Kozloski entered the United States on March 16, 1913. He crossed the
border from Canada at International Falls, receiving his immigration inspection certificate there.
The 30 year old immigrant had an urgent reason to work, his wife Eugenia Kozloski – quickly
renamed Jennie – and baby daughter Bertha joined him in America a year later.
1921: The Kozloskis left no known public record of their existence for the next six years. The
family name, though uncommon, was not unknown in the United States – from Lawrence to
Minneapolis there were Kozloskis of varied spellings, working in factories and raising families,
but Alex and Jennie did not appear until 1921, when “Aleck” Kozloski, a (machine) operative,
lived in a house he owned or leased at 13 Blackstone Street in Blackstone, Massachusetts. Less
than a dozen blocks away lived the French Canadian Cormiers, with a family of mostly adult
children including Joseph Anthony Theodore Cormier, more often known as Theodore, who
worked as a spinner in one of the cotton mills.
Over the next few years Joseph Cormier caught sight of Bertha Kozloski, darkly beautiful, with
laughing eyes and an infectious smile that still enchanted fifty years later. In 1924, when Joseph
was 32 and Bertha was 13 they married. The wedding was a gala and formal affair with four
flapper-era bridesmaids and four groomsmen who were likely the men of the Cormier family,
based on their resemblance.
1925: Alexander and Jennie Kozloski signed the deed for a certain parcel of land with the
buildings thereon partly in Uxbridge and partly in Mendon...containing 133 acres more or less.
They had purchased a quiet place in the country where their daughter and her husband could
raise a family. Bertha and Joseph’s son Theodore was born the same year. Two years later, on
28
By 1880 cheese was almost entirely a “factory”-made product. Farmers would sell or ship milk to regional
processing centers for manufacture. Only 12 farmers in Uxbridge made their own cheese for sale.
Land Use History
3- 11
February 13, 1927, Delmore James Cormier was born. Little is known of the whereabouts of
Joseph Cormier after about 1930. At some point after that time he “seems to have just
disappeared,” as one family friend commented. Bertha raised Theodore and James in Uxbridge,
sharing the house at 217 Chapin Street with her parents, as generations of other families had
done before them.
1930: The 1930 census profiles a neighborhood greatly changed from the late 19th century.
There is no sign of the Henrys, Aldrichs, Southwicks and Bassetts who had populated the area
since 1700. Many residents were of French Canadian descent; one Italian; but the Kozloskis
were the only Polish family in the neighborhood. Irving Barr, down the road, was the only man
who considered farming to be his major source of income. Alex Kozloski reported that he
worked in the picker room at the woolen mill.29 His neighbors took in laundry, worked for the
railroad, drove wagons or, overwhelmingly, worked at the woolen mill.
How much time or money Alex Kozloski had to invest in his land and farming is not clear, but
there are some hints as to why he and his wife chose a rural farmstead instead of a village house.
His grandson spoke of tending milk cows as he grew up. Barn updates suggest the “herd” was
small but Alex kept fields open to serve as pasture land. Over the decades Alex dug and planted
half a dozen gardens and planting beds around the house, growing a variety of vegetables and
fruits for family and friends to share.
By the 1940s Bertha’s boys had grown. Theo, two years the elder, graduated from high school
and served in the Air Force. He married and moved permanently to Florida during the early
1950s, and was only minimally involved with the Uxbridge farm and family after that time. Jim,
on the other hand, felt a permanent allegiance to his childhood home. In later years he remained
private about his personal life. However, the treasures discovered in the attic upon his death
provide glimpses into his life. He graduated from Uxbridge High on the honor roll in 1944 and
from Boston University with numerous honors in 1948. From 1952-56 he served in the US Air
Force, returning to civilian life to pursue a 30 year career in retail sales and purchasing.
Throughout his urban career, Jim spent almost every weekend at the farm, and despite an
apartment in New York, he kept Uxbridge as his permanent address.
1986: Jim retired to take care of his land, property and gardens, his obituary noted. But the 60year-old had other things in mind as well. He had lived frugally and done well in his
investments, so was comfortable enough to choose how he wished to spend his time. What he
chose suggests the breadth of his interests. He ran a catalogue and internet hosiery business
called “Stocking Style,” that provided a range of specialized products. He dabbled in antiques,
buying and selling as the occasion presented itself. He developed an apiary on the property and
sold honey to local customers. He adopted Mike, a stray German Shepherd. His obituary
celebrates his commitment to the community:
What Jim will be most remembered for is his community work in
Uxbridge. He was a member of the Growth Study Committee and served
nine years on the Finance Committee. He also worked with the South
29
Almost certainly the Waucantuck Mill, at the intersection of Blackstone St. and Rte. 16.
Land Use History
3- 12
Uxbridge Community Association. Jim rarely missed a meeting having to
do with the town.30
The property: The most evident expression of Jim Cormier’s love for the family property and
its history were the major restoration and improvement projects he undertook after 1980.31 On
the house, screen porch and asbestos siding were removed; the building was reroofed and
resided; sills and floor joists repaired; windows replaced, the first floor insulated from below.
Inside, the chimney was restored, woodwork in the west parlor and kitchen replaced, and new
wide-pine board flooring installed on the first floor. New bathrooms were installed and the
kitchen updated. In 1989-1990 a new garage was built on the footprint of the old “corn” barn.
Despite its modern utilitarian nature and concrete foundation, the exterior was made to closely
resemble a much older building. In 2004, the red barn was repaired and reroofed to preserve its
historic structure.
A new orchard was planted near the barn and the house exterior, after restoration, was
landscaped with old-fashioned lilacs, quince, and other flowering shrubs. Much of the landscape
work was done with the assistance of neighbor Carl Albin, whom Jim hired in later years. The
stone walls that define the farmstead were kept clear of brush and shrubbery; the fields were
mowed on a regular schedule; the flower beds were maintained.
2005: Delmore James Cormier died of cancer on November 26, 2005. In his will he bequeathed
all of his real estate and the contents of its outbuildings to The Trustees of Reservations for
conservation, education, recreation and other charitable and conservation purposes of the
grantee.32 The will left furnishings and stocks to his nephew and niece, and monetary bequests
to a number of charitable organizations including the Uxbridge Historical Society.
3.7
Legacy – The 100th Reservation
Jim Cormier had been considering how best to dispose of his property long before he contracted
his last illness. He was well aware of the historical significance of the house and its 1983 listing
on the National Register of Historic Places (See Section 4.3 for more information). It was after
the Uxbridge historical inventory that Jim Cormier first contacted The Trustees of Reservations.
He approached The Trustees because he said liked the way the organization worked and
appreciated its interest in both conservation and history. The conversation continued for more
than a decade.
In the meantime, Jim Cormier continued to upgrade his buildings and landscape. He contributed
charitable gift annuities to The Trustees to build up endowment capital for the property. In 1998
Cormier purchased the 40-acre parcel (the original Jonathan White homestead land) that abutted
30
See history report appendix, About Jim Cormier for more on his involvement with economic growth and land
protection.
31
Uxbridge building permit records do not go that far back.
32
language taken from fiduciary deed, WD 40135: 226; November 9, 2006.
Land Use History
3- 13
his property. In doing so he enlarged a farm whose size had not changed in almost 200 years, and
secured its protection into the future.33
In October 2005, Jim Cormier met with Trustees staff to finalize plans and clarify his wishes. He
envisioned a small parking area laid out for public access to a system of hiking trails leading the
visitor through the property. Sigs would highlight points of interest, and fields and stone walls
would be maintained to preserve the property’s historic mixed-use landscape.
Jim Cormier’s estate executor transferred the property to The Trustees of Reservations on
November 7, 2006. The deed provisioned for continued stewardship through conservation and
historic preservation of the property.34 The deed transferring Cormier Woods from Mr.
Cormier’s estate to The Trustees of Reservations places eight restrictions on the property:
1. The Trustees shall not subdivide the property or convey it to any other entity except a
qualified conservation organization;
2. The Trustees shall use the property and buildings for conservation, education, recreation,
and other charitable and conservation purposes;
3. The Trustees shall use reasonable efforts to maintain the historic Albee House in
accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s standards;
4. The Trustees shall not demolish the Albee House and shall take reasonable efforts to
maintain and preserve its exterior and interior (specifically the chimney, fireplaces,
staircase, interior and exterior openings, and exterior appearance);
5. The Trustees may, with prior written approval of the Uxbridge Historical Commission,
construct one additional residence for staff housing and additional structures (not
adversely affecting the historic character) for conservation, education, or recreation
purposes;
6. The Trustees have no obligation to rebuild the Albee House if it is substantially damaged
or destroyed by fire or other casualty;
7. The Trustees may use the Albee House for staff housing, administration, or any other
purpose we deem in accordance with our charitable mission;
8. The Trustees shall name and sign the property at “Cormier Woods”.
His obituary included the observation: Jim was very much into nature and what nature could
provide. He took active care of his forests and fields, considering himself a caretaker to his lands
for the future generations of Uxbridge.35
Cormier Woods, a legacy of three centuries of labor and a generation of dedicated foresight in
central Massachusetts, opened as The Trustees of Reservations’ 100th reservation in October
2008.
33
The 40-acre parcel: despite its size, interesting topography and obvious cultural resources, little is known of the
history of this property. Like Chapin Farm, the 40-acre parcel size apparently remained intact for nearly 200 years,
from the time it was sold by Jonathan White in 1815 until Taft descendants sold it to Jim Cormier. In the interim, a
number of confusing property transfers shed little light on its use, nor do they explain why or when the buildings on
the property disappeared, leaving puzzling foundations. See the following Cultural Resource Inventory for further
description of these remains and their associated landscape.
34
The deed (Worcester Registry of Deeds Book 40135, Page 226) is archived in The Trustees’ files.
35
Worcester Telegram and Gazette, December 2, 2005.
Land Use History
3- 14
Section 4: Cultural Resources
4.1
Introduction and Definitions
The present-day cultural landscape at The Trustees’ 100th reservation, Cormier Woods, is
characterized by historic buildings, stone walled fields, harvested woodlands, stone foundations,
cart paths, and channeled streams. Excerpts from a National Park Service publication [Birnbaum
1994] elucidate the term “cultural landscape.”
•
A cultural landscape is a geographic area, including both cultural and natural resources…
associated with a historic event, activity, or person or exhibiting other cultural or
aesthetic values.
Within this broad category, Cormier Woods is a historic vernacular landscape, defined below:
•
A landscape that evolved through use by the people whose activities or occupancy shaped
that landscape….the landscape reflects the physical, biological, and cultural character of
those everyday lives. Function plays a significant role in vernacular landscapes….
Examples include rural villages, industrial complexes, and agricultural landscapes.
The National Park Service has described the planning process recommended for cultural
landscapes in detail, and that process is being followed for the planning of Cormier Woods. The
process includes:
•
•
•
historical research
resource inventory and documentation of existing conditions
evaluation of integrity and significance
A limited inventory and evaluation were conducted on the property in 1981 and reviewed in
1983, resulting in the listing of the Cormier house36 on the National Register of Historic Places
both as an Individual Property and as part of Uxbridge’s Multiple Resource Area.
36
misleadingly identified as the “E. Albee House”, the name associated with it on an 1851 town map. An amended
inventory form for the property will be submitted to MHC on the basis of this report.
Cultural Resources
4- 1
Map 3- Cultural Resources, Farmstead Area
Cultural Resources
4- 2
Map 4- Cultural Resources of Cormier Woods
Cultural Resources
4- 3
4.2
The Inventory
Cultural Resources are numbered to correlate with sites marked on Maps 3 and 4. The following
inventory briefly describes each resource and describes its significance and integrity. Additional
information and background on many of the resources are included in Section 3: Land Use
History.
Farmstead complex
1) Dolbear/Chapin House, c. 1744-1753
a. 30’ x 40’ gambrel-roofed 1½ story wood-frame Cape-style dwelling with brick
center chimney on fieldstone foundation; originally facing south. Original interior
and exterior details conform to 18th century documentary date, with a few
distinctive elements.
b. Cellar: fieldstone foundation of roughly shaped boulders, likely originally dry-laid
with dirt floor. Unusually high ceiling (approx. 7’); northeast corner of floor
exposes underlying ledge. Massive mortared fieldstone central chimney base (12’
X 14’) chiefly composed of elongated rectangular granite blocks which include a
spectrum of local variant stone types. Chimney base has a hollow core, the
original purpose of which is unknown,37 accessed by a waist-high rectangular
opening. Present access to cellar is through exterior bulkhead door, which is a
retrofit. Recent ceiling insulation prevents inspection for evidence of interior trap
door or stairway, although flat lines of stones delineating the cellar’s northeast
corner may have served originally as a base for walls that set off a stairwell, a
cold cellar or a later coal bin.
c. First floor: south facing center entrance with flanking parlors on each side of
shallow central stair hall. Open, steep, double staircase rises against chimney wall
to above chambers. Both parlors have fireplaces, and windows on two walls. East
parlor retains original bolection molding and possibly mantel on fireplace
surround; also build-in corner cupboard. Finish woodwork in west parlor and
northern rooms was replaced by Mr. Cormier after 1980. North bay of building
was original kitchen, of which cooking hearth, beehive oven, and warming
cupboard remain. Present kitchen in northeast corner was likely originally a cool
milk room, “buttery” or storage pantry. Present storage and lavatory in northwest
corner may have been part of the large kitchen, including access stair to the cellar,
or have been a first-floor bed room for frailer family members. No surface
evidence of specific function remains. Use orientation of building changed,
probably in the 20th century, so that “front” door now faces northward, toward
the street. A screen porch was built on the north side; removed during Mr.
Cormier’s 1980s restoration of the entire building.
37
A speculative explanation for this awkward space is its usefulness as rodent-proof, dry cold-storage – above
freezing even in mid-winter. There is no indication of it being a hiding place; the access is framed in and clearly
visible.
Cultural Resources
4- 4
d. Second floor: two chambers over downstairs parlors are slightly smaller due to
slope of gambrel roof, with slope-roofed area serving as storage space. There is a
small hearth in each. North side of house altered by addition of a bathroom at
each end, although a whitewashed vertical-board partition wall near the attic stairs
appears to be old. There are indications that this area was left unfinished; there is
no heat source other than rising warmth from the kitchen.
e. Attic: unfinished storage space notable for its closed, double, access staircase and
its 13 pairs of carefully scribed common rafters. Rafters are puzzling; a few are
roughly hand-hewn; the remaining rafters are so smoothly finished that the saw
type is unidentifiable. Roof sheathing mostly wide pine boards with some recent
plywood repairs. Sheathing and rafters may post-date original house construction.
f. Dating of house based on 1) construction style, technique and details and 2)
change in deed language: 1744 identifies four acres “land;” 1752 specifies half of
four acres land “and housing.”
2) Artificial building terrace, ca. 1750
a. Level yard to east and south of Cormier House, measuring approximately 126’ x
32’; defined by rocky steep slope to the east (may originally have been wall), and
retaining wall along the south edge. Some or all fill came from the cellarhole of
the house.
b. Artificial terraces were often constructed on historic house sites to reduce the
effort involved in digging a cellarhole: if you piled the fill outside the hole, the
result was twice the depth with half the digging. In the case of the Cormier house,
however, the builder’s intention seems to have been to provide adequate yard
room on the very edge of buildable land: the house site is on the edge between
surface ledge and a drop-off to a wet swale.
c. The engineer-builder’s foresight is evidenced in his incorporation of a stone-based
storage building and a stone-foundation corn barn into the south wall line of the
terrace. Neither labor nor space was wasted.
3) Shop/ storage building, ca. 1750
a. 16’ x 16’ gable-roofed wood frame building, unfinished interior, built over shaped
fieldstone foundation. The lower level is divided in half by a horizontal board
wall tacked to the tree-trunk posts that support upper level floor joists. Exposed
ledge forms a raised “platform” on part of the lower floor. Roof is carried on split
log rafters. Structural repairs include recycled timbers with empty mortises.
b. The uses of this building undoubtedly changed frequently over time, from
William Dolbear’s shoe shop and Joseph Chapin’s carpenter shop for his
housewright business to storage space for Alexander Kozloski’s farm and garden
tools. The function of the lower level is more obscure, but cool storage and animal
pens are both probable.
c. A lean-to addition, visible in historic photos, was constructed on the west side of
the building, perhaps as a chicken coop; from it a small animal door led into the
shop. Mr. Cormier removed the lean-to to make room for a garage (see below).
d. Significance: This is a “timeless” small outbuilding whose style, size, and
construction changed little over two hundred years, but whose frequent cobbled-
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together repairs make accurate dating difficult. Its incorporation into the ca. 1750
house terracing, and the mention of a “shop” building in a 1798 deed support its
synchronicity with the Cormier house. This vernacular functional building form is
rare and worthy of careful preservation.
4) Garage, 1989 -1990
a. 23’ x 33’ two-story gable roofed wood-frame building on fieldstone faced
concrete foundation. Designed for two vehicles, with second story storage
overhead.
b. Built in the vicinity of, but not directly on the footprint of, an earlier barn. Mr.
Cormier employed a stonemason versed in traditional stone-laying techniques to
imitate the stone retaining wall along which this building was aligned. The roughsawn vertical board siding echoes the historic shop siding next door, and was cut
at a local saw mill.
c. A classic 1984 brown Pontiac Parisienne sedan, once property of Mr. Cormier’s
mother, and his grandfather’s 1953 blue Ford pick-up truck are currently housed
in the building.
5) Site of corn barn, ca. 1750
a. A level space adjacent to the garage, measuring approximately 34 feet from the
retaining wall to exposed ledge in one direction, and at least 20 feet in the other
direction, is the likely site of the “corn barn” mentioned in Joseph Chapin’s deed
dividing his farm and its buildings with his son.
b. This barn appears in the background of the earliest known photograph of the
Cormier House, taken before 1906. Its gable roof runs east-west, closely
resembling the house in size, shape and orientation. Its footprint would have
overlapped the present garage site.
c. In 1798 a “corn barn” contained more than the corn-on-the-cob grain we associate
with the term today. Traditionally, “corn” referred to any type of grain, especially
cereal and, in England a “barn” was a place to store cereal crops. The New World
apparently invented the “corn barn,” a term referring to a building for storing
grain, either on or off the stalk, a distance from livestock barns with their dirt, hay
and ever present rodents.
6) Kozloski flower beds and garden, circa 1925 – circa 1968
a. The Cormier house is surrounded by rectangular garden beds designed and
planted by Alexander Kozloski between the time he purchased the property in
1925 and his death in 1968. Each appears to serve a different function. On the
north side of the house between the entrance walk and the road is a bed that,
according to family friends, contained dahlias. Farther east, on the steep slope
along the roadway is a terraced rock garden. In the center of the east terrace is a
bed containing herbs and perennials. On the west side of the house are two
parallel beds, one of which contains raspberries.
b. A larger, 20’ x 48’ fenced vegetable garden is located approximately 50 feet south
of the house at the edge of a swale. There is no evidence that Mr. Kozloski
installed this bed – it is in a location that would have suited this purpose from the
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beginning – but photographs from ca. 1960 show him standing by tall corn in this
garden.
7) Farm pond, 18th century?
a. 100’ diameter shallow pond, located west of the house, across Chapin Street from
the barn. This pond appears to have been dredged to tap into the same interstitial
water source that feeds the nearby well (see below). One side lined with mature
high bush blueberries, planted during Cormier era. Stone walls separate pond
from roadway. An opening in the wall provides direct access for cattle from
barnyard to pond lot.
8) (Barnyard) well, 18th century
a. 2’ inner diameter stone-lined well between the pond lot and roadway, presently
capped with large granite slabs. (See farm pond comments.)
b. While the location of this well makes it easily accessible for barnyard use, the
careful stonework of the interior is more commonly associated with house wells.38
It is likely that this was the Dolbear/Chapin well, part of the original four acre
house lot that was south of the road, which was replaced or supplemented at a
later date by the deeper well located across Chapin Street.
9) Herdwalk
a. Broad path west of the farm pond, lined on both sides with stone walls, directly
aligned with the second access point from the barnyard. Path is short, opening out
into broad areas that were likely used as pasture until the mid-20th century.39 The
herdwalk was designed to guide cattle between barn yard and pasturage and
prevent them from straying into the adjacent pond lot.
10) Orchard, ca. 1980
a. Planting of fewer than a dozen young apple trees in the field west of the barn
yard. A 1981 MHC inventory identifies this as “newly planted” – thus a project of
Mr. Cormier’s. The wide wall opening between barnyard and this parcel suggest
the land’s earlier use as pasture or hayfield.
b. The Cormier property may have had an orchard as early as 1808, when Joseph
Chapin’s inventory included a fruit basket. There was an orchard on the property
at the time of the 1850 agricultural census since John Chapin’s orchard products
were worth $18. An aged apple tree still survives near the present garage and may
indicate where others were located, at least in the 20th century.
11) Barnyard, 18th century
a. Small rectangular yard west of barn (see below), between roadway and rock
outcrop to the north. The yard is walled in on all sides except behind the barn,
with openings across from pond lot and herdwalk and, on the west side, leading
into the next field, which is now an orchard.
38
39
Bruce Simpson, E.A. Simpson & Sons masons, personal communication.
F. Clark, ecologist, personal communication.
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12) Mixed-use barn, likely before 1798
a. 53’ x 35’ wood frame building, 5 bay by 3 bay drive-through with gable-end
doors. No cellar; sills on line of leveling stones at grade; drive-through bay
floored with heavy timbers; “English-tie” connected frame with vertical board
siding presently covered by asphalt shingles; tree-trunk common rafters laid on
single purlin; roof repaired and re-shingled ca. 2004.
b. Framing provides evidence of cattle/horse stalls, which have since been removed;
pegged rungs on posts of interior bays form access ladders to hay mows overhead.
c. Northeast corner bay is walled in, with poured concrete over floorboards,
evidence of whitewashing, a dry sink and a handful of milking stanchions roughly
constructed from recycled timbers. This area appears to have been remodeled,
likely to meet sanitary codes for milk production. This was probably undertaken
by the Kozloskis or their predecessors based on the use of concrete and of 20th
century box cardboard as wall insulation. At a later time the livestock function
was dismantled and the area converted into a workshop.
d. The barn presently stores a fascinating collection of miscellaneous farm
implements and household equipment; the former including (for example) a cider
press, a honey separator,40 animal-drawn plow, sledges, and a range of farming
and woodworking tools. Among household highlights are an early television and a
coal kitchen stove.
e. Further research: The varied tools and equipment deserve closer inspection,
inventory and evaluation.
f. Visser [1997] has documented this gable-entry style barn to the early 19th century
in northern New England, and the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation
[www.connecticutbarns.org] dates its known occurrence from the 1830s. While it
is true that the Cormier property underwent a change of ownership in 1829 and
thus, arguably, the new owner might have wanted to build a “modern” barn, it is
also true that there was a barn in this specific location in 1798, when Joseph
Chapin deeded half of it to his son. Furthermore, there is no evidence of reused
beams in the framework of this structure – a practice that one would expect had
an older barn been torn down and replaced.
g. Significance: Whether this barn dates to the 1830s or, if it is in fact an 18th
century building, it is a very rare vernacular functional building form worthy of
careful study and preservation.
13) Foundation terracing for lean-to addition, date unknown
a. Outside the northeast corner of the barn is a level 10’ x 15’ area edged on two
sides by a low retaining wall. A small man-door leads out from the milk
room/shop to this area, and different colored shingling on the barn wall suggests
that there was at one time a shed roofed addition here, its exact purpose unknown,
but likely to have been some form of animal shelter such as hen house or pig
sty.41
40
Jim Cormier maintained a small apiary, from which he sold honey locally. Jar labels and a hanging “HONEY”
sign are part of the property’s collection.
41
The Chapins’ 1798 “hog pasture” was adjacent to this site.
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b. A different interpretation is required if one includes as part of this ‘structure’ the
9-foot-wide level area that extends along the whole north wall of the barn. If there
was, in fact, a lean-to along the barn wall, it could have functioned as a shelter
shed (although it faced north) or as an equipment storage space.
c. Further research: Investigation of nailing patterns along the barn wall might
clarify the lean-to question.
14) Well and well house, likely 19th century
a. A 28”W x 26”D white-painted board structure houses a well directly across
Chapin Street from the house. It is set back approximately 30’ from the road. A
hinged pent roof and a front door opening provide access to the windlass inside
that still retains its chain, although the bucket is missing. An operational exterior
handle cranks the windlass.
b. The well, approximately 2’ interior diameter, holds water at some depth from the
surface.
c. See #8, barnyard well for further comments.
15) Foundation terracing, date unknown
a. An 11’ wide x 35’ long leveled area bordering Chapin Street incorporates the well
house into its northwest corner. Its east side is held in by a low retaining wall that
connects to a field wall in the depressed area behind it.
b. Date and function are unknown, although it is apparently a building foundation.
Two likely possibilities are the Chaise house mentioned in Joseph Chapin’s will
(ca. 1800), or a small early 20th century roadside milk room.
16. Hog pasture, 18th century
a. Stone-wall enclosed grassy field east of the multi-use barn.
b. This parcel was identified as a hog pasture in the Joseph to Moses Chapin 1798
deed. It was described at that time as being bordered by walls (not fences, as
elsewhere) at least on its north and east sides.
17. Farm pond/wetland
a. Located in a swale north of the road, in the area identified as the hog pasture in
1798, this natural wetland may have been improved for use as a farm pond or,
alternatively, may have served that function in its natural state. It would have
provided hot hogs a cool mud bath on summer days.
18. Field, 18th century
a. Mowed field east of hog pasture, extending downslope to wetland along Town of
Mendon border. It is walled on the west side (see above) and along the road, with
a wall opening across from the house.
b. This field has been cleared since the 18th century. Its specific use is unknown,
although the 1798 deed designation of it as a field indicates that it was planted to a
crop such as hay or rye, rather than simply being used as pasture. In 1798 it was
bounded by the hog pasture wall on the west, and enclosed either by another wall
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or a fence along the road, since the deed specifies the bars at the road that would
have blocked a fence/wall opening where one exists today.
Overall significance of farmstead complex: This complex of buildings and landscape features is
important because it is nearly intact. Its history is well-documented, and the complex contains
many original features including a house representative of colonial regional architecture and an
uncommon barn. Very little research has been conducted on historic farmsteads of south central
Massachusetts. The Cormier property provides insight into the lives of generations of farmercraftsmen surviving in a geographic borderland. This report provides a unique study of the
cultural artifacts they left behind.
Other Chapin Property Features (Map 3, Cultural Resources of Cormier Woods)
19. Roadway/path, by 1798
a. Trail northward from vicinity of hog pasture, with stone culvert and brook
crossing.
b. Described in the 1798 Chapin deed as the road to Captain Nathaniel Fish’s land.
20. Chapin Street
a. Colonial, possibly pre-contact trail alternately described as:
the path that leads to Daniel Taft Jr. (1744 deed);
road leading from [Joseph Chapin’s] to Mendon (1798 deed);
road leading westerly by the dwelling house (1829 deed);
Highland St. (1970 USGS map) – most geographically accurate
b. From 1829 forward, it was included in the property deeds with the stipulation,
always reserving the road through said premises for the use of the Publick.
c. Despite the strange twist east of the Cormier house, this path or road seems to
have extended in both directions from the house since very early times. In other
words, this was not just a farmer’s track to the easternmost farmhouse in
Uxbridge (see below).
21. Section of early colonial road
a. The southeast boundary of Cormier Woods parallels a trail defined in part by a
stone wall. The wall marks a roadway discontinued in 1798, when the section of
right of way in Mendon was sold to Moses Chapin by Mendon proprietors [WD
154:425].
b. North of Chapin Street this section connects to a footpath. The path merges into
Asylum Street, which becomes Pleasant and leads to Mendon center. The road
may have been cut around 1707, when acreage between the great river and the
south meadows42 was laid out.
22. Cart path to Luke Taft’s meadow, by 1829
a. A well used, wall-bordered track from the edge of the woods south of the Cormier
house, to and across the southern boundary of the property on Still Corner Brook.
42
cf. PropRecs p. 24.
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b. This path is described as a privilege in the 1829 Chapin-to-Albee and later deeds:
Also a privilege for Luke Taft to pass through [these] premises for to draw his
hay from his meadow by leaving gates or bars as he may find them. [WD
265:105]
23. Dam and “water trenches,” by 1829
a. Still Corner Brook is fed from a smaller, nameless stream just east of Cormier
Woods. The brook backs up seasonally into a sizable wetland due to remnants of
a low earthen dam. Downstream of the dam, the brook has been dredged,
channeled and otherwise manipulated to control water flow.
b. The deed quoted above continues: also the privilege of keeping up the dam for the
purpose of flowing [Luke Taft’s] meadow. Dam and trenches (see report for fuller
description) were both parts of a water control system designed to hold water
back during dry periods, and facilitate its flow in flood times, in order to promote
the production of fresh meadow hay in this “still corner” of Uxbridge.
Forty-acre Parcel Features
24. Cart path, date unknown
a. Major cart path from Blackstone Street to the vicinity of the White buildings and
beyond. A local informant and long-time resident43 indicated that his family and
neighbors used cinders and ash from coal stoves and furnaces to surface the road,
as they formed a packed surface nearly impervious to weeds and provided good
traction for dairy herds moving to pasture on the uplands of this parcel.
25. Jonathan White homestead archeological site, likely pre-1815; possibly ca. 1720
a. This linear site begins approximately 1100’ east of Blackstone Street and extends
approximately 175’ on both sides of cart path #24 through the uplands of the 40acre parcel acquired by James Cormier in 1998. The structures on the site
consistently feature stonework on only three sides of the buildings, each of which
is built into a rising slope. Whether a fourth stone foundation wall has since been
removed, or whether the downslope wall was originally wood-frame, is not
immediately obvious.
b. Fieldstone house foundation, approximately 15’ x 35’ built into terraced slope,
with unexcavated interior chimney base; elongated dimensions may suggest
Federal or later style of building. Downslope end of cellar has apparently had
stonework removed, suggesting possible reuse of building in later 19th or early
20th century as a two-story barn.
c. Well immediately downslope of house, surrounded by sinkholes.
d. 4’ x 5’ construct consisting of two parallel stone lines with depression between
them. Possibly a privy or a shoeing stanchion.
e. Small, cut granite, tightly constructed 3-sided building foundation, approximately
12’ on a side; possibly milk room.
f. Large fieldstone 3-sided bank barn foundation, 36’ x 32’, built into rising slope
south of cart path.
43
Sean Cole, personal communication, March 2008.
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g. Barnyard well directly in front of barn, approximately 30” inner diameter; rough
below-grade level stonework with granite slabs for protective cover.
h. The only substantive documentation for the site is an 1815 deed of sale from
Jonathan White to William Aldrich. White describes the ‘forty acres by
estimation’ as all my homestead farm lying in Uxbridge [WD 198:193]. The term
“homestead” normally includes housing, as well as any other buildings that may
stand on the property; thus one or more of the features described probably predate
1815 and may be as early as 1720, when two White family houses were located in
the general vicinity (see land use history).
Further research: It is recommended that this site and the whole 40 acre parcel be further
investigated.
26. “Waymarker” boulder
a. Unusually large glacial erratic boulder with historic quarrying drill marks along one
side. Natural fracturing has created significant overhang on north side.
b. Boulders, particularly ones of unusual size or shape, are highly regarded natural
objects among many Native American peoples. This boulder, of irregular shape,
measures at least 15’ in any dimension, and appears to soar toward the sky. The
fractured overhang provides a small rock shelter. It was undoubtedly used at least as a
waymarker, for it stands alone in the middle of the White complex, separate from a
boulder-strewn line of ledge to the northeast.
27. “Table” rocks
a. Two large, 4-5’ D. irregular-shaped boulders, each with fairly flat upper surface on
which is piled a group of small stones/cobbles. The two boulders are within sight of
each other in a thinly-forested upland of young hardwoods.
b. 1815 deed references to a heap of stones on a rock as boundary markers documents
these boulders as cultural artifacts.
28. Boundary Walls – 18th and 19th century
a. Fieldstone walls are a defining characteristic of the Cormier Woods landscape. A
number of them can be attributed to 18th century construction, based on deed
references which indicate that some wall lines were used as property boundaries.
b. Other, interior walls served different purposes including retaining walls (the house
terrace), and field walls (the hog pasture)
4.3
Evaluation of Integrity and Significance
The focal point of Cormier Woods, the Dolbear-Chapin house, was inventoried by the
Massachusetts Historical Commission in 1981 [MHC #UXB 147] (Appendix). Two years later, it
was listed with other Uxbridge colonial-period houses on the National Register of Historic
Places. The nomination form prepared for the National Register nominating process compares
the Dolbear-Chapin house to similar gambrel-roofed cottages elsewhere in Uxbridge. In addition
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to details of construction and design, the form continues, these houses remain in rural settings
and, characteristically, have facades on their south elevations.44
The 1981 inventory concluded:
The...house possesses integrity of location, design, setting, workmanship and
feeling and is an important local example of a vernacular house type that was
built on farmsteads during the initial settlement of Uxbridge in the early and
mid-eighteenth century. The... house meets criteria A and C of the NRHP.45
The present report and an amended inventory form submitted to the MHC, emphasize the fact
that the Dolbear-Chapin House is only one of numerous features that define this intact mideighteenth century farmstead, which also includes landscape features and structures, and
archeological sites. Other highlights include:
•
Shop building: a small, multi-use outbuilding of a traditional type whose style, size,
and construction changed little over two hundred years, and whose frequent cobbledtogether repairs make accurate dating difficult. Its incorporation into the ca. 1750
house terracing and the mention of a “shop” building in a 1798 deed support its
synchronicity with the Cormier house. As such it is a very rare survival of a
vernacular functional building form and worthy of careful preservation.
•
Barn: warrants further research into its collection and construction; much of which
may be accomplished as preservation work progresses. Whether this barn dates to the
1830s or, if it is in fact an 18th-century building, it is a very rare survival of a
vernacular functional building form and worthy of careful study and preservation.
•
Chapin Farm fields: already appreciated for their scenic qualities and the grassland
habitat they provide, the fields also deserve recognition for remaining essentially
open and intact since the 1700s.
•
Jonathan White homestead: further investigation into this archeological site and
the whole 40 acre White parcel is recommended. As with the Chapin farm, the size of
this property did not change over a 200-year period.
In summary, the cultural resources of Cormier Woods - the complex of buildings and historic
landscape features – are very important because they remain intact. In an area where most farms
have transformed into woodlands dotted with cellarholes, Chapin Farm contains many original
features including a house representing the colonial regional architectural style, an unusual barn,
and landscape features whose presence and functions were identified as early as 1750.
44
“Uxbridge Multiple Resource Area” National Register nomination form, 1983; on file at Mass. Historical
Commission, p. 9.
45
Criteria A and C refer to site significance in relation to broad patterns of history (settlement; agriculture), and to
characteristic architectural type/method of construction. The house was erroneously identified as the “E. Albee
House” in this inventory, based on an 1857 map label. Earlier deed research was not done at the time.
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4.4
Significant Threats to Cultural Resources
Structural Threats: Refer to Structural Resources section of this plan for specific evaluation of
house, garage and mixed-use barn integrity and maintenance priorities. Additionally, the well
housing north of Chapin Street is in need of immediate roof repair (hinge replacement).
Archeological Threats: The extended archeological site of the 18th century Jonathan White
homestead includes the sort of easily located features along a well-traveled path that attract
“bottle hunters” and unauthorized amateur archeologists. These features are particularly sensitive
for a number of reasons.
The short term of their occupation (likely less than 100 years) and the limited means of
their occupants suggest that very few artifacts would remain.
Little is known about the material culture – homes, outbuildings and furnishings – of
rural subsistence farmers and artisans.
The roughly-constructed building foundations are unstable and susceptible to collapse
(see below).
On the Chapin farmstead, “shadow” terracing of dirt-floored outbuildings and additions are
easily overlooked by staff, and thus liable to disruption in the process of landscape maintenance.
Stone Wall Deterioration: Stone walls in Cormier Woods define historic field and ownership
boundaries. Most of them are “tossed walls,” meaning that they are not meticulously constructed
to support a structure or as a stand-alone barrier to livestock, but rather to sketch ownership
boundaries and provide a base for wooden (or later barbed wire) fencing. Despite their
simplicity, a few significant threats can be identified.
Frost upheaval. This is less of a problem in thin-soiled, well-drained areas than when
rocks sit on a loam base.
Arboreal and shrubby growth in the wall line eventually dislodges stones or whole
sections of the structure by root action, trunk expansion or the collapse of decaying trees.
Decay of early boundary marker trees that were incorporated into a wall line results either
in loss of support for adjoining stones or, if the stump resprouts, multiple-trunk arboreal
growth as above.
“Soil creep” – the process of earth moving downhill over long periods of time – will
eventually push over a sidehill wall.
Animal (accidental) and human (purposeful) interference will knock down or remove
wall components of varying sizes. Disturbance of capstones along the top of cellar walls,
for instance, often leads to extensive wall collapse.
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4.5
Significant Opportunities
Maintain cultural features:
In order to preserve cultural elements and highlight them for visitors, maintenance of these
features is necessary. While the need for regular maintenance of buildings may be self-evident,
historic landscape elements and features also require sustained maintenance and monitoring.
Some of these activities would engage local volunteers, especially if they partnered with or were
trained by Trustees staff. Routine maintenance tasks include:
Maintenance of brush clearing along field wall lines;
Maintenance of brush clearing around Jonathan White homestead cellar holes;
Maintenance of clearings located at trail intersections;
Maintenance of open-field mowing schedule;
Maintenance of grass mowing near barn and trails
Periodic pruning and cultivation of landscape trees and bushes in vicinity of Cormier
house and orchard, including the blueberry patch;
Removal of invasive woody plants;
Monitoring of recreational activity on cart paths, especially on Jonathan White 40-acre
parcel.
Interpret Cormier Woods’ history:
The real “opportunity” of the maintenance activities outlined above lies in the ability to exhibit
an eighteenth century farmstead (two, if the White features are included) to 21st-century visitors,
and to engage them in its stories and preservation. Interpretation opportunities include:
Develop “inner” interpretive loop trail focused on Chapin-Cormier farmstead landscape
and associated buildings. Provide self-guided learning opportunities either on site or in
form of printed or downloadable brochure.
Interpret Jonathan White homestead archeological site. Requires development of access
trail or route from parking site; minimal ground and wall clearing; and interpretive
material either on site or in form of printed or downloadable brochure.
Develop site-specific, place-based walking tours focusing on the ways in which
Cormier’s ecology has been useful to and impacted by humans, from pre-contact to
modern times.
Develop Quest or other family-oriented activity, based on research generated for this
management plan.
Research opportunities:
Research opportunities are another way for The Trustees to engage volunteers or other members
of the public with Cormier Woods. Very little research and documentation has been conducted
on the historic farmsteads of central Massachusetts. The research presented in this report makes
it clear that Cormier Woods is a rare survival and yields a valuable lesson in Massachusetts
history and material culture studies. Opportunities for research projects include:
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Offer Cormier Woods as a site for further research in Massachusetts history and material
culture studies.
Clearing and mapping the White archeological parcel. This would be a valuable multidisciplinary learning experience for a community or regional school or youth group with
professional supervision, and is highly recommended.
Invite college or graduate level programs in architectural history, landscape studies,
and/or cultural ecology to use Cormier Woods as a case study of New England rural
development. Stone wall mapping; documentation of outbuilding construction; historic
structures survey; a comparative “architectural biography” of gambrel-roofed capes could
all be accomplished in a detailed and supervised manner this way.
Integrate architectural study with any preservation work conducted on the mixed-use
barn.
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Section 5: Natural Resources
5.1
Introduction
Cormier Woods is located in the Southern New England Coastal Plain and Hills ecoregion.46
This physiographic section of eastern Massachusetts is distinguished by low, rolling hills
underlain by generally acidic bedrock and soil types. The 173-acre Cormier Woods reservation
lies within the Blackstone River watershed, which drains a total of 640 square miles, 382 square
miles of which are in Massachusetts. The reservation straddles the town line of Mendon and
Uxbridge and the north and south sides of Chapin/Southwick Street. 47 Despite its proximity to
one of the oldest industrial sites in the nation, this area retains much of its rural character from an
earlier agrarian time, featuring narrow roads, open fields, stonewalls, and mature secondary
forest.
This section of the management plan briefly describes the geology, soils, topography, and water
resources of Cormier Woods. The property’s ecological resources are discussed in greater detail,
and are based on the findings of a botanical and ecological assessment conducted in 2007.48
Emphasis in the narrative is placed on significant natural resources and the threats facing them.
The final section of this chapter identifies important ecological opportunities for The Trustees
and its partners. The information provided in this section of the plan provides the basis for
management recommendations outlined in Section 10.
5.2
Geology
Cormier Woods sits upon an ancient piece of the Gondwanan supercontinent, most of which now
comprises West Africa and South America. It is one of four major terranes which broke along
fault lines approximately 550 million years ago and subsequently moved toward, collided with,
and eventually attached to, the Laurentian plate of North America 370 million years ago.
Cormier Woods lies within the Avalon Terrane east of the Bloody Bluff Fault. Cormier Woods
is part of the Rhode Island Batholith, also referred to as Milford Granite.49
The underlying bedrock of mafic granite forms a high knoll approximately 450 feet
above mean sea level in elevation just to the north of the reservation. Other exposed rock
faces, assumedly of the same bedrock, include a southeast-facing ledge on the north side
of Chapin/Southwick Street and a west-facing ridge in the south section. Bedrock is
frequently exposed under shallow soils on slopes of fields and forest.
46
Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program, 2001. BioMap – Guiding Land Conservation for
Biodiversity in Massachusetts.
47
Note the same street is called by different names in each town.
48
Clark, Frances H., 2007. Botanical Inventory and Ecological Assessment, Cormier Woods Reservation,
Uxbridge, Massachusetts.
49
Skehan, James W., 2001. Roadside Geology of Massachusetts. Mountain Press Publishing Company.
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Repeated advances of thick glacial ice over the last two million years profoundly altered the
entire New England landscape. The final glacial episode began 80,000 years ago as the
Wisconsinan ice sheet advanced across New England, reaching its furthest extent about 21,000
years ago during the late Pleistocene Epoch.50 The advancing ice eroded pre-existing soils and
abraded the underlying bedrock, depositing these eroded materials across the landscape as a
variety of sediment types and landforms. Till, one of the most common glacial sediments
deposited by the advancing glaciers, consists of an unsorted, compacted mixture of clay, silt,
sand, gravel, and boulders. As the glacial ice melted, it deposited a less dense type of till,
referred to as ground moraine. The higher uplands of Cormier Woods and vicinity are covered
by till, which is easy to recognize due to the abundance of boulders throughout the forest. Midslopes and lower elevations at Cormier Woods are underlain by glacial outwash, which consists
of sand and gravel deposited by meltwater streams issuing from the retreating glacier. Obvious
marks of this glacial activity include the rock outcrops, areas of undulating terrain, and widely
scattered large boulders or glacial erratics.
5.3
Soils
Given the underlying bedrock, glacial till, and low lying areas, it is not surprising that the
majority of soils at Cormier Woods are shallow, extremely stony, or poorly drained (see
Map 4). According to the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), very few
soils on the property are suitable for the cultivation of crops.51 However, much of the
upland soils are ranked by the state as prime soils for forest.52
Chatfield-Hollis soils, which typically have a depth to bedrock of only a few feet,
underlie much of the mature mixed oak matrix forest, including the steep ridge rising
north of Chapin/Southwick Street to the highpoint just off the property. These welldrained to somewhat excessively drained soils are also found south of Chapin/Southwick
Street along a steep west-facing ledge, on three knolls to the south and west, and on lands
extending to the western boundary. Canton fine sandy loam supports a sliver of early to
mid-successional forest near the western boundary of the property. This very deep and
well drained soil is well suited for agriculture and was likely cultivated in the past. An
extremely stony variety of this soil underlies the fields and younger forests on the more
level areas north and south of the Dolbear/Chapin House. Extremely stony Scituate fine
sandy loam occurs on the south-facing slope along the eastern boundary of the property
between the red maple swamp and Still Corner Brook, and along the western border in
areas dominated by white pine and successional forest. Very deep, poorly to very poorlydrained soils are found in the low-lying depressions and flat areas on the reservation.
Extremely stony Ridgebury fine sandy loam underlies the intermittent stream on the north
side of Chapin/Southwick Street. This stream eventually merges with Meadow Brook
and supports red maple seepage swamp vegetation. Freetown Muck soils are found
throughout the wetlands along the southern and eastern boundaries of the property. This
soil underlies the watershed divide between Still Corner and Meadow Brook.
50
Skehan, James W., 2001. Roadside Geology of Massachusetts. Mountain Press Publishing Company.
U.S. Department of Agriculture and Soil Conservation Service, 1998. Soil Survey of Worcester County,
Massachusetts, Southern Part.
52
MassGIS, 2007.
51
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Map 5- Soil Types at Cormier Woods
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5-3
5.4 Watershed Resources and Topography
Cormier Woods protects the sources of several intermittent streams that feed two sub-watersheds
of the Blackstone River watershed. The Blackstone River watershed drains a total of 640 square
miles, 382 square miles of which are in Massachusetts. The river course features a series of
steep drops along a route that extends approximately 40 miles from Paxton/Holden,
Massachusetts at 1300 feet above sea level to Pawtucket, Rhode Island, where it empties into
Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island. These steep drops of the Blackstone River provided excellent
conditions for water power, fostering America’s Industrial Revolution. Unfortunately, this
history as “America’s hardest working river” has also left a legacy of industrial pollution.
Studies and clean-up efforts have been going on since the late 1970s, but serious problems
remain.53 Two tributaries fed by intermittent streams on Cormier Woods drain into the
Blackstone. The protection of these streams and associated wetlands help to protect the
hydrology of the Blackstone itself.
Two tributaries are fed by intermittent streams on the reservation: Meadow Brook to the
north/northwest of the property, and Still Corner Brook along the south/southwestern property
boundary. Subtle topographical features divide the drainage. Furthermore, historical alterations
to the landscape in the form of road construction, stream channelization, and ditching of
wetlands add to the complexity of tracing these drainage patterns.
Meadow Brook begins its course at least two miles to the northeast of Cormier Woods at
Nipmuck Pond in Mendon. From the pond, the brook flows southwest and west into Uxbridge
through several large wetlands and an open water impoundment, eventually forming a red maple
swamp just east of Hollis Street. After traveling through a culvert, the brook flows an additional
1000 feet into the West River. The West River merges with the main stem of the Blackstone
River one mile to the south.
Over two-thirds of Cormier Woods drain into Meadow Brook. All the property on the north side
of Chapin/Southwick Street drains northwest through various intermittent streams to Meadow
Brook and the large red maple swamp just east of Hollis Street. South of Chapin/Southwick
Street, an intermittent stream just west of a steep ledge flows north/northwest under
Chapin/Southwick Street, into the same red maple swamp by Hollis Street, and on into the West
River. The West River, a major source of drinking water for the Town of Uxbridge, is under
scrutiny by the Department of Environmental Protection for water quality issues. However, the
Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife has identified the West River as a Coldwater
Fish Resource (CFR).54 By protecting various tributaries of the West River, Cormier Woods
helps to preserve an identified coldwater fishery and the drinking water supply for the town of
Uxbridge.
53
Massachusetts Department of Fisheries, Wildlife & Environmental Law Enforcement, 1990. An Atlas of
Massachusetts River Systems: Environmental Designs for the Future.
54
A Coldwater Fish Resource (CFR) is defined as a water that meets at least one of the following criteria:
1) brook, brown, or rainbow trout has been determined; 2) slimy sculpin or longnose sucker are present;
3) the water is part of the Atlantic salmon restoration effort or is stocked with Atlantic salmon fry or parr.
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5-4
About one-third of Cormier Woods drains into Still Corner Brook to the south. Still Corner
Brook rises in the northwest corner of Millville, runs through the southwestern boundary of
Southwick Wild Animal Zoo, through an extensive red maple shrub swamp, which is impounded
by a now-degraded dam, and continues more or less along the southwestern boundary of Cormier
Woods, eventually flowing west under Blackstone Street into the Blackstone River. This point at
the mouth of the West River lies approximately one mile south of the mouth of Meadow Brook.
The watershed divide is very subtle between the two sub-basins of Meadow Brook and
Still Corner Brook. Chapin/Southwick Street forms much of the divide, and a small rise
along the “ravine wetland” (see below) determines whether the water will go directly to
the Blackstone or to the West River one mile to the north.
The topography of the property is complex, as previously indicated by description of the
geology and hydrology. The southern side of Chapin/Southwick Street is the most
rugged. A long wetland draining to the north (“ravine wetland”) lies between steep
slopes that rise precipitously by 50 feet in places. This includes a west-facing slope, with
ledges, located less than 1/4 mile west of the Dolbear/Chapin House. Three esker-like
knolls55 to the east of the “ravine wetland” also rise up to 50 feet from the surrounding
lowlands. Elevations on the property range from approximately 275 feet in the wetlands
along the western boundary to 413 feet on the hill southwest of the Dolbear/Chapin
House.
5.5
Natural Heritage Overlays
Cormier Woods provides important habitat for several rare species. Although the Natural
Heritage and Endangered Species Program (NHESP) has not identified any rare species habitat
within the reservation, Priority and Core Species Habitat for rare or uncommon reptile (spotted
and eastern box turtle), invertebrate (arrow clubtail dragonfly, triangle floater mussel), and plant
(slender-leaved ladies’ tresses) species occurs within one-half of a mile of the property.56, 57 Due
to its proximity to Core Rare Species Habitat, Cormier Woods and the surrounding area have
been identified as Supporting Natural Landscape. 58
During preliminary inventories of the property, three state-listed plant species were discovered at
the reservation including slender-leaved ladies’ tresses (Spiranthes vernalis; Threatened), showy
goldenrod (Solidago speciosa; Watch-listed), and orange milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa; Watchlisted). Given the availability of suitable habitats at Cormier Woods, it is possible that future
surveys will determine that additional rare species reported from the area such as climbing fern
55
The origin of these features needs to be confirmed.
Priority Habitat is based on the approximated extent of rare species populations taken from records in the
Natural Heritage Program database.
57
Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program, 2001. BioMap: Guiding Land Conservation for
Biodiversity in Massachusetts. Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife. Westborough, MA
58
Supporting Natural Landscape is defined as the combination of core habitat buffers, large vegetation
patches, large roadless areas, and undeveloped watersheds that together help maintain ecological
integrity and enhance the core habitat areas.
56
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5-5
(Lygodium palmatum), eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina), oak hairstreak butterfly
(Satyrium favonius), and marbled salamander (Abystoma opacum) are present on the property.
No Living Waters Core Habitat exists within one mile of the reservation.59 Living Waters
Critical Supporting Watershed has been identified less than a mile east and west of the property
within the Blackstone and Mumford River Watersheds, respectively. Critical Supporting
Watershed is the portion of a Core Habitat’s watershed with the greatest potential to sustain or
degrade the Core Habitat ecosystem.
5.6
Open Space Context
While currently within an area of relatively undeveloped land, Cormier Woods is isolated from
permanently protected open space60 and is vulnerable to development around its perimeter. The
recent connection of Route 146 to the Massachusetts Turnpike has made commuting to and from
Mendon and Uxbridge easier and thus has increased development pressure.61 Cormier Woods
lies to the west of the Southwick Wild Animal Zoo in Mendon (see Map 6). Currently under
Chapter 61 (forestry) and 61B (recreation), this landholding protects the upper reaches of
Wigwam Brook, which is a tributary of Meadow Brook, and links Cormier Woods to the nearby
116-acre Mendon Town Forest. Southwick Wild Animal Zoo also owns the wetlands along the
eastern boundary of Cormier Woods. Much of the western boundary of the Wild Animal Zoo is
formed by a dirt access road that runs along a tall fence which encloses the park. Other large
tracts of forest with intermittent streams abut the northern and western boundaries. However, of
six nearby properties which have been in Chapter 61, at least three have been or likely will be
developed soon. Other properties are also changing hands. Even though it is still connected to
wild tracts, Cormier Woods could become an isolated natural area surrounded by suburban
development in the next few years.
In Uxbridge, additional land abutting the reservation is being developed. A large development
has recently been completed south of Still Corner Brook. Fortunately, wetland regulations
protect the river corridor and associated wetlands between the properties. Along Blackstone
Street to the west lies a set of fields which extend to wetlands and forest along the reservation’s
western boundary. These private lands, which include rare species habitat, are subject to
development. MassGIS data indicate that the very northwest corner between Blackstone and
Chapin/Southwick Streets is currently under Chapter 61B, however, this status and ownership
were not confirmed. Also, to the northwest, a small development is completing the infill of the
frontage lots on Chapin/Southwick Street. Several access points for off-road vehicles are located
along this property boundary.
59
Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program, 2003. Living Waters: Guiding the Protection of
Freshwater Biodiversity in Massachusetts. Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife.
Westborough, MA
60
Refers to open space either that is protected through fee ownership (e.g., Dept. of Conservation and
Recreation) or by conservation restriction.
61
Town of Mendon. 2006 Open Space and Recreation Plan, Mendon, Massachusetts 2006-2011.
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Map 6- Regional Open Space Context
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Within the context of the surrounding landscape, Cormier Woods provides significant grassland,
forest, and wetland habitat. The exceptional fields of Cormier Woods provide valuable habitat
rarely found in the surrounding landscape. The property’s oak forest matrix extends across
boundary lines to provide extensive mature forest, including forest on land owned by the
Southwick Wild Animal Zoo. Various intermittent streams connect to Still Corner and Meadow
Brooks, which together provide valuable wetland and wildlife corridors which ultimately link to
Nipmuk Pond, Chestnut Hill, and the Blackstone River. Development of the surrounding lands
will compromise these natural resources.
5.7
Plant Community Types
The natural plant communities of Cormier Woods are the result of both abiotic and biotic
processes. Geology, soils, topography, and local hydrology are key underlying influences.
Historical and current land-use including logging, grazing, mowing, and cultivation, have
influenced the plant communities on the property. Plant communities on the reservation
continue to be shaped by natural processes, including ice and wind storms, and community
succession. Gypsy moths have impacted Mixed Oak Forests across the region, while chestnut
blight has forced the once majestic American chestnut (Castanea dentata) from the canopy to the
forest understory. White ash trees (Fraxinus americanus) are dying throughout the Northeast
due to an unknown set of conditions termed “ash decline.” According to Mass Wildlife, the
density of deer in Southeastern Massachusetts far exceeds the prescribed level. Browsing by
white-tailed deer is obvious in the wetlands and uplands on the property. Large populations of
deer can alter native plant species composition by browsing rare herbaceous plants, young
shrubs, and trees. Fortunately, introduced invasive exotic plants, which in many areas are
significant threats to native plant communities, are relatively low in numbers at Cormier Woods.
Nine plant communities were identified at Cormier Woods, including five terrestrial (i.e.,
upland) and four palustrine (i.e., wetland) communities (Table 1; Map 6). To the extent possible,
plant community classification follows the Massachusetts Natural Heritage Program’s
Classification of the Natural Communities of Massachusetts.62 The NHESP prioritizes natural
communities based on their rarity and threat. S1 community types receive the highest priority
for protection, while S5 communities are those that are regarded as demonstrably secure.
NHESP considers any community type with a state-rank (S-rank) of S1-S3 or any exemplary
example of a S4 or S5 community type as a "Natural Community Type for Priority Protection."
62
Swain, Patricia C., and Jennifer B. Kearsley, 2000. Classification of the Natural Communities of
Massachusetts. Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program, Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and
Wildlife, Westborough, MA. (Note: Natural plant community types that match NHESP’s classification are
capitalized in the text; those plant communities not matching NHESP’s classification are identified in lower
case only.)
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Map 7- Natural Communities at Cormier Woods
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5-9
5.7.1 Mixed Oak Forest (S5)
Mixed Oak Forest covers the rugged back portions of the property, both north and south of
Chapin/Southwick Street. Large glacial erratics, exposed ledge, and stones are found throughout
this forest. Numerous stonewalls and occasional junipers suggest that, historically, some areas
may have been grazed. Other areas, particularly the steeper, more remote locations, may have
been primarily wood lots. Double-trunked trees and even-age forest indicate recent logging
activity. The proximity to a longstanding industrial center may have promoted selective
harvesting of species such as flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), which was used for shuttles
in textile mills, and hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), which was used for tanning. Numerous fire
scars on canopy trees in conjunction with a dense understory of huckleberry suggest that some
portions of this forest have been shaped by fire.
The forest is not particularly rich in plant species. A mix of black, red, white, and rarely scarlet
oak (Quercus velutina, Q. rubra, Q. alba, and Q. coccinea) dominates the canopy in varying
proportions. Total canopy cover is typically 60-70% with occasional larger openings. White
pine (Pinus strobus) provides usually less than 5% relative canopy cover. Canopy height varies
from 50-80 feet with tree diameters ranging from 8-16 inches. Larger trees are occasionally
found along cart paths and stonewalls while smaller trees occur in the former fields (as suggested
by stonewalls) behind the house. Unusual tree species within this community include white ash,
paper birch (Betula papyrifera), black cherry (Prunus serotina), yellow birch (B. alleghaniensis),
sugar maple (A. saccharinum), and pitch pine (P. rigida). Rare trees include tulip poplar
(Liriodendron tulipifera) and chestnut oak (Q. prinus). Flowering dogwood was observed only
along the very western border of the property.
At most locations throughout the forest, black birch (Betula lenta) and red maple (Acer rubrum)
provide less than 10% of the total understory cover. However, cover of these species can range
up to 40-60% under a light canopy. Hickories, including shagbark, pignut, and more rarely
mockernut (Carya ovata, C. ovalis, and C. tomentosa) are notable, if less frequent, components
of the canopy, subcanopy, and sapling layers. American chestnut, sassafras (Sassafras album),
oak, and red maple saplings are frequent to occasional in the understory and shrub layers.
Witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is frequent throughout the forest, particularly on slopes or
near wetlands. Frequent colonies of black huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata), occasionally
mixed with low bush blueberries, (Vaccinium vacillan and V. angustifolium) are interspersed
with American hazel-nut (Corylus americanus), shadbush (Amelanchier sp), and rarely mapleleaf viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium). Catbriar (Smilax rotundifolia) occasionally entangles
wet depressions, wetland edges, or disturbed sites. Large, dense patches of 10- to 20-foot tall
white pine occur sporadically. These evergreen “dog hair” stands are likely a result of gypsy
moth infestations which opened the oak canopy 20-25 years ago. An herbaceous layer is usually
lacking in these white pine groves.
The ground cover and herb layers are typically very sparse within the Mixed Oak Forest.
Groundcovers include sparse patches of Pennsylvania sedge (Carex pensylvanica), Canada
mayflower (Maianthemum canadense), wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens), spotted
wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata), partridgeberry (Mitchella repens), wild oats (Uvularia
sessilifolia), and more rarely Indian cucumber (Medeola virginica) and pink lady’s-slipper
(Cyperipedium acaule). Low-lying areas with richer soils may support populations of wild
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sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis), hairy Solomon’s seal (Polygonum pubescens), and ferns. In
spring, dwarf ginseng (Panax trifolius) and windflower (Anemone quiquefolia) make a brief
appearance in this community. Patches of evergreen clubmosses (Dendrolycopodium obscurum,
D. hickeyi, Diphasiastrum digitatum) are widely scattered and dense in some locations. Shining
clubmoss (Huperzia lucidum) is rare on the property. Cart paths typically support a greater
diversity of herbaceous species including poverty grass (Danthonia spicata), ferns, bracken fern
(Pteridium aquilinum), and wood aster (Eurybia divaricata).
Several rock outcrops are present within the Mixed Oak Forest on the north and south sides of
Chapin/Southwick Street. Since these outcrops are shaded by surrounding canopy trees, there is
very little vegetation on the rock faces except for some polypody fern (Polypodium virginianum),
evergreen woodfern (Dryopteris intermedia), and rarely fragile fern (Cystopteris sp.). Rock tripe
lichen is common on the exposed bedrock.
5.7.2 Successional White Pine Forest (S5)
Successional White Pine Forest is found primarily along the western boundary of the property,
but also occurs on the northwest corner of the reservation along an intermittent stream. These
stands are located near cart paths, cellar holes, and still-open fields, suggesting that they are a
result of colonization of open ground. White pines, 80-100 feet high, form a dense homogeneous
canopy with oaks providing at most 10-20% relative cover. Subcanopy and sapling layers are
sparse in the dense shade, with scattered red maple, black birch, oak, and more rarely hickory.
The sparse shrub layer includes seedlings of the same tree species. In some locations there are
mats of clubmosses which are also indicators of once-open soils.
A mixed successional forest with juniper and Pennsylvania sedge openings occurs on the western
boundary of the property. This community includes a greater diversity of mixed hardwoods
while retaining a strong white pine component. White pine and hickory are mingled with big
tooth (Populus grandidentata) and trembling aspen (P. tremuloides), red maple, black birch, and
occasionally black cherry and pitch pine. Common juniper (J. communis) and sweet fern
(Comptonia peregrina) mingle with patches of Pennsylvania sedge and hayscented fern
(Dennstaedtia punctilobula) in shady openings. Stands of shagbark and pignut hickories are
notable along stonewalls and among very large boulders.
5.7.3 White Pine – Oak Forest (S5)
The eastern edge of the property and other areas north of Chapin/Southwick Street are covered
by a forest with a greater component of white pine than the Mixed Oak Forest. This White Pine
–Oak Forest still has a significant portion of oak in the canopy; however, white pine is a larger
proportion either in the canopy or supcanopy. Along with prevalent black birch and red maple,
black cherry and white ash are frequent elements of the canopy layer. The herbaceous layer
tends to be more extensive and richer in species, including mats of ferns and bracken fern
(Pteridium aquilinum).
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5.7.4 Scrub Oak Shrubland (S1)
Scrub Oak Shrubland, a priority community type, covers a knoll along the western boundary of
the property. This 60- by 70-foot area surrounded by Mixed Oak Forest was burned over and is
dominated by a mix of scrub oak (Q. ilicifolia) 5-15 feet high, black huckleberry, and low bush
blueberry. Combined, these species provide 80-100% total cover. Black cherry and red maple
provide less than 10% cover. Bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica) and catbriar are occasional
components of this community. The shrubland is rimmed by large white pine, scattered smaller
hickory, and an occasional pitch pine. The quality of this habitat is limited by its small size and
apparent isolation from other patches of the same community type. However, additional survey
work is needed to determine if it supports lichens and rare invertebrates characteristic of this
unusual habitat type.
Table 5-1 – Plant Community Types and Acreage—Cormier Woods
NHESP Natural Community Classification (a,b)
Mixed Oak Forest (S5)
White Pine – Oak Forest (S5)
Successional White Pine Forest (S5)
Scrub Oak Shrubland (S1)
Cultural Grassland (S5)
Red Maple Swamp (S5)
Shrub Swamp (S5)
Wet Meadow (S4)
Woodland Vernal Pool (S3)
Total acres
121.6
22.3
14.7
.3
5.6
9.9
2.1
.1
.3
(a) Plant community types in Swain and Kearsley (2000) that closely match plant communities Cormier Woods
Reservation. Communities in boldface are Priority Natural Community Types (with associated S-rank) as defined
by the Mass. Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program.
(b) The Natural Heritage Program’s S-rank prioritizes plant communities based on rarity and threat. S1 community
types receive the highest priority for protection, while S5 communities are those that are regarded as demonstrably
secure. NHESP considers any community type with a state-rank (S-rank) of S1-S3 or any exemplary example of
a S4 or S5 community type as a "Natural Community Type for Priority Protection". (Swain, P. and J. Kearsley.
2000. Classification of the Natural Communities of Massachusetts - draft. NHESP)
(c) Areal cover given in acres.
(d) Plant community types in bold are Priority Natural Plant Communities as defined by the Natural Heritage &
Endangered Species Program.
5.7.5 Cultural Grassland (S5)
Several contiguous fields bounded by stonewalls lie on either side of Chapin/Southwick Street.
For management purposes, they can be subdivided into the Northwest Field, located west of the
barn; the Central Field, located due north of the house; the Northeast Field, which the largest
field north of Chapin/Southwick Street; and the South Field, located south of the road. All are
closely associated with the main house and old barn and each is a distinct area enclosed for the
most part by stonewalls. The fields undulate with bedrock underlying the high spots, and slopes
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grading down to wet swales or wetlands. The vegetation and, in particular, the relatively low
proportion of European forage grasses, indicates a well-drained, low nutrient, acidic soil.
In general, these fields are dominated by a mix of native and non-native grasses, intermixed with
various wildflowers, whose portions vary depending on the rise and fall of the land. Typical
grass species include fescues (Festuca rubra and F. filiformis), bent grasses (Agrostis gigantea,
A. stolonifera, and A. tenuis), and more rarely typical forage grasses such as orchard grass
(Dactylis glomerata), Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis), timothy (Phleum pratensis), and
sweet vernal grass (Anthoxanthum odorata). Native little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)
is frequent to dominant on the drier or shallower soils, and often associated with low growing
Pennsylvania sedge (Carex pensylvanica), panic grasses (Dichanthelium spp), and more
occasionally lovegrass (Eragrostis spectabilis) and poverty grass (Danthonia spp.). In the South
Field, vigorous stands of large native bunch grasses such as Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans)
and big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) grow along the east-facing slope and swale.
Showy forbs are scattered throughout the grasslands, with greater coverage in the lower, slightly
moister microhabitats. Common species include colonies of goldenrods (Solidago gigantea, S.
rugosa, S. juncea, and Euthamia graminifolia) and asters (Aster leavis, cf. Symphiotrichum
dumosum and Symphiotrichum lateriflorus, and rarely A. macrophyllus). On the drier sites, stiffleaved aster (Lonactis linariifolia), gray goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis), and more rarely
green’s rush (Juncus greenei) and nipplewort (Lapsana communis) grow among lichens and
moss. Showy goldenrod, a watch-listed species, has colonized the eastern portion of the
Northeast and South Fields. Other typical species include bush clovers (Lespedeza capitata, L. X
manniana which is a hybrid of Lespedeza capitata x L violacea), rock rose (Helianthemum sp.),
dogbane (Apocynum adrosaemifolium), common milkweed (Asclepias syriacus), yarrow
(Achillea millefolium), black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia pulcherrima var. serotina), whorled
loosestrife (Lysimachia quadrifolia), and pinweeds (Lechea spp). Woody dewberry (Rubus
flagellaris, R. hispidus) vines frequently weave through the grasses in the fields and cinquefoils
(Potentilla spp.) creep across the open knolls. Other occasional components of this community
include cowwheat (Melampyrum lineare) and yellow bartonia (Bartontia virginica) in the South
Field, narrow-leaved white-topped aster (Aster solidigenus syn. Seriocarpus linifolius) in the
Northwest Field, and orange milkweed (Watch-listed) in the Northeast Field. Of particular note
are small, often intermingled populations of wood betony (Pedicularis canadensis), raggedfringed orchid (Platanthera lacera), nodding ladies’ tresses (Spiranthes cernua), and slenderleaved ladies’ tresses (Threatened).
While woody plants are rare in the fields, patches of low-bush blueberry, and common juniper
occur sporadically. Tree islands in the Northeast Field support mature black oak, hickory, gray
birch, scrub oak, and rarely pitch pine and black cherry. Oak, hickory, and sassafras are
common around the dry field perimeters, along with red cedar and occasionally exotic common
barberry (Berberis vulgaris) and poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans).
Several ornamental woody species have been planted around the house. Apple trees have been
planted in the Northwest and South Fields, and a couple of dogwood trees have been planted in
the Northwest Field. A few remnant blueberry shrubs are arranged in rows in the South Field
and the depression just to the north of the house. Other ornamentals around the house include
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lilac, catalpa, magnolia, sourwood (Oxydendron arboreum), rhododendron, and green ash
(Fraxinus pennsylvanica). A few large red cedars remain as sentinels along the stonewalls
across from the house. Expansive oaks along the roads add a particularly scenic touch to the
landscape.
Invasive exotics are uncommon, but include winged euonymus (Euonymus alatus), multiflora
rose (Rosa multiflora), Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus - especially by the small well
house and wall), and common barberry.
5.7.6 Red Maple Swamp (S5)
The most extensive wetland within the bounds of Cormier Woods is a red maple swamp
located south of Chapin/Southwick Street along the eastern border of the property. Red
maples approximately 60-feet tall dominate the canopy of this community. White pine
provides up to 50% relative cover along the eastern and southern edges. Green ash
(Fraxinus pensylvanica), American elm, swamp white oak (Q. bicolor), and hop
hornbeam (Ostrya virginiana) are uncommon components of the canopy. The shrub
layer varies in density from 35% to 75% total cover, depending on depth of water and
amount of canopy cover. Shrubs include a variable mix of highbush blueberry
(Vaccinium corymbosum), sweet pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia), winterberry (Ilex
verticillata), and more occasionally spicebush (Lindera benzoin), northern arrowwood
(Viburnum dentatum var. lucidum), swamp azalea (Rhododendron viscosum), and
nannyberry (Viburnum lentago). Slightly drier patches within the wetland matrix support
white pine saplings and a few scattered mature canopy trees. The herbaceous layer forms
a patchy cover between 10-75%. Tussock sedge, blue-joint grass, skunk cabbage
(Symplocarpus foetidus), cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea), New York fern
(Thelypteris noveboracensis), marsh fern, sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis), and wood
reedgrass (Cinna arundinacea) are typical but sparsely distributed. Mats of sphagnum
moss are frequent. Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii) occurs in low abundance near
Chapin/Southwick Street. The micro-topography is well developed with deep and
shallow pockets and meandering stream channels. Roots of shrubs and trees form threeto five-foot wide by one-foot tall hummocks in areas where the water stands during part
of the year.
Other red maple wetlands have formed along intermittent streams and brooks throughout
the property. South of Chapin/Southwick Street, an intermittent stream flows south to
north, eventually draining into Meadow Brook. The channel, often just a swale, lies
between a steep west-facing slope with exposed ledge and a series of three dry knolls,
similar to eskers, to the west. This “ravine wetland” can be very narrow and sparsely
vegetated or be wider with deeper pockets of more vegetated wetland. One section
includes a depression that serves as a vernal pool. The “ravine wetland” is dominated by
a dense canopy of mature red maple and black birch growing up to 80 feet tall and
averaging 8-12 inches in diameter. Large red oaks grow along the drier ravine margins.
Small green ash trees and saplings of oak, white pine, American elm (Ulmus
americanus), and hop hornbeam are occasionally interspersed. The density and
composition of the shrub and herbaceous layers varies along this linear wetland. Sweet
pepperbush and highbush blueberry are sometimes dominant, growing in thickets eight
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feet tall. Spicebush, northern arrowwood, and swamp azalea are relatively frequent.
Witch hazel can reach heights of 10-15 feet along the edges. The rocky swale is sparsely
covered with cinnamon fern, false sarsaparilla, dewberry (Rubus hispidus), New York
fern, and evergreen woodfern. Mats of sphagnum moss are found among the rocks. In
the center lies a more open, deeper wetland with 50% total tree cover and 100%
herbaceous cover. Skunk cabbage, tussock sedge, blue-joint grass, and pockets of
sphagnum with scattered beggar’s ticks (Bidens spp.) and bugleweed (Lycopus spp.) are
dominant in this area. Farther north, near where several cart paths come together, the
stony streambed supports yellow birch, hop hornbeam, and dense colonies of woodfern,
cinnamon fern, and royal fern.
The wetlands associated with Still Corner Brook support similar species. The stream
channel is often two-feet deep and two- to three-feet wide with boulders placed along
portions of the channel, indicating human alterations of the associated wetlands. The
bordering vegetated wetland can be very narrow to 200- to 300-feet wide east of the
channel. The canopy is dominated by red maple and black birch with scattered yellow
birch and American elm. Witch-hazel and spicebush are frequent in the understory.
In the western portion of the property, a mosaic of more or less shallow wetlands, some
with connecting swales, form in the undulating terrain with a mix of wetland shrubs and
ferns growing under red maple. It is difficult to delineate these wetlands and to
determine their linkages, if any, to one another. At least one vernal pool is nested in
these wetlands.
A large red maple swamp lies on the north side of Chapin/Southwick Street. Mature red
maple forms a canopy over a shrub layer composed of sweet-pepperbush, highbush
blueberry, swamp azalea, and arrowwood with sparse patches of ferns and graminoids.
This wetland slopes to the west into a much younger swamp that abuts the east side of the
field. Along the sunnier edge, large sedges, tussock sedge, and marsh, cinnamon, and
sensitive ferns, grow densely under the cover of blueberry, silky dogwood (Cornus
amoemum) and swamp rose (Rosa palustris). Alder (Alnus spp.) can be thick and tall
around the perimeter. Pockets of red maple grow to 30 feet tall with diameters of 4-6
inches. Sphagnum mats occur frequently. Other areas have a sparse layer of buttonbush
with scant herbaceous cover, suggesting that they are periodically flooded by deeper
water.
The wetlands flowing from the north, northeast side of the Chapin/Southwick Street
eventually join together to flow northwest into the large swamp east of Hollis Street.
Most of these stony swales support intermittent wetland vegetation including red maple,
black birch, yellow birch, spicebush, sweet-pepper bush, highbush blueberry, and pockets
of marsh fern, evergreen woodfern, crested fern (Drypopteris cristata), skunk cabbage,
violets, and woodgrass (Brachyeletrum septentrionale).
5.7.7 Shrub Swamp (S5)
A large, heterogeneous shrub swamp forms a triangular wetland on the southern edge of
Cormier Woods. Only approximately 1.1 acres out of a total of 5.6 acres, including the
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outlet, are actually on the reservation. This is an unnatural impoundment as indicated by
the fallen stones at the outlet and the channeling of the streambed downstream. This
wetland has likely persisted for some years as it is underlain by deep organic soil. In the
deepest parts of the swamp, widely scattered red maples grow 10-15 feet tall, average 1-2
inches in diameter, and provide 15-25% total cover. Away from the central channel, red
maple grows up to 15-30 feet high and 6-8 inches in diameter. Shrubs include dense and
sparse thickets of swamp rose and buttonbush, with robust shrubs of winterberry,
blueberry, and occasionally swamp azalea. Sweet pepperbush and silky dogwood occur
near the margins. Annual plants, such as smartweeds (Polygonum punctatum and P.
hydropiperoides) and exposed perennial emergent plants line either side of the central
channel. Scattered burreed (Sparganium spp.) and arrow arum (Peltandra virginica)
occur in depressions along with patches of three-way sedge (Dulichium arundinaceum).
Tussock sedge, royal fern (Osmunda regalis), patches of marsh fern (Thelypteris
palustris), stands of blue joint-grass, and scattered marsh St. Johnswort (Triadenum
virginicum), beggar’s ticks (Bidens frondosa), and water purslane (Ludwigia palustris)
occur along the edges and western end of the swamp. Near the shady margins, tussock
sedge, various wetland ferns, clearweed (Pilea pumila), rice cut-grass (Leerzia
orysoides), and false nettle (Boehmeria cylindrica) intermingle.
A large depression just south of Chapin/Southwick Street supports a buttonbush shrub swamp.
A wetland lies to the north side of the road, but there is no visible culvert connection.
Chapin/Southwick Street likely lies along the natural watershed divide. With oak forest to the
east and west, this wetland is ringed by mature red maple with thickets of sweet-pepperbush
extending up the slopes. A “moat” free of dense shrubs rings a thicket of robust highbush
blueberry. Buttonbush is abundant in the center of the wetland, and patches of winterberry grow
throughout. Judging by the height of the stilted roots, the water level is 2-3 feet deep during part
of the year. The roots of the shrubs, downed limbs, and logs provide excellent structure for
amphibians and reptiles. No herbaceous vegetation was observed under the dense woody
vegetation. The southern end of this wetland appears to be cut off from the wetland to the south.
Easy to overlook is a depression just down slope from the Northwest Field which
supports a similar wetland shrub community. It is likely that this low-lying area was
ditched for better drainage.
5.7.8 Wet Meadow (S4)
Wet Meadow and Cultural Grassland form a mosaic of open fields but they are treated separately
here as they are classified as two distinct community types and Wet Meadows are subject to
wetlands regulations and bylaws. Two Wet Meadows have been identified in the vicinity of the
Dolbear/Chapin House. Most likely dug out to provide a source of water adjacent to the barn,
the wet depression surrounded by stonewalls across the street from the residence, provides
habitat for an unusual array of vegetation. Sweet flag (Acorus americanus), two large sedges
(Carex vesicaria, C. utriculata), two large bulrushes (Scirpus expanus, S. cyperinus), and bluejoint grass, are interspersed with patches of soft rush (Juncus effusus), sensitive fern, marsh fern,
and swamp candles (Lysimachia terrestris), which together form a dense herbaceous layer.
Swaths of goldenrods, including rough and tall goldenrod (Solidago rugosa, S. gigantea), and
upland forage grasses (Agrostis spp., Festuca rubra, Phleum pratensis, Dactylis glomerata)
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colonize the slopes along with prickly patches of blackberry (Rubus alleghaniensis) and
dewberry (Rubus flagellaris). Stiff stems of meadowsweet (Spirea alba) and steeplebush (S.
tomentosa) are scattered throughout. Poison ivy and deer-tongue grass (Panicum clandestinum)
are robust colonizers. Several highbush blueberries are planted in rows. A long, linear swale
due north of this depression supports sedge and fern vegetation and functions as a vernal pool.
The small Wet Meadow behind the Dolbear/Chapin House supports vigorous herbaceous
vegetation three to four feet high. Blue-joint grass (Calamagrostis canadensis), tussock sedge
(Carex stricta), and broom sedge (C. scoparia) mix with robust goldenrods (Euthamia
graminifolia, Solidago gigantean, Solidago rugosa), and annual bugleweeds (Lycopus sp.), St.
John’s-wort (Hypericum sp.), marsh fern (Thelypteris palustris), cranberry (Vaccinium
macrocarpon), winterberry, Virginia rose (Rosa virginiana), and rarely buttonbush
(Cephalanthos occidentalis).
5.7.9 Woodland Vernal Pools (S3)
Woodland Vernal Pools, classified as a Priority Natural Community type by the Massachusetts
Natural Heritage Program, occur in low-lying areas throughout the property. Seven vernal pools
with obligate species (wood frogs and spotted salamanders) were observed on the reservation.
An additional vernal pool was identified but not surveyed for the presence of indicator species.
Spotted salamander (Watch-listed) egg masses were observed in six out of the seven identified
pools. With the possible exception of the man-made depression or farm pond located near the
Dolbear/Chapin House, all the vernal pools occur in natural swales and basins. Several of these
pools are part of a larger wetland system. The vegetation varies in and around vernal pools, but
typically includes red maple, buttonbush, highbush blueberry, winterberry, sedges, and
occasionally sphagnum moss. The number of vernal pools embedded in the unfragmented
landscape of Cormier Woods adds to the pools’ long-term biological value. The breeding
populations of vernal pool-dependent wildlife can migrate from pool to pool through the forest
without much peril, thereby maintaining viable populations.
5.8
Invasive Plants
Invasive exotic plant species are limited to small populations in and around the fields, disturbed
sites within the wetlands, old foundations, and successional habitat (Map 7, Table 2).
The fields and stonewalls around the Dolbear/Chapin House have been carefully managed and
kept clear of woody plant species. Consequently, the fields are remarkably free of invasive
exotic plants. However, Oriental bittersweet is beginning to climb the stonewall across the street
from the house. Winged euonymus is scattered here and there on the edges of the fields and in
the forest. Common barberry, (Berberis vulgaris), planted by colonists for its valued fruits, is
found around the house and also on a nearby dry knoll just north of the farm pond depression.
Multiflora rose is frequent near the eastern edge of the South Field and also found along the
eastern edge of the Northeast Field near the wetlands. Morrow’s honeysuckle also occurs
sporadically. Keeping these fields clear of exotics is particularly important due to the presence
of several state-listed species. Changes in the frequency of mowing to control invasives may
affect these rare plant populations. Eliminating the exotic invasive ornamental plants from
around the house would help reduce seed sources within reach of the fields.
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The forest and wetland communities on the property are also remarkably free of invasive exotics
with the exception of around the old foundations on the western side of the property and along
the road. Growing in and around the cellar holes are sizable Norway maples, morrow’s
honeysuckle, multiflora rose, winged euonymus, common barberry, and rarely white mulberry
(Morus alba). Norway maple and winged euonymus also occur sporadically throughout the
forest interior. Roadsides, particularly near junctions, culverts or curves, support stands of
Japanese knotweed, multiflora rose, honeysuckle, winged euonymus, and Japanese barberry.
The knotweed is particularly pernicious as its rhizomes are spread by plows. Recent road
widening is a threat as disturbed edges can become propagation beds for aggressive exotics.
Populations along Asylum Street and the junction of Asylum and Park Streets are near enough to
be of concern. An invasive species control campaign within the vicinity of the reservation would
help maintain the integrity of Cormier Woods.
Table 5-2 – Exotic Invasive Plants, Cormier Woods
Species
Morrow’s Honeysuckle (Lonicera
morrowii)
Estimate %
Cover
0-1%
Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus
orbiculata)
Common barberry (Berberis
vulgaris)
Japanese barberry (Berberis
thunbergii)
Multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora)
0-1%
Winged euonymus (Euonymus
alata)
0-1%
Norway maple (Acer platanoides)
0-1%
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0-1%
0-1%
0-1%
Status
Hot spot around cellar holes near
western boundary; otherwise
mostly along edges of the fields.
Around edges of fields, well, and
the wall just across from house.
Successional habitat near edges of
fields, and around cellar holes.
Scattered in wetlands, mostly near
road.
Hot spot around cellar holes near
western boundary. Around edges
of fields, particularly South field.
Hot spot around cellar holes near
western boundary, southern field
edge, and scattered throughout
property.
Hot spot around cellar hole near
western boundary and scattered in
forest.
5-18
Map 8- Exotic Invasive Plants at Cormier Woods
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5.9
Wildlife
The diversity of habitats at Cormier Woods- including forests, swamps, intermittent streams, and
fields- provide excellent habitat for a variety of wildlife species. Nearly 161 acres of mostly
contiguous forest supports area-sensitive wildlife (e.g., interior forest nesting birds and Priority
Species) and provides habitat for wide-ranging mammals, such as coyote (Canis latrans) and
fisher (Martes pennanti). The deeper wetlands and connecting streams may provide refuge for
semi-aquatic wildlife, such as mink (Mustela vison) and otter (Lutra canadensis). Woodland
Vernal Pools serve as critical habitat for obligate species, such as spotted salamanders and wood
frogs. Cultural Grassland and limited successional habitat are rich in shrubs and vines that
provide abundant food (e.g., host plants for insects, fruit, pollen, and nectar) and dense cover for
many birds, mammals, and invertebrates. The rocky ledges may provide over-wintering habitat
for snakes.
5.9.1 Mammals
Numerous mammal species are likely to be present within the extensive forests and small fields
of Cormier Woods. Several small species, such as Northern short-tailed shrew (Blarina
brevicauda), gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), whitefooted mouse (Peromyscus leucopus), Eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus), long-tailed weasel
(Mustela frenata), striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis), Eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus),
raccoon (Procyon lotor), and woodchuck (Marmota monax) are probably common. 63 Southern
flying squirrels (Glaucomys volans), a species associated with mature forest with cavity trees,
may occur. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) browse indicates a large population
which could significantly impact herbaceous plant species composition and forest regeneration.
Deer are known to preferentially browse members of the lily and orchid families, just to name a
few vulnerable groups.
Coyote and gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) are relatively large predators which probably
utilize various habitats in and around the reservation. Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) may also occur,
although they typically avoid coyotes if they are present in a given area. Fisher, a large member
of the weasel family inhabiting mature forests, has been observed at Cormier Woods. Muskrat
(Ondatra zibethicus), mink, and otter possibly inhabit or pass through the wetlands and
intermittent stream corridors within the forest matrix.
A colony of big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) resides in the barn on the north side of
Chapin/Southwick Street. While the colony has yet to be surveyed, the quantity of guano
suggests it could be large. Species commonly utilizing man-made structures include both big
brown bat and little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus). Less common bat species, including the
eastern pipistrelle (Pipistrellus subflavus), silvered-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans), and
red bat (Lasiurus borealis), may also occur on the property.
63
DeGraaf, Richard M., and Mariko Yamasaki, 2001. New England Wildlife – Habitat, Natural History,
and Distribution. University Press of New England.
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5.9.2 Birds
The wide range of habitats at Cormier Woods, including mature forested uplands, swamps, and
field edges, supports a variety of bird species. Forty-five species of birds were recorded on the
property during breeding bird surveys conducted in 2006 and 2007. American goldfinch, scarlet
tanager, ovenbird, wood thrush, veery, white-breasted nuthatch, tufted titmouse, black-capped
chickadee, and red-eyed vireo were among the most abundant birds on the property. Three
Watch-listed species – turkey vulture, red-shouldered hawk, and eastern bluebird – were
recorded during the survey.
Six species recorded during the breeding bird survey are identified as Priority Species including
eastern wood-pewee, scarlet tanager, Baltimore oriole, hairy woodpecker, worm-eating warbler,
and wood thrush (Table 3).64 Although its preferred habitat of shrubby successional growth is
limited on the reservation, an eastern towhee was also observed between survey points. Priority
Species are those bird species that represent priorities for conservation in southern New England
for several reasons, including global threats to the species, high concern for regional or local
populations, or responsibility for conserving large or important populations of the species. Bird
species that are state-listed as Endangered, Threatened, or Special Concern, federally-listed
under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, or identified on the U.S. National Watch List, are also
grouped as Priority Species.
Table 5-3 – Priority Species, 2006-2007 Breeding Bird Survey, Cormier Woods
Species
Priority Species
Status65
Baltimore Oriole
HCP-HRRA
Eastern Towhee
HRCB
Eastern Wood-Peewee
HRC
Hairy Woodpecker
HRC
Scarlet Tanager
HCP-HRR
Wood thrush
HCP-HRR
Worm-eating Warbler
HCP-HRR
64
Dettmers, Randy, and Kenneth V. Rosenberg, 2000. Partners in Flight Landbird Conservation Plan:
Physiographic Area 9: Southern New England. Version 1: October 2000.
65
Priority Species as identified in Partners in Flight Landbird Conservation Plan: Physiographic Area 9: Southern
New England (October 2000). Priority Species Status categories include:
A
HCP-HRR = High Continental Priority-High Regional Responsibility. Refers to species for which this region
shares a major conservation responsibility (i.e., conservation in this region is critical to the overall health of this
species).
B
HRC = High Regional Concern. Species that are experiencing declines in the core of their range and which
require short-term conservation action to reverse or stabilize trends. These are species with a combination of high
area importance and declining (or unknown) population trend.
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Several species recorded during the 2007 breeding bird survey are “indicator species” for interior
forest or mature forest. Included in this guild are ovenbird, red-eyed vireo, scarlet tanager,
northern waterthrush, blue-gray gnatcatcher, veery, and wood thrush. A barred owl, which
inhabits extensive mature, moist forests, was also observed. Common yellowthroat, red-winged
blackbird, eastern kingbird, and northern waterthrush are associated with the extensive wetland
habitat on the property.
The non-indigenous brown-headed cowbird was recorded during the breeding bird survey.
However, this species was not detected in significant numbers. Blue jay, a native species that
occasionally preys upon the eggs and young of other bird species, was recorded once during the
survey.
Future management of the natural resources at Cormier Wood, including developing a new trail
system, should consider the habitat needs of priority bird species. Disturbance to the extensive
forest habitat should be avoided or at least minimized to protect habitat for interior forest bird
species such as ovenbird, wood thrush, and scarlet tanager.
5.9.3 Amphibians and Reptiles
The varied upland and wetland environments at Cormier Woods support a range of amphibians
and reptiles. Some species have been confirmed during vernal pool surveys and by chance
observation. Additional targeted surveys could identify other species.
Woodland Vernal Pools are known to provide critical breeding habitat for wood frogs and
spotted salamanders (Watch-listed). Blue-spotted salamanders (Special Concern) could also be
found with closer examination. These seasonal pools and other shallow, temporary or permanent
freshwater habitats at Cormier Woods likely support American toads, green frogs, spring
peepers, and gray tree frogs. Bullfrogs occur in deeper, permanent water bodies and, therefore,
may be found in the shrub swamps. Pickerel frogs have already been observed in the red maple
swamps. Four-toed salamanders (Special Concern) prefer habitat conditions such as red maple
swamps with sphagnum mats. The northern dusky salamander is possible in the seeps, small
streams and swamps. Marbled salamanders (Threatened), which utilize dry vernal pools in late
summer, have been documented in the town of Uxbridge and may be present on the property.
The upland forest provides seasonal habitat for many species dependant upon wetlands, as well
as excellent year-round habitat for terrestrial species. Northern red-back salamanders are likely
abundant in the Mixed Oak Forest mosaic. Box turtles (Special Concern) have been documented
in the area and may occur throughout the reservation’s extensive oak forest and field edges.
Garter snakes have been seen basking and are probably the most common snake on the property
given their wide range of habitat tolerance. Although no other species of snake were observed,
others, such as northern water snake, northern ringneck snake, eastern ribbon snake, black racer,
smooth green snake, and milk snake, may occur on the property. The ledges and rock outcrops
may provide important snake habitat and should be targeted for future study.
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5.9.4 Invertebrates
Little is known about the invertebrate community aside from general observations during field
surveys for other taxa. The diversity of wetland and aquatic habitats at Cormier Woods supports
numerous aquatic and semi-aquatic species. Woodland Vernal Pools on the property support a
variety of insects, including caddisfly (Limnephilidae family), predaceous diving beetle, fairy
shrimp, and the larvae of mosquitoes, damselflies, and dragonflies. The fields provide abundant
host and nectar plants for native pollinators, and the Scrub Oak Shrubland may support obligate
invertebrates (i.e., moths). Butterflies commonly observed on the property include mourning
cloaks, eastern commas, spring azures, common wood nymphs, and duskywings. Bald-faced
hornets, yellow-jackets, and other bees and wasps are abundant throughout the reservation’s
wetlands. Additional surveys, particularly in the fields, wetlands, and Scrub Oak Shrubland
could be productive and reveal rare and uncommon species.
5.10 Significant Ecological Features
•
Rare Plant Communities - Two Priority Natural Community Types were identified at
Cormier Woods. At least seven of the Woodland Vernal Pools (S3) on the property support
breeding habitat for obligate species. The numerous vernal ponds (and other temporary
pools) located on the property support meta-populations of vernal pool-dependent wildlife
such as spotted salamanders and wood frogs, thereby providing long-term stability to this
important wildlife resource. The lack of fragmentation of surrounding forested habitat adds
to the value of the vernal pool complex. The small Scrub Oak Shrubland (S1) is notable as
well. A survey of the invertebrate population could reveal significant Scrub Oak Shrubland
indicator species.
•
Rare Species - Three state-listed plant species and nine rare wildlife species have been
observed at Cormier Woods. A vigorous population of watch-listed showy goldenrod
(Solidago speciosa) grows in the fields north and south of Chapin/Southwick Street. The
plants appear to prefer the slopes grading to the wetlands on the east side of the Northeast
and South Fields. The colony consists of hundreds of plants. Orange milkweed (Watchlisted) also occurs sporadically along the east side of the Northeast Field. The annual
mowing regime appears to sustain these plants and should be perpetuated. In addition, a
small population of state-threatened slender-leaved ladies’ tresses was discovered growing in
the fields. This species is associated with little bluestem and wood betony where herbaceous
cover is relatively sparse. Given the orchid’s diminutive size, future surveys may yield
additional flowering stems. Future monitoring and management (when necessary) should be
undertaken to ensure the integrity of these rare species populations.
Spotted salamanders, a watch-listed species in Massachusetts, have been observed in six
vernal pools on the property. The property’s vernal pools will continue to function as
breeding habitat for dependent wildlife as long as the pools themselves and their bordering
upland forest habitats remain unaltered and recreational impacts are prevented or minimized.
Three watch-listed bird species have been seen on the property including eastern bluebird,
turkey vulture, and red-shouldered hawk. In addition, several species with Partners in Flight
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Priority Status have been observed at the reservation including eastern wood-peewee, wood
thrush, hairy woodpecker, scarlet tanager, eastern towhee, worm-eating warbler, and
Baltimore oriole.
Given the diversity of habitats at Cormier Woods, it is possible that future surveys will
identify additional rare species on the property. Eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina), oak
hairstreak butterfly (Satyrium favonius), and marbled salamander (Abystoma opacum) may
utilize the extensive oak forests on the property. Early successional and open field habitat
may support tall nut-sedge (Scleria triglomerata) and papillose nut-sedge (S. pauciflora var.
caroliniana). Climbing fern (Lygodium palmatum) has been recorded nearby in Uxbridge
and may be found along edges of the property’s extensive wetlands.
•
Interior Forest Habitat – Contiguous forest, divided only by a narrow road, provides
important habitat for some forest nesting birds (e.g., ovenbird, scarlet tanager, wood thrush,
red-eyed vireo, northern waterthrush, blue-gray gnatcatcher, and veery). The mature forest also
provides habitat for barred owls and brown creepers, and possibly pileated woodpeckers,
which prefer large trees. Adjacent forest protection is needed to maintain the long-term
habitat value of the forest at Cormier.
•
Rare Grassland Habitat - Approximately six acres of cultural grasslands on either side of
Chapin/Southwick Street provide unusual diversity to the site and local area. These are some
of the few remaining open fields in eastern Uxbridge/western Mendon, and have the least
amount of invasive exotic plants of all the fields observed in the vicinity. Furthermore, they
support two state-listed plant species. While not large enough to support nesting grassland
birds, these lightly managed fields likely provide habitat for a wide-range of invertebrates.
Additional botanical surveys in spring and summer and inventories for invertebrates and
reptiles, such as eastern box turtle, may reveal other significant findings.
•
Bat Colony – The barn on the north side of Chapin/Southwick Street currently provides
roosting habitat for a large colony of big brown bats. As one of the greatest nocturnal
predators of flying insects, the bats at Cormier Woods provide a unique ecological function
and add to the overall natural and educational value of property. The serious decline in bat
populations across the Northeast over the past two years due to an unknown illness adds to
the significance of this feature.
5.11 Significant Ecological Threats
•
Off-Road Vehicle Activity – The land along the western boundary of the property has several
trails and cart paths, at least some of which have been created by off-road vehicles. One such
trail goes up and over the steep slope of an esker-like hill, causing plant damage and erosion.
Trails are eroding the soils and provide avenues for incursion by nearby exotic invasive
species.
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•
Illegal Harvesting – There is illegal cutting of trees on Cormier property behind a house
along Chapin/Southwick Street. This thinning of the trees and associated soil disturbances
not only is illegal but also jeopardizes the integrity of the tree cover and soils.
•
Exotic Invasive Species – Non-native invasive plant species are encroaching along the edges
of Cormier Woods, with the highest infestations occurring around field edges and old cellar
holes near the western border of the property. Invasive exotics are also spreading along
nearby roads and wetlands. However, overall, Cormier Woods is remarkably free of invasive
exotics and future management should ensure it remains this way
•
Deer Browse – Signs of deer are plentiful on the property. Over-browsing by deer can
reduce plant species diversity and plant community structure, which in turn can affect faunal
diversity due to the reliance of many wildlife and insect species on specific plants. Deer are
known to preferentially browse members of the lily and orchid families and pose a threat to
the rare plant species identified on the property.
•
Mowing practices – Alterations in the frequency and timing of field mowing could threaten
or benefit the rare plant populations in the fields. Regular mowing helps to prevent trees,
shrubs, and invasive species from colonizing the fields. However, depending on the timing,
mowing could reduce the seed set and/or carbohydrate storage of desired species. Mowing
also has the potential to affect invertebrate diversity.
•
Development of the Surrounding Landscape – The ecological value of the habitats at
Cormier Woods is greatly enhanced by their continuity with adjacent similar habitats.66 Over
the long-term, development would reduce and fragment the forest, streams, and adjacent
wetlands, thereby greatly reducing the habitat value of Cormier Woods. Development of the
surrounding landscape may also increase the amount and speed of traffic along
Chapin/Southwick Street. Increased traffic would threaten rare amphibians and reptiles
migrating between wetlands and vernal pools.
•
Climate Change – Climate change poses a new type and scale of threat to our natural areas.
Research on how we can best adapt to the changes and mitigate the impacts is underway.
Impacts will be felt throughout all of The Trustees properties, but at varying degrees. Global
warming has the potential to significantly alter the ecosystems and natural resources of
Massachusetts in future decades by accelerating the rate of sea level rise, increasing the
frequency and intensity of storms, and changing the distribution and abundance of flora and
fauna due to a milder climate. While solutions to these problems typically lay beyond the
scope of our management, considering potential impacts in our planning efforts may help
mitigate problems in the future.
66
See Cormier Woods Vicinity Report by Frances Clark 2007.
Natural Resources
5-25
5.12 Significant Ecological Opportunities
•
Rare Species Surveys – Additional focused surveys will enhance the understanding of the
biodiversity of the site. Plant surveys in spring and early summer would likely add to the
species list and help identify the presence of any additional rare plant species that have been
recorded in the surrounding area. The fields, Scrub Oak Shrubland, and wetlands should be
surveyed for invertebrates (i.e., Lepidoptera and Odonata). The Woodland Vernal Pools
should be investigated further to determine the presence of any rare or uncommon species
(e.g., marbled salamander, spotted turtle, etc.).
•
Eradicate Invasive Exotic Species -- Priority should be given to protecting priority habitats
(e.g., the fields and associated rare species, Woodland Vernal Pools, and Scrub Oak
Shrubland). Clearing multiflora rose, bittersweet, winged euonymus, and other non-native
plants is manageable at this time. Invasive species management on this property should
focus on early detection and rapid response.
•
Deer Hunting – A policy can be developed that encourages bow hunting for deer. This will
help to address the problems created by excessive deer browsing.
•
Mowing -- Research on desired plant species needs, including consultation with NHESP,
should be conducted to determine the best practices for managing the rare plant populations
on the property. Additionally, a survey of invertebrate species and their host plants would
provide a better idea of how to maintain or enhance these populations through the mowing
regime.
•
Ecological Trail Design – New trails offer an opportunity for visitors to enjoy the forest,
glacial features (particularly glacial erratics), large and unusual trees, birds, and other
wildlife. Careful planning should consider the effects visitor disturbance on sensitive
ecological features. Rock ledges, wetlands, and certain species of forest interior birds, such
as the northern waterthrush, wood thrush, and ovenbird, are known to be vulnerable to
disturbance. Erosion and habitat fragmentation are increasing issues on many Trustees
reservations. Careful planning early on can help avoid these problems at Cormier Woods.
•
Education and Conservation – Cormier Woods offers an excellent opportunity to engage and
educate visitors about several environmental issues including bat conservation and watershed
protection. The colony of bats roosting in the barn on the north side of Chapin/Southwick
Street provides an opportunity to educate the public about the regional threats currently
facing these animals and the important ecological functions they provide. The importance of
Cormier Woods in protecting the West and Blackstone River watersheds can also serve as a
focal point for community engagement.
Natural Resources
5-26
Section 6: Structural Resources
6.1
Introduction
The following section lists and describes the built features found at Cormier Woods.
These features include:
• 18th century house listed on the National Register of Historic Places
• 18th century barn located on the homestead
• 20th century barn located on the homestead
• 19th century (possibly 18th century) barn located across Chapin Street.
Other features include trails and their associated infrastructure, and other visitor support
features. The current use and condition of each structure is described and assessed and
any threats to the integrity of these features are identified.
6.2
Buildings
Dolbear/ChapinHouse
The Dolbear/Chapin House was built between 1744
and 1752. It was placed on the National Register of
Historic Places in 1983 for its architectural
significance. The National Register nomination
reads, “The E. Albee House67 possesses integrity of
location, design, setting, workmanship and feeling
and is an important local example of a vernacular
house type that was built on farmsteads during the
initial settlement of Uxbridge in the early and mideighteenth century.”
The house has a rectangular floor plan set on a foundation of random granite ashlar with
some granite facings and enclosed by a gambrel roof. The original façade was the south
elevation, which is not visible from the public right of way. It is possible that the room
on the north side extended almost the full width of the house and did not have a small
room at either end as it does currently. All work performed on the house should be
conducted in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment
of Historic Properties.
Current condition
The house is currently undergoing simple renovations to make it more energy efficient
and adaptable for rental as a residence. A new cedar roof was installed in 2007 and the
heating system was replaced with a highly efficient direct vent propane-fired boiler. The
interior is clean, painted, and filled with interesting architectural details including a
double “good morning” staircase. While the house is stable, it does not sit properly on
67
The Dolbear/Chapin House was erroneously identified as the E. Albee House in the National Register
nomination documents.
Structural Resources
6- 1
the foundation walls. The east wall is supported with adjustable lally columns and this
instability is visible at both the east and west ends of the house where the floors are
bowed and some cracking occurs along the walls. The center chimney is stable and well
supported and is essentially holding the house up in the center, thus creating these
structural issues as the perimeter of the house settles. The existing septic system is on the
south side of the road at the east end of the house and is currently served by leading pits.
This system was replaced and certified Title V compliant prior to acquisition of the
property by The Trustees.
Garage and Shed
A 20th century garage and 18th century shed sit
directly to the south of the house. The shed has
a small 300 square foot footprint and may have
once housed animals on its ground floor. The
garage and shed are built into the hill, their
respective stone foundations acting as retaining
walls. The garage, which may have been built
partially on the location of an extant barn, is of
20th century timber frame construction and in
excellent shape. The garage has over 2,000
square feet of space and includes a second story
loft space accessible via an interior stair. Both
buildings received new cedar shingle roofs when the main house was re-roofed.
Barn
This eighteenth-century gable entry timber frame
barn appears to have some joinery reflective of
English tie joints. The 2,400-square foot structure
is stable but compromised at the eaves and also at
the bottom sill plates. The construction is
interesting as it has evidence of traditional bent
construction without the roofing purlin structure
that would traditionally tie the barn together and
provide its architectural integrity. The joints at the
bents and eaves are either split or crushed,
illustrating the outward pressure of the roof rafters
on the eaves. These bents and rafters should be tied
together with timber lock screws to stabilize the structure. Since the bottom plate sits on
and in the ground, years of deterioration have compromised the sill and the connections
of the walls to the sills and the adjacent bays. The creation of the original dairy, existing
workshop and the hay lofts worked to help preserve the structural integrity. The barn
roof is relatively new and the red asphalt siding protects the original wooden skin of the
barn’s exterior. Immediate attention should be paid to the stabilization of the barn roof
structure.
Structural Resources
6- 2
Map 9 - Structural Resources at Cormier Woods
Structural Resources
6- 3
6.3
Trails, Roads and Associated Infrastructure
The trail network at Cormier Woods consists of a mixture of foot trails and existing cart
paths located predominantly on the south side of Chapin Street. Entrance to the majority
of the trail network is situated opposite the parking area on Chapin Street. The trail
network is approximately 2.7 miles in length and travels through a glaciated terrain
consisting mainly of a mixed hardwood forest. The trail network is in good shape with
new trails cut to connect the existing cart paths and foot trails. A large central loop
travels through a boulder field and along exposed rock ledges with a smaller loop around
the western portion of the property and the former White Homestead. A minor amount of
reworking of the trails will be required to prevent erosion and to block and cover some of
the ATV trails that are located on the property.
Table 6-1: Trail Types and Conditions
Trail Name
6.4
Miles
Trail A
0.4
Trail B
1.4
Trail C
Trail D
Type
0.7
0.05
Footpath
Footpath/cart
path
Footpath/ cart
path
Cart path
Trail E
0.2
Trail F
0.05
Condition
Description
Good
New trail, short loop
Good
Main loop trail
Good
Good
White Homestead Loop
Short cut
Footpath
Good
Short cut
Cart path
Good
Dead end to brook
Routine Maintenance
A complete list of all routine maintenance tasks associated with the structures located on
the property will be included in the Prescribed Routine Management Program in Section
Eleven of this plan. Periodic renewal projects for the buildings (e.g., roof replacement)
are listed and tracked in the organization’s structural resource database (www.structuralresources.org).
All site structures including stone walls and trail improvement structures (e.g., culverts,
boardwalks) should be monitored annually and after every major storm for signs of wear
and deterioration. All vegetation should be cleared from stone structures as the
establishment of young vegetation can lead to the development of mature plants that will
compromise structural integrity.
Structural Resources
6- 4
6.5
Capital Renewal and Improvement
When creating a management plan it is important to proactively plan for the renewal of
building systems. The guideline for building a reserve to pay for renewal needs is to set
aside 2% of the building replacement value for renewal needs. In the case of the
buildings at Cormier Woods, the annual renewal need is calculated at $15,040. This
figure assumes that all building systems were recently renewed and does not include
renewal costs for infrastructure (e.g., driveways, utility lines).
Table 6-2: Building System Renewal
Description
Size (sq ft)
Cost per sq ft
Total Cost
Renewal Need
Dolbear/Chapin
House
2,300
$150
$345,000
$6,900
Barn
2,400
$80
$192,000
$3,840
Shed
300
$50
$15,000
$300
Garage
2,000
100
$200,000
$4,000
Total
7,000
--
$752,000
$15,040
Major capital improvement projects that may be needed in the next ten years include
stabilization of the Dolbear/Chapin house foundation ($25,000); stabilization of barn
framing ($20,000); stabilization or replacement of the barn roof ($15,000), and
replacement of the existing siding on the barn with locally sawn vertical siding ($35,000).
All projects should be conducted using the most sustainable practices available and with
consideration of the Secretary of Interior’s Standards.
6.6
Significance of Structural Resources
•
The Dolbear/Chapin House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its
architectural significance. (For more information on the significance of Cormier’s
structures, see Section 4: Cultural Resources.)
•
Trails are the primary means by which visitors access the reservation and its
significant features. Thus, the regular maintenance of trails and related infrastructure
is critical to ensure visitor safety and provide a positive visitor experience.
Structural Resources
6- 5
6.7
•
•
•
Significant Threats to Structural Resources
The Dolbear/Chapin House is a significant historic resource and proper routine
operations must be performed in a timely manner. Funds need to be set aside
annually to plan for renewal before building systems fail.
The Dolbear/Chapin House will be rented to a private tenant. Careful selection of
occupants is necessary to ensure the preservation of this historic structure and its
significant features.
The barn roof and the timber post sub-structure are in danger of failing and need
immediate structural stabilization.
6.8
Significant Opportunities
•
The Dolbear/Chapin House and surrounding landscape tell the story of the colonial
settlement of Uxbridge, a story that should be conveyed to the users of this property.
Features which provide emphasis include the rich network of stone walls, natural
ponds and streams, natural resources including the colony of bats located in the barn,
and the rare architectural features including the timber frame barn and an eighteenthcentury gambrel roofed colonial home. Together, these features can be interpreted to
tell the story of people, land and place.
•
The barn is currently occupied by an extant colony of bats. Use of the barn could be
conducted in a manner that preserves the colony, so long as the bats do not present a
structural or public health hazard. Interpretation of the bat colony could be an
interesting element of the visitor experience.
Structural Resources
6- 6
Section 7: The Visitor Experience
7.1
Introduction
Cormier Woods was opened to the public as The Trustees’ 100th reservation on October 18,
2008. Based on the initial interest at the property opening and observations during the months
following the opening, it appears that visitation consists mainly of local residents who utilize the
property for hiking and dog walking. A number of visitors who attended the property opening
have already volunteered to help with the stewardship of the property. Approximately 10-15
visitors access the property during the week with higher numbers on the weekend.
7.2
Current Visitor Use
A few local residents have established regular use of the existing trails for hiking and dog
walking. Some unapproved trails have been created in the northwestern corner of the reservation
for snowmobile and all-terrain vehicle (ATV) use. The use of motorized vehicles, particularly
ATVs, is having a significant adverse impact on the ecological resources of the property. The
noise from this unapproved use degrades the experience for other users of the reservation,
particularly those interested in a peaceful hike or exploration of the natural resources. Trustees
staff will need to work cooperatively with local enforcement officials to enforce our regulations
and to educate ATV riders about the effects their activity has on the property’s ecology and
others’ enjoyment of the reservation. Additionally, the property boundaries will be marked to
include signage prohibiting motorized vehicles at all access points to the property.
7.3
Anticipated Future Visitor Use
Who will visit the reservation?
Local residents of Uxbridge and Mendon are expected to be the most frequent visitors to the
property. In the first few months after its opening, the property can expect to experience an
initial pulse of visitors consisting of Trustees members who are interested in visiting all new
reservations; it is unlikely, however, that this group will include many repeat visitors to the
reservation. Cross-promotion with the Blackstone Valley Heritage Corridor could encourage
visitors from further afield. Programming at the property will be designed to encourage repeat
visits by the local audience and to cultivate a strong visitor base.
What types of recreational activities will be offered?
Cormier Woods will provide opportunities for hiking and walking; dog walking; snowshoeing
and cross-country skiing; and nature exploration.
Given the property’s rolling, rocky topography, providing trail access for people with disabilities
is not anticipated.
The Visitor Experience
7- 1
Occasional equestrian use of the property is likely, though not expected to be a common use due
to the limited trail network and limited parking space for horse trailers. Hunting will be
permitted at the reservation, in accordance with the Commonwealth’s established regulations in
designated areas on the reservation.
Activities that will be prohibited on the reservation include excavation of archaeological sites,
the use of motorized vehicles, collecting of any of the flora or fauna, camping, and the building
of any fires.
What type of experience do we hope to provide to our visitors?
Cormier Woods will offer the traditional Trustees experience which consists of passive
recreation in a quiet, peaceful and scenic natural setting. We will offer all visitors the
opportunity to learn about the reservation’s natural and cultural history. Formal programming
will be offered periodically to allow visitors to further explore the reservation and to better
understand its ecological and cultural significance. Whatever their reasons for coming to the
reservation, The Trustees will make all efforts to ensure our visitors to Cormier Woods have a
positive experience at the property. It is only through positive experiences on our reservations
that we can hope to instill in our visitors an appreciation of open spaces and begin to cultivate a
sense of stewardship for these special places.
7.4
Access and Circulation
7.4.1 Arrival and Parking
The reservation’s location may make it difficult for visitors to find the property. Recognizing
this potential issue, staff will install approach signs on nearby town roads in addition to posting
accurate and easy to follow directions on the organization’s website and in future editions of the
property guide issued to all Trustees members.
A parking area designed to accommodate six to eight vehicles was created in the area next to the
barn along Chapin Street. The lot is not paved, but utilizes an existing cleared area and will be
delineated with directional signage. A break in the stone wall nearby will allow for additional
parking in the field during events or special programs. The location of the proposed parking area
was carefully chosen so as not to detract from the scenic and historical character of the
reservation. From this area, visitors will be able to access both portions of the reservation, on
either side of Chapin Street, though a road crossing will be necessary. Staff will take all
reasonable measures to ensure that the road crossing is made as safe as possible. This will
include consultations with the Town of Uxbridge to investigate the possibility of installing
signage and/or a crosswalk across Chapin Street or some other form of traffic calming measure.
7.4.2 Trails
When the Cormier Woods property was acquired by The Trustees, several cart paths, dating back
several generations, were in existence on the property. These cart paths will form the core of the
reservation’s trail network. Prior to the formal opening of the reservation, an additional singletrack trail was created to enhance the user’s enjoyment of the property. Connections were made
The Visitor Experience
7- 2
to link up the existing paths to this single tract path to form a contiguous trail corridor. The
existing trails are illustrated on Map 9 in the previous section and on Map 10, below.
Map 10 – Trail Network at Cormier Woods
The Visitor Experience
7- 3
7.5
Visitor Services
Cormier Woods will not be a staffed reservation. It is located in a rural area and is expected to
receive a relatively low to moderate rate of visitation. As such, visitor services at the property
will be very basic. A kiosk is located in the parking area and conveys basic information about
the reservation and about The Trustees. A map of the property is displayed to aid in visitor
navigation and a take-away brochure (also including a trail map) is available, including
membership information.
7.5.1
Proposed Regulations on Visitor Use
1. Please respect the tranquility of Cormier Woods and others’ enjoyment of their visit here.
2. Dogs must be on leash or kept in sight and under voice control at all times. Please remove
their waste from the reservation. Dog owners must follow additional rules posted
separately.
3. Cormier Woods is open from sunrise to sunset. Entering or remaining on the property at
other times is prohibited.
4. Mountain biking is permitted except where posted.
5. Seasonal hunting is permitted.
6. The following are prohibited at Cormier Woods:
• Consuming or possessing alcoholic beverages
• Fires, camping, littering, or dumping
• Motorized vehicles (except for authorized management purposes)
• Disturbing, removing, defacing, cutting, or otherwise causing damage to a natural
feature, sign, poster, stone wall, or other barrier, vegetation, or other property.
7.6
Education and Interpretation
The Trustees will promote Cormier Woods as a site for learning about the relationship between
people, land and place. The reservation illustrates beautifully the colonial settlement of the area
and how land and people influenced one another during this time. It also illustrates the
demographic changes that industrialization brought to the Blackstone Valley as new immigrants
worked the hill farms that fed the mill workers in the growing factories below. Features which
tell this story and provide emphasis include the rich network of stone walls, natural ponds and
streams, natural resources and land uses, and the rare architectural features including the timber
frame barn and the eighteenth-century gambrel-roofed colonial home.
Place-based educational and interpretive programs for Cormier Woods may include formal,
structured programs such as guided walks or self-guided explorations, such as a quest.
Interesting and/or significant natural or cultural resources on the reservation may be identified by
interpretive signs. The landscape history of Cormier Woods would undoubtedly be the primary
theme of any interpretive efforts.
The Visitor Experience
7- 4
7.7
Summary of Highlights of the Visitor Experience
Largely intact eighteenth-century landscape. Cormier Woods is a rare example of a largely
intact eighteenth-century landscape with original structures of the period. The interpretation of
this landscape could be the focus of a quest (a self-guided exploration similar to a treasure hunt)
or a series of guided walks.
Natural resources. The reservation features an interesting array of natural resources including
grassland species, interior woodland birds, vernal ponds, and bats. Offering periodic guided
walks to the public will encourage a broader understanding of these resources.
7.8
Possible Threats to the Visitor Experience
•
The use of motorized recreational vehicles, including snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles, is
an established use on the property. This activity is damaging to ecological resources and
impacts the visitor experience at the property by disturbing the quiet, serene character of the
reservation.
•
Visitors will have to cross Chapin Street to access the western portion of the reservation from
the parking area. Staff will take all possible precautions to ensure the crossing is made as
safe as possible, including discussions with the Town of Uxbridge about the installation of
signage and/or a crosswalk.
•
The Dolbear/Chapin House will be rented by The Trustees to a private tenant. The area of
the reservation that is not accessible to the public will need to be carefully demarcated. As
part of the lease agreement with the tenant, the farmstead area around the house and the
house itself should be accessible on occasion for guided tours or other interpretive programs.
7.9
Opportunities to Enhance the Visitor Experience
Cormier Woods has several significant or unique features that could provide a window into the
Reservation for visitors:
•
The colony of little brown bats in the historic barn next to the prospective parking area
could be a unique “hook” for interpreting ecological dynamics (wildlife interactions,
Cormier’s connections to a larger landscape) and threats (white nose syndrome, climate
change);
•
The historic barn itself will not be rented to a private tenant and thus could provide an
opportunity to interpret Cormier Woods’ history of early settlement, agricultural
development, and demographic change as immigrant groups moved into the Blackstone
The Visitor Experience
7- 5
Valley to both work in the industrial sites along the River and work on the hill farms
supplying the growing population in the Valley below;
•
Cormier Woods could be cross-promoted with the Blackstone Valley Heritage Corridor,
tying it in with the larger regional history and with a broader visitor pool;
•
Cormier Woods could be cross-promoted with neighboring Southwick’s Zoo, a major
regional attraction with a conservation mission;
•
Scenic Chapin Street is well known among local bikers and runners – Cormier could be a
focal point for future organized bike-rides and runs;
•
The historic barn, once rehabilitated, could provide a base of operations for special events
and educational activities;
•
The impressive concentration of glacial boulders along one of the western trails, and the
archaeological remains of the White Homestead, are likewise interesting windows into
the property’s history;
•
The historic house, rented to a private tenant, could be opened for public tours once or
twice a year for special events;
•
The fruit tree orchard and the blueberry patch, both near the parking area, could be
enhanced and/or modestly replanted to provide visitors with an informal (and edible)
interaction with the landscape;
•
The garden plots – particularly the rock garden on Chapin Street – are an interesting
feature and could be restored to reflect how they appeared in the Kozloski era; a neighbor
has expressed interest in volunteering to replant and maintain the rock garden;
•
Working with a local farmer to pasture a few animals in the meadows (very limited
numbers so as to not impact the rare species) could enhance the visitor experience;
•
Hunting is a valued part of the local culture and will be allowed (in accordance with State
regulations) at Cormier Woods, helping The Trustees better serve our new audience;
partnership activities with local sporting clubs could raise our local profile and support
for additional land conservation efforts, and could help educate the public about
ecological resources (managing the deer herd to reduce excessive browsing and Lyme
disease) and about where food comes from;
•
Agriculture in Uxbridge has a long history but is currently in decline; an engaging
agriculture program at Cormier Woods could bring in many new visitors and supporters,
but is difficult because rare and native species in the existing fields preclude intensive
agricultural use. Acquisition of critical lands parcels containing scenic fields on
Blackstone Street could provide a highly visible presence on a major thoroughfare and
provide a base for an accessible, engaging CSA program – allowing us to augment an
The Visitor Experience
7- 6
existing reservation to reach new audiences, spend less money than acquiring expensive
new properties, and raise awareness and support for local agriculture.
•
Local bird watchers have contacted The Trustees expressing interest in leading birdwatching walks.
•
The Bay State Trail Riders Association has expressed interest in using Cormier Woods
and their membership could be a good support base in the future.
•
A network of local folk and bluegrass musicians has expressed interest in giving
occasional small outdoor performances at Cormier Woods.
The Visitor Experience
7- 7
Section 8: Current Management
8.1
Introduction
This section will provide an overview of the resources available for the stewardship of
Cormier Woods, including staffing, equipment and financial resources, committees and
volunteers, and membership.
8.2
Description of the Current Management Program
Cormier Woods is now open to the public. This plan presents a proposed routine
maintenance program for the stewardship of the property. Staff members have spent a
minimal amount of time at the reservation thus far, providing only the most basic level of
stewardship. Now that property management goals and a vision for the future of the
reservation have been articulated in this management plan, an annual routine
management program for the reservation will be developed. If implemented fully, this
program, detailed in Section 11, will demonstrate an appropriate level of care for Cormier
Woods while also ensuring a positive visitor experience.
8.3
Resources Available for Property Stewardship
8.3.1 Staffing Resources
In January 2010, Cormier Woods was transferred from the Central Region to the Greater
Boston Region’s Charles River Valley Management Unit (CRVMU). The CRVMU
stewards 17 properties totaling more than 2,900 acres. The CRVMU has three full-time
field staff (a Superintendent, an Assistant Superintendent, and a Maintenance Technician)
capable of working at the property. In addition, the Land Protection Specialist from the
Greater Boston Region contributes with programs and events to promote the property and
leads the cause of land protection in the area. Each will be involved in the maintenance
and management of Cormier Woods. Several seasonal maintenance assistants conduct
daily maintenance tasks performed unit-wide in the spring, summer and fall. The
majority of the maintenance operations will be performed by the Assistant
Superintendent and Maintenance Technician based at Powisset Farm located in Dover.
Due to the distance of Cormier Woods from the management base of operations, it may
be difficult to perform some basic routine maintenance operations in a timely manner.
To be more efficient, some tasks have been outsourced. For example, the plowing of the
parking lot has been subcontracted to a local contractor. The current tenant at the
Dolbear/Chapin House is paid for five hours of work on a weekly basis. This work
includes the stocking of the bulletin board, picking up trash, performing minor trail
maintenance, upkeep of the rock garden and plantings around the home. The tenant is
charged with reporting any issues on the property and provides a measure of security.
Current Management
8- 1
Any structural maintenance or repairs to the Dolbear/Chapin house are currently
performed by the regional carpenter based in Beverly. At this time, it is expected that the
available staffing resources within the Greater Boston Region will be adequate to meet
the routine management of Cormier Woods.
8.3.2 Equipment Resources
The management unit has several major pieces of equipment which may be used in the
stewardship of Cormier Woods: a Ford F-250 pick-up truck to transport staff, haul
equipment or trailer small equipment; a Ford F-350 dump truck to haul and empty large
loads and tow the regional chipper; and a Kubota M6800 with a front-end bucket used for
moving and loading materials. The following implements are also available: disc mower
for cutting brush fields; brush mower for mowing trails/carriage paths; post hole auger;
York rake for grading dirt roads and parking lots; and an excavator.
8.3.3 Financial Resources
For Fiscal Year 2009 (April 1, 2008- March 31, 2009), there were two primary sources of
income in the Cormier Woods operating budget, totaling $35,365: rental income and
interest on the property endowment. Other potential sources of income that could be
developed in the future include membership funds, reservation receipts (i.e., property
admissions), donations and grants.
Cormier Woods Projected Operating Income
Fiscal Year 2009
Rental Income
31%
Endowment
69%
Current Management
8- 2
Projected expenses for FY2009 total $40,852. These expenses fall into four categories:
staffing costs (i.e., an allocation of management unit and regional staff salaries, based on
the percentage of time spent at the reservation); property stewardship; building renewal;
and organizational allocations.
Cormier Woods Projected Expenses
Fiscal Year 2009
Allocations
9%
Building Renewal
28%
Stewardship
10%
8.4
Staffing
53%
Committees and Volunteers
There is currently no active management committee involved at Cormier Woods. The
Volunteer Program Manager, the Superintendent, the Greater Boston Land Protection
Specialist, and other Greater Boston Regional staff are working to reverse this trend.
There will be many opportunities to involve volunteers in the management of Cormier
Woods. Such opportunities include recruiting qualified individuals to offer occasional
interpretive programs or guided walks and utilizing volunteers to patrol and monitor trails
periodically. Many additional opportunities will be presented in the Implementation
Section of this management plan. An advocacy group called the Friends of Meadow
Brook Woods was formed in the spring of 2010 to advocate for and help maintain the 61acre conservation area, a critical land for Cormier Woods acquired by the Town of
Mendon in 2009. This group may enable The Trustees to leverage further volunteer
efforts in the immediate area, including at Cormier Woods.
8.5
Membership
Membership is critical to The Trustees, as the organization relies on the operating support
generated by its more than 44,000 members statewide. Likewise, membership revenue is
important in supporting the management and stewardship of Trustees reservations,
including Cormier Woods. As evidenced in Table 8-1 below, there are few Trustees
members in Uxbridge and Mendon at this time. This is not surprising, given that Cormier
Woods will be the first reservation in the community and, in fact, the first in the
Current Management
8- 3
Blackstone Valley. As such, The Trustees does not yet have a strong presence in the
region. It is hoped that the opening of Cormier Woods will introduce The Trustees to this
new audience in the Valley and that, over time, local membership will increase.
Table 8-1: TTOR Membership in Uxbridge & Mendon (As of June 2009)
Membership Type
Individual
Number of Members
Uxbridge
9
Number of Members
Mendon
9
Family
13
8
0
Contributing
Supporting
Other levels
TOTAL
8.6
1
2
0
23
19
Other Management Considerations
National Register of Historic Places. The Dolbear/Chapin House is listed on the
National Register for its architectural significance as a representation of typical, local
mid-eighteenth century residence. Any structural improvements or augmentation to the
house and its exterior façade should be done in accordance with guidelines set forth by
the National Park Service. Additionally, the main barn on the northeast side of Chapin
Street, while not listed on the National Register, is historically significant and renovation
and maintenance should be congruent with National Park Service guidelines.
Current Management
8- 4
Section 9: Land Conservation
9.1
Introduction
The Trustees of Reservations works to safeguard the ecological, scenic, and historic
integrity of its properties by promoting innovative land conservation options for parcels
near or adjacent to existing reservations. The Trustees also works to establish and
strengthen greenways and wildlife corridors linking and expanding nearby areas of
protected land, not all of which are necessarily owned by The Trustees. This section
identifies and ranks any parcels near or adjoining Cormier Woods that are priorities for
future land protection efforts.
9.2
Description and Evaluation
Cormier Woods, The Trustees’ first property in the Blackstone Valley, occurs on both
sides of the Uxbridge/Mendon border. This former dairy farm’s fields, woods, and
wooded wetlands lay along both sides of narrow, scenic Chapin (Uxbridge) and
Southwick (Mendon) Streets.
The 173-acre Cormier Woods reservation is at the center of a larger approximately 1,000acre undeveloped, mostly forested landscape. Cormier Woods’ connection to this larger
landscape is one of its most important scenic and ecological values.
Approximately 75 acres of undeveloped forest and fields on six privately owned parcels
border Cormier Woods to the west and north of the reservation, southwest of Chapin
Street and east of Blackstone Street in Uxbridge. Northeast of Chapin Street in Uxbridge
and Mendon about 440 mostly undeveloped forested acres on approximately 15
privately-owned parcels stretch north to Henry (Uxbridge) and Pleasant (Mendon) Streets
and east to Asylum Street in Mendon. Southeast of the property in Mendon and Millville
most of privately owned Southwick Animal Zoo’s 311 acres remain undeveloped;
Southwick Zoo connects to Mendon’s 116-acre Town Forest on Chestnut Hill to the east.
Southwest of the Reservation in Uxbridge are approximately 50 acres of forest and
wooded wetlands on 12 privately owned partially developed parcels northeast of Arbor
Road, Country Road and East Street.
9.2.1 Present Property Configuration and Description
Cormier Woods is split between Uxbridge (west) and Mendon (east).
The Town of Uxbridge Assessor’s Office lists three parcels as comprising Cormier
Woods:
• Parcel 26-4627 (217 Chapin Street [south side], Main House and Outbuildings,
69.79 acres);
Land Conservation
9- 1
•
•
Parcel 26-3876 (208 Chapin Street [north side], Barn, 23.49 acres);
Parcel 26-3684 (landlocked east of Blackstone Street, no structures, 51 acres).
The Town of Mendon Assessor’s Office lists three parcels as comprising Cormier
Woods:
• Parcel 25-219-16 (16 Southwick Street [north side], no structures, 30.38 acres);
• Parcel 25-219-15 (15 Southwick Street [south side], no structures, 4.34 acres);
• Parcel 25-219-13 (13 Southwick Street [south side], no structures, 1.37 acres).
9.2.2 Restricted Land at Cormier Woods
All of Cormier Woods’ parcels were acquired by The Trustees for uses consistent with its
overall conservation and recreation mission (Restrictions are listed in Section 3.7).
Also, utility lines on poles run along Chapin Street – it is likely that utility providers such
as National Grid have an easement along that route.
9.2.3 Roadways and Vehicular Access to the Property
Cormier Woods occurs on both sides of a narrow paved rural road named Chapin Street
in Uxbridge and Southwick Street in Mendon. The narrowness of the street and the
closeness to the roadside of trees, wetlands, and stone walls limit pull-off opportunities.
The current driveway to the house and outbuildings is on the southwest side of Chapin
Street and is the only existing access point for the property. An often-wet woods road
near a small pond is west of the main house on the southwest side of Chapin Street. The
eastern side of the property along Southwick Street in Mendon has more wetlands. A
somewhat overgrown woods road runs north from Southwick Street. Informal paths,
sometimes used by ATVs, enter the property from private parcels to the northwest, north,
and northeast.
9.2.4 Views from the Property
Cormier Woods is on a modest hill but the surrounding woods limit views beyond the
property. Maintaining the surrounding forested buffer is important for protecting the
scenic experience of the property.
9.2.5 Ecological and Landscape Considerations
Cormier Woods’ fields, forests, and wooded wetland are part of a 1,000-acre landscape of
similarly undeveloped land with few crossing roads – the Reservation’s connections to
this larger landscape are among its most important scenic and ecological values. This
larger 1,000-acre landscape includes Mendon’s 116-acre Chestnut Hill Town Forest and
175-acre Cormier Woods. The remaining mostly undeveloped properties, including 311acre Southwick’s Zoo, total approximately 700 acres and are unprotected. Cormier
Woods is part of the larger watershed draining northwest towards the Town of
Uxbridge’s Zone II Aquifer for several public drinking water wells. Three state-listed
plant species (one threatened and two watch-listed) have been identified in the property’s
fields.
Land Conservation
9- 2
9.3
Critical Lands
The Trustees has developed criteria for assessing adjacent and nearby lands that may be
important for maintaining a reservation’s integrity and special character. These “critical
lands” are ranked according to the impact, both positive and negative, they have to
existing resources on the reservation and by the potential impact to the reservation if they
were to be developed or their land use changed. The critical lands for Cormier Woods
have been ranked using the following criteria:
Critical: Parcels whose preservation is essential to the protection and integrity of
key features on the reservation, such as wetland and aquifer recharge areas,
hilltops and other unique landforms, scenic roads or road frontages, special
vegetative features, rare species habitat or scenic views seen from the
reservation. They also include parcels that eliminate in-holdings.
Significant: Parcels whose preservation would add significantly to the
reservation, but whose loss would not detract significantly from the character
and quality of the reservation.
Valuable: Parcels whose preservation would add to the scenic, historic or
ecological value of the reservation or would contribute to its efficient
management, but are not considered critical or significant (e.g., contiguous
parcels of land without unique features).
Critical:
Cormier Woods’ scenic and ecological values are greatly enhanced by the larger
undeveloped landscape surrounding it, so preserving most of those approximately 700
acres of unprotected land is an important long-term goal. Accordingly, large
undeveloped parcels near, but not abutting, the Reservation are more important to
Cormier Woods than they might otherwise be if they ultimately form part of a larger
assemblage of protected habitat. While only parcels with development potential directly
abutting the reservation are designated Critical, large non-abutting properties separated
by a parcel or two are part of this larger habitat area and are significant to Cormier’s
long-term ecological well-being.
Mendon Parcel 20-39. This undeveloped 50-acre parcel of forest and wooded wetland
with frontage on the west side of Asylum Street abuts Cormier Woods to the northeast. It
is a wildlife corridor and a central piece of the unfragmented forest protecting Wigwam
Brook. It contains a high-quality wetland and a 350-foot high knoll near the
Uxbridge/Mendon town line north of the reservation boundary and may support box
turtles. A scenic cart path crosses the property from Asylum Street to parcels to the
north. Access through the southwest edge of this parcel is required to establish a loop
trail system for the northeastern section of the Reservation. (Note: the assessors’ map
may be inaccurate; it appears likely this is two [or more] parcels – approximately 27
acres on Asylum Street, and approximately 20 land-locked acres under the same
Land Conservation
9- 3
ownership as Uxbridge Parcel 26-2122 – the Critical Lands Map in this management plan
shows this likely interpretation of registry plans).
Recommended Action: Acquire most or all of the parcel(s) as an addition to the
reservation, secure a conservation restriction, or assist the Town in acquiring it as public
open space.
Uxbridge Parcel 26-2122. This 43-acre parcel is developed with a house and barn on
Chapin Street with fields behind them to the east and south and a small pond and an
intermittent stream beyond. The eastern two-thirds of the parcel is unfragmented forest
rising to a rocky outcropping near the Uxbridge/Mendon town line north of the
Reservation boundary. (Note: this property likely includes an approximately 20-acre
land-locked parcel to the east in Mendon).
Recommended Action: Secure a conservation restriction on this parcel to protect both the
forest and wetland areas and the scenic appearance of the fields along the Chapin Street
approach to Cormier Woods. Acquisition of the forested eastern two-thirds as an
addition to the Reservation (or as Town-owned public open space) also would safeguard
ecological values and allow expansion of the trail system to the rocky hilltop. A trail
easement through the extreme southeastern corner of this parcel is required to skirt a
wetland to create a loop trail through the abutting section of Cormier Woods.
Uxbridge Parcels 26-2654 and 26-3423. These two undeveloped parcels of
approximately six or seven acres each abut the reservation’s western boundary along a
narrow stream/wetland corridor east of Blackstone Street. Together they contain a highly
scenic eight acre field. Protecting these parcels would help buffer the reservation’s
western boundary. Acquisition could provide an additional entrance point, a very
attractive public face along a well-traveled road, and relatively good soils for agriculture,
including a possible CSA engagement opportunity.
Recommended Action: Secure a conservation restriction on these parcels or acquire them
as an addition to the reservation.
Significant:
Mendon Parcel 20-94. This highly significant undeveloped 76.55-acre parcel with
extensive frontage along Park Street contains the eastern half of scenic 12-acre Inman
Pond, which is designated as Priority Habitat. This former dairy farm which was once a
summer retreat for a Rhode Island judge is now forested with mixed oak-white pine
woods and a red maple swamp buffering 1000 feet of Meadow Brook. This is one of the
five or six key undeveloped parcels north of the Reservation contributing to the
unfragmented habitat surrounding Cormier Woods.
Recommended Action: Secure a conservation restriction on this parcel, acquire it as an
addition to the reservation, or assist the Town in acquiring it as public open space.
Land Conservation
9- 4
Note: The Town of Mendon purchased 61 acres of this parcel in June 2009 for public use
and enjoyment conservation land known as “Meadow Brook Woods;” The Trustees holds
a conservation restriction.
Uxbridge Parcel 20-3869. This highly significant 7.25-acre parcel (excluding the area
of Inman Pond, which is under the same ownership as Mendon parcel 20-94) surrounds
the western half of Inman Pond (designated as Priority Habitat). It contains some
intermittently mown areas and small outbuildings associated with the developed parcels
fronting on Henry (Uxbridge) and Park (Mendon) Streets to the North. This is one of the
five or six key undeveloped parcels north of the reservation contributing to the
unfragmented habitat surrounding Cormier Woods.
Recommended Action: Secure a conservation restriction on this parcel, acquire it as an
addition to the reservation, or assist the Town in acquiring it as public open space.
Uxbridge Parcel 20-3732. This highly significant 18-acre parcel slopes south from
Henry Street through early and late successional fields to Meadow Brook and across a red
maple swamp to a small field opening. This is one of the five or six key undeveloped
parcels north of the reservation contributing to the unfragmented habitat surrounding
Cormier Woods.
Recommended Action: Secure a conservation restriction on this parcel, acquire it as an
addition to the reservation, or assist the Town in acquiring it as public open space.
Uxbridge Parcel 20-3627. This highly significant 44-acre parcel contains two sizeable
pastures, a mix of upland forest and red maple swamp, and a lengthy stretch of Meadow
Brook. Approximately five acres along the Henry Street frontage are developed with a
complex of former farm buildings; the frontage area and an interior clearing are used for
vehicle storage. This is one of the five or six key undeveloped parcels north of the
reservation contributing to the unfragmented habitat surrounding Cormier Woods. (Note
that 16 or more acres across the line in Mendon are likely under the same ownership).
Recommended Action: Secure a conservation restriction on this parcel, acquire it as an
addition to the reservation, or assist the Town in acquiring it as public open space.
Uxbridge Parcel 26-2183. This 3.28-acre parcel along Chapin Street north of Cormier
Woods is within larger “Critical” parcel 26-2122. It is attractive undeveloped woods,
which contributes to the scenic approach to the reservation.
Recommended Action: Secure a conservation restriction on this parcel, acquire it as an
addition to the reservation, or assist the Town in acquiring it as public open space.
Land Conservation
9- 5
Valuable:
Mendon Parcel 20-33. This 18-acre undeveloped parcel west of Asylum Street consists
of wooded upland and wetland along Meadow Brook and Wigwam Brook. Conserving
this property would preserve interior forest habitat and buffer Meadow Brook.
Recommended Action: Secure a conservation restriction on this parcel, or, if intervening
parcels might be protected, acquire it as an addition to the reservation, or assist the Town
in acquiring it as public open space.
Mendon Parcel 20-13. This 24-acre parcel west of Asylum Street and south of Pleasant
and Park Streets consists of wooded upland and wetland along Meadow Brook with a
house and yard in the northeastern section. Conserving most of this property would
preserve interior forest habitat and buffer Meadow Brook.
Recommended Action: Secure a conservation restriction on this parcel or, if intervening
parcels might be protected, acquire it as an addition to the reservation, or assist the Town
in acquiring it as public open space.
Mendon Parcel 20-82. The Park Street frontage of this 12.38-acre parcel is developed
with a single-family house and outbuildings, but the southern two-thirds consist of
wooded upland and wetland along Meadow Brook. Conserving the southern section of
this property would preserve interior forest habitat and buffer Meadow Brook, and
provide upland for a loop trail around the Meadow Brook wetlands, should the other
parcels be conserved.
Recommended Action: Secure a conservation restriction on this parcel or, if intervening
parcels might be protected, acquire the backlands as an addition to the reservation, or
assist the Town in acquiring the backlands public open space.
Uxbridge Parcels 20-4322. This 8.00-acre parcel along Hollis and Henry Streets is a
scenic undeveloped open field flanked by wooded uplands and contains a stretch of
Meadow Brook and its associated red maple swamp along its southern boundary.
Protection of this parcel would preserve scenic views and buffer Meadow Brook.
Recommended Action: Secure a conservation restriction on this parcel.
Uxbridge Parcel 26-4228. This approximately nine-acre parcel along Blackstone Street
is developed with a residential building complex and contains woods and wooded
wetlands along the northwest border of Cormier Woods. Precluding intensive
development of this parcel would help buffer the reservation, but more importantly the
slightly elevated woods road connecting the fields to the north along Blackstone Street
across the intervening wooded wetlands into Cormier Woods runs along the northern
boundary of this parcel.
Land Conservation
9- 6
Recommended Action: Secure an access easement along the woods road from Blackstone
Street to Cormier Woods (or acquire that woods road in fee); a conservation restriction on
this parcel might also be beneficial.
Uxbridge Parcel 26-1826. This approximately 11-acre parcel along Blackstone and
Chapin Streets is developed with a complex of farm buildings but contains open fields,
woods, and wooded wetlands along the northwest border of Cormier Woods. Precluding
intensive development of this parcel would help buffer the reservation.
Recommended Action: Secure a conservation restriction on this parcel.
Uxbridge Parcel 26-4751. This approximately 20-acre undeveloped forested landlocked
parcel east of East Street and north of Fisher Street abuts the southern border of Cormier
Woods and contains a dozen acres of wooded wetland along the reservation boundary.
Conserving this parcel (and smaller, land-locked, somewhat wet parcels to the south and
east) would help buffer the reservation and expand its protected wildlife habitat.
Recommended Action: Secure a conservation restriction on this parcel or acquire it as an
addition to the reservation or assist the Town in acquiring it as public open space.
Southwick Wild Animal Zoo. This approximately 311-acre zoo in Mendon and
Millville abutting Cormier Woods to the south and east is a significant regional visitor
draw. The central portion of the zoo is fairly developed, but the outlying areas remain in
a largely natural state, crossed by occasional paths and woods roads.
Much of the western half of the parcel in Mendon (Parcel 25-5) immediately abutting
Cormier Woods is quite wet. The section along the Cormier boundary is likely
developable. East of Asylum Street in Mendon, Parcel 25-10 is almost entirely wooded
and, if critical lands northeast of Cormier are conserved (especially Parcel 20-39), a
connection between Cormier Woods and Mendon’s Town Forest on Chestnut Hill to the
east could be established.
Any prospective sale or development of Southwick’s Zoo would generate a good deal of
local interest and concern. The Trustees’ objectives for protecting Cormier Woods would
be ensuring the western half of Mendon Parcel 25-5 remains undeveloped, and if possible
conserving some or all of Parcel 25-10 to create an open space and/or trail link from
Asylum Street eastward to the Town Forest.
Land Conservation
9- 7
Map 11 – Critical Lands at Cormier Woods
Land Conservation
9- 8
Section 10: Recommended Actions
10.1 Introduction
This chapter addresses the specific threats and opportunities identified in this plan. It
describes recommended actions designed to protect the significant resources of Cormier
Woods and to provide a high quality visitor experience. All of the recommendations
made in this chapter were developed in consideration of the planning framework
described in Section One, the vision for the future of Cormier Woods included in Section
Two, and the goals and guidelines that follow. These recommendations, together with
the Prescribed Routine Management Program detailed in Section 11, will guide the
management of the reservation for the next ten years.
10.2 Cultural and Structural Resources
Goals:
• Continue to manage Cormier Woods’ cultural resources and landscape elements
to ensure their long-term preservation.
Guidelines:
• The Trustees will follow the Secretary of the Interior’s Guidelines for the
Treatment of Cultural Landscapes.68
• The Trustees will follow the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the
Preservation of Historic Buildings.
• Prohibit any digging that has not been approved and report any unauthorized
excavation to the State Archaeologist.
• Discourage vandalism by not marking subsurface archaeological sites.
• Minimize risk to subsurface archaeological sites by not constructing trails or other
facilities in the immediate vicinity of a site.
68
Birnbaum, C.A. and C.C. Peters. 1996. The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic
Properties with Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the
Interior, National Park Service.
Recommended Actions
10- 1
1)
2)
Recommended Actions:
Offer Cormier Woods as a site for
further research in Massachusetts
history and material culture studies
Description/Rationale:
Specific projects should be carefully evaluated
to ensure they will be in compliance with the
Massachusetts Historical Commission’s
Guidelines for the Treatment of Archaeological
Sites.
Initiate project clearing and mapping The clearing and mapping project would be a
White archeological home site in
valuable multi-disciplinary learning experience
conjunction with community group
for a community group in collaboration with a
and student.
college graduate program and with professional
supervision, and is highly recommended.
3)
Invite college programs to use
Cormier Woods as a case study of
New England rural development.
4)
Integrate architectural study with
any preservation work conducted on
the mixed-use barn
Interpret Jonathan White homestead
archeological site.
5)
Stone wall mapping; documentation of
outbuilding construction; historic structures
survey; a comparative “architectural biography”
of gambrel-roofed capes could all be
accomplished in a detailed and supervised
manner.
Preservation of the barn provides an excellent
opportunity to learn more about its architecture.
Interpretation of the White homestead requires
minimal ground and wall clearing, and
interpretive material either on site or in form of
printed or downloadable brochure. Specific
interpretive activities should be carefully in
compliance with the Massachusetts Historical
Commission’s Guidelines for the Treatment of
Archaeological Sites.
6)
Restore the flower gardens / rock
garden adjacent to the house to
reflect how they once looked
(Kozloski era)
A neighbor has expressed interest in
volunteering to replant and maintain the rock
garden.
7)
Maintain and possibly expand
blueberry patch for informal pickyour-own activity and possibly
combine with special event.
Investigate feasibility of restoring
the orchard.
This would provide visitors with an informal
opportunity to interact with the landscape.
8)
Recommended Actions
If feasible, the orchard would also provide
visitors with an informal opportunity to interact
with the landscape.
10- 2
10.2.1 Buildings
9)
Recommended Actions:
Stabilize the Jonathan White
archaeological building
foundation.
Description/Rationale:
The pre-1815 building foundations are unstable and
susceptible to collapse. The Jonathan White
homestead is of significant cultural and historic value
and should be preserved.
10)
Stabilize the Dolbear / Chapin
house foundation
While the house is stable, it does not sit properly on
the foundation walls. The east wall is supported with
adjustable lally columns and this instability is visible
at both the east and west ends of the house where the
floors are bowed and some cracking occurs along the
walls. This nationally recognized historic house is the
focal point of the property and should be preserved.
11)
Repair sills and stabilize barn
framing.
12)
13)
Stabilize / replace barn roof
Replace existing siding on barn
with locally sawn vertical siding
and replace "garage style" barn
door with more historically
appropriate door.
Repair / reconstruct roof (hinge
replacement) on well housing
north of Chapin St
The barn is one of the most historically important
features of the site and one of the most prominent
things visitors and passers-by see; Mr. Cormier left
endowment money for its rehabilitation, and once
rehabbed it could be a focal point for activities and
interpretation.
See recommendation 11
See recommendation 11
14)
The well house is an important cultural resource that
should be maintained.
10.3 Natural Resources
Cormier Woods supports a diverse assemblage of habitats having varying management
needs. Grasslands require annual management while the wetlands and forests on the
property require little or no management to preserve their distinctive habitat
characteristics. Invasive plants pose a significant threat to all plant communities.
Goals:
• Optimize the ecological values of the exemplary fields at Cormier Woods.
• Minimize and/or eliminate threats, such as invasive plants, to the reservation’s
significant ecological resources.
• Protect known rare species populations and their critical habitats.
• Gather additional baseline data on significant ecological resources that are
currently not well understood (e.g., fields and Scrub Oak Shrubland) to help
inform future management.
Recommended Actions
10- 3
•
Interpret the ecological significance of Cormier Woods and its stewardship for
visitors and other audiences.
Guidelines:
• Follow The Trustees’ and NHESP guidelines for ecological management of
grasslands, forests, and wetlands.
• Comply with state regulations, town bylaws, and The Trustees’ guidelines when
working in or around wetlands.
• Where feasible, utilize non-chemical methods of invasive plant control (e.g.,
manual removal).
• Permit only licensed applicators to apply herbicides on the property.
• Consider future (potential) impacts of beavers when locating trails.
15)
Recommended Actions:
Remove invasive species from
edges of fields, along Chapin St,
and around White Homestead
16)
Conduct a Lepidoptera survey
17)
Survey vernal pools for rare
species
18)
Establish and administer a policy
that encourages bow hunting for
deer.
19)
Erect nest boxes in and around the
open fields for cavity nesting birds
20)
Determine the best management
practices for field maintenance
21)
Conduct a focused botanical
inventory on fields.
Recommended Actions
Description/Rationale:
In order to maintain this reservation as an exemplary
landscape undisturbed by exotic species, invasive
species management should focus on early detection
and rapid response.
Cormier Woods provides suitable habitat for rare
invertebrates that have been recorded in the
surrounding area.
Several rare or uncommon species associated with
vernal pools have been documented nearby in
Uxbridge including marbled salamander
(Threatened). The recently de-listed spotted turtle is
also likely to occur on the property.
According to Mass Wildlife, the density of deer in
Southeastern Massachusetts far exceeds the
prescribed level. A controlled hunt would help
reduce the deer population and the negative impacts
associated with over-browsing. Hunting at Cormier
Woods will be allowed in accordance with state
regulations; 2) hunting will be limited to areas away
from roads and structures; 3) signs will educate
visitors about safety during hunting season, and
educate hunters to expect visitors along trails.
Cavity nesting species, such as bluebirds (Watchlisted) and tree swallows, would benefit from the
installation of nest boxes at Cormier Woods.
Previous management of the fields should be better
understood to ensure the integrity of extant rare plant
populations and other associated species.
A focused survey of the fields in the spring and early
summer would likely add to the species list and help
identify the location of other rare species.
10- 4
22)
Preserve the bat colony residing in
the barn and provide interpretive
information
In recent years, bat populations across the Northeast
have suffered serious declines due to an unknown
illness (white nose syndrome). The colony of bats
roosting in the barn offers an excellent opportunity to
engage and educate the public about ecological
stewardship and bat conservation in New England.
23)
Close and restore areas degraded
by off-road vehicle usage
The western portion of the property has an
established network of trails created by off-road
vehicles. One such trail goes up and over the steep
slope of an esker-like hill, causing plant damage and
erosion. Trails are eroding the soils and provide
avenues for incursion by nearby exotic invasive
species.
24)
Locate and clearly mark property
boundaries
Clearly posting property boundaries will help
discourage encroachment and illegal activities (ex.,
tree cutting) on the property.
25)
Expand the trail system and
provide ecological information
where possible as local land
protection efforts provide new
opportunities to create trail links.
Pursue Recommended Actions
related to critical land
conservation.
New trails offer an opportunity for visitors to enjoy
the many natural resources on the property. Careful
planning should take into account the vulnerability of
rock ledges, wetlands, and forest interior birds to
disturbance by visitors.
Section Nine outlines priorities for critical lands
protection. Time frame and costs associated with
acquisitions and conservation restrictions are
unknown.
26)
10.4 The Visitor Experience
Goals:
•
•
•
•
Provide visitors with outdoor recreational opportunities in a quiet, peaceful
setting for exploring the natural world.
Present information and opportunities that allow guests to learn about the
reservation’s natural and cultural history.
Periodically offer programming that will directly engage visitors as they learn
about the natural and historical relationship between people, land and place.
Provide opportunities for volunteers to be active in the stewardship of the
reservation.
Recommended Actions
10- 5
27)
28)
29)
Recommended Actions:
Establish annual signature event
that complements and respects
cultural and natural features of the
property.
Develop "inner" interpretive loop
trail focused on Chapin-Cormier
farmstead landscape and
associated buildings, and on the
ways in which Cormier's ecology
has been useful to and impacted by
humans with self-guided learning
materials.
Develop Quest or other family
oriented activity
Description/Rationale:
Programs and events provide direct engagement
opportunities for visitors and allow The Trustees to
advance its mission.
Interpretive projects are fundamental steps to
engaging the public.
Family activities are important engagement
opportunities.
30)
Establish trail steward program
with regular volunteer workdays.
Trustees have limited staff resources and the use of
volunteers helps extend the reach of the work. It is
also a positive means of engaging visitors on
Trustees properties and helps them develop a
stronger commitment to property stewardship.
31)
Outline a plan to expand visitor
engagement opportunities that will
leverage the assets of Cormier
Section Seven highlighted many possible
opportunities for increasing visitor enjoyment of
Cormier Woods. The suggested plan should build
on these and be informed by statewide E&E goals.
Recommended Actions
10- 6
Section 11: Implementation
11.1 Introduction
The preceding sections identified and assessed the significant resources of Cormier
Woods. Section 10 contains a list of recommended actions designed to ensure the
continued protection of the property’s historical, cultural and natural features while
offering a high quality visitor experience. This implementation section:
• prescribes a routine management program that is designed to ensure the most
efficient and responsible allocation of staffing and financial resources, protect
significant features, and ensure a high quality visitor experience; and
• outlines an implementation schedule for new recommended actions.
Together, the prescribed routine management program and the implementation schedule
of new actions will guide staff work plans, volunteer efforts, annual capital and
operational budgeting, and fundraising strategies.
11.2 Prescribed Routine Management Program
Based on the comprehensive understanding of the property’s needs that emerged through
this planning effort, staff members have developed a prescribed routine management
program for Cormier Woods presented in Table 11-1. Acceptable Performance Level is
assigned using one of the following categories:
Adequate: The task is currently completed at a level that does not hinder
resource protection or the visitor experience.
Strong: The task is completed in a manner/at a frequency that represents the
ideal.
The Trustees recognizes that although it ultimately strives to be “strong” in all of its
property and visitor management actions, given limited staffing and financial resources,
there are some actions where an “adequate” ranking is acceptable. It is also
acknowledged that seasonal weather fluctuations, critical unplanned events, and a
multitude of other factors may also influence and alter the implementation of the routine
management program.
This program is intended to guide the staff in developing annual work plans and budgets.
In general, there are a number of solutions for building capacity, which include:
1. Engaging volunteers;
Implementation
11- 1
2. Securing additional operating funds for staffing, contractual work, or other out-ofpocket expenses; or
3. Re-allocating staff resources within and/or beyond the management unit.
This management plan does not prescribe specific solutions for building capacity. It is
expected that the Superintendent and the Regional Director will analyze the routine
management program for each property within a management unit and find the
appropriate solution to solve deficiencies in capacity.
Implementation
11- 2
Table 11-1: Prescribed Routine Management Program for Cormier Woods
Line
#
Task
Action
Type
Acceptable
Performance
Level(APL)
Acceptable
Frequency
1
Monitor and control invasive plants on NR
the property
Adequate
Monthly
2
Monitor rare plant populations
NR
Adequate
3
Inspect structures
SR
4
Provide programs and volunteer
opportunities to engage visitors and
highlight the reservation's natural and
cultural features.
5
Less
than
annual
Who?
Total hours
needed to
reach APL
Add'l funds
needed to
reach APL
Notes
S, Su, F
EC
yes
20
$0
every 3-5 yrs Yes
Su
EC
yes
8
$0
Adequate
Biannually
No
S
S
no
8
$0
E/I
Adequate
Quarterly
No
S, Su, F, W
S
yes
35
$0
Hold signature event annually
E/I
Adequate
Annually
No
Su, F
S
yes
56
$0 Time is for preparations, advertising,
and set up / clean up
6
Hold two guided walks per year
E/I
Adequate
Bi-annually
No
S, Su, F, W
S
yes
8
7
Maintain site: stock kiosk with
brochures, pick up trash, monitor
property usage, especially on cart
paths and on 40 acre parcel
GM
Adequate
Weekly
No
S, Su, F
S
yes
40
$0 Tenant has been hired
8
Mow grass around barn and trails in
field
GM
Adequate
every 10-14
days as
necessary
No
S, Su, F
S
no
45
$0 Tenant assists with these tasks
9
Maintain trails and stone walls, mark / GM
survey boundaries, prevent ATV
usage, maintain clearings at trail
intersections
Adequate
S, Su, F
No
S
yes
100
$0 Tenant assists with these tasks
10
Mow fields
GM
Adequate
Annually
No
F
S
no
16
$0 Could be subbed out; equipment must
be clean / free of invasive species. Do
after October 15
11
Plow snow
GM
Adequate
10x / yr
No
W
S
no
10
$0 Has been subbed out in past
Implementation
No
Season
Vol
Opp?
11- 3
$0
12
Maintain garden, cultivate and prune
landscape trees and bushes by house
in addition to the fruit trees in
orchard, and blueberry patch
GM
Adequate
As needed
No
S, Su, F
S
yes
75
$0 Tenant has been hired
13
Clear brush along field wall lines
GM
Adequate
Bi-annually
No
Su, F, W
S
yes
48
$0
14
Clear brush around Jonathan White
home site cellar hole
GM
Adequate
Every 3 yrs
Yes
F
S
yes
10
$0
479
$0
TOTAL
Implementation
11- 4
11.2.1 Discussion of Prescribed Routine Management Program
Achieving an acceptable standard of management for the Cormier Woods reservation will
require an input of 479 staff hours annually. At this time, a significant amount of time
for maintenance operations is provided by the on site tenant. The present agreement has
the tenant performing routine maintenance operations at Cormier Woods and at the rental
property containing the Dolbear/Chapin House. It is estimated that approximately 200
hours is performed by the tenant thus requiring Greater Boston Region staff to perform
the remaining 279 hours. There are a number of tasks that could utilize volunteers to
further reduce the manpower required by Greater Boston Region staff.
11.3 Implementing Recommended Actions
Table 11-3 lists all of the recommended actions detailed in Section Ten and identifies the
human and financial resources that will be needed to implement these actions. Resources
permitting, these recommendations will be implemented over a ten-year period, broken
into three phases. Several other guidelines were used to construct the implementation
table, including:
1. Only items requiring new financial resources have been assigned a cost, which are
shown in 2010 dollars. Staffing expenses, aside from any new positions being
recommended, are not incorporated.
2. Each recommended action was assigned a priority rating as defined below.
Critical actions will address:
• urgent safety issues
• threats that are causing serious damage to the to the property’s
significant resources
• issues that are seriously degrading the visitor experience
• regulatory requirements.
Needed actions will address:
• threats to the property’s resources that are not causing an imminent
threat to their integrity
• key Trustees initiatives (such as expanded educational and interpretive
programming)
• basic improvements to visitor services
Desired actions will address:
• enhancements that optimize the visitor’s experience or the property’s
resources.
3. Typically, these priority rankings coincide with phases 1, 2, and 3. However,
there are some instances where “needed” or “desired” actions can be addressed
earlier in the process. Some of these actions may be “quick and cheap” fixes that
Implementation
11- 5
advance our goals with little effort; some may be done sooner because of funding
or volunteer opportunities.
4. The cost of implementing recommended actions 11, 12, and 13 (repairs to the
barn) is unknown at this time. The repairs on the barn will be completed in a
phased approach. If it is feasible to save and stabilize the barn then repairs on the
roof and siding will be conducted. Cost estimates for these tasks have been
generated and are included in Table 11-2, but are not definitive. Thus, the actual
cost of implementing all recommendations may differ from what is indicated in
Table 11-2.
Table 11-2 below provides a summary of the total cost and amount of labor needed to
carry out the recommendations made in this plan. This investment will be in addition to
the total needs of the routine management program detailed on pages 11-2 and 11-3. The
hours listed below include the investment of existing Trustees staff. Recruitment and
retention of qualified volunteers to assist with these tasks may help reduce the number of
staff hours needed for implementation.
Table 11-2: Summary of Implementation Costs
Implementation
Staff Hours
Needed
Phase
Estimated
Costs
1
$39,100
430
2
$65,750
760
3
$2,600
293
Total
$107,450
1,603
11- 6
Table 11-3: Implementation of Recommended Actions for Cormier Woods
Rec# Type
Resource Protection Action
Phase Rank
1°
2° Phase Phase Phase Total Vol.
Total
Total
staff staff
1
2
3
Staff Op? Phase 1 Phase 2
Staff Staff Staff hours
Costs
Costs
hours hours hours
1
HR
Offer Cormier Woods as a site for further research in
Massachusetts history and material culture studies
3
D
HR
S
2
HR
Initiate project clearing and mapping White archeological
home site in conjunction with community group and
graduate student.
2
D
S
HR
3
HR
Invite college programs to use Cormier Woods as a case
study of New England rural development.
3
D
HR
4
HR
Integrate architectural study with preservation project on
mixed use barn
1
D
S
HR
5
HR
Interpret Jonathan White homestead archeological site.
2
D
S
HR
6
GM
Restore the flower gardens / rock garden adjacent to the
house to reflect how they once looked (Kozloski era)
1
D
S
7
GM
Maintain and possibly expand blueberry patch for informal
pick-your-own activity and possibly combine with special
event.
2
D
S
8
GM
Investigate feasibility of restoring the orchard.
3
D
S
9
SR
Stabilize the Jonathan White archaeological building
foundation.
2
N
S
HR
10
SR
Stabilize the Dolbear / Chapin house foundation
2
N
S
HR
11
SR
Repair sills and stabilize barn framing
1
C
S
60
12
SR
Stabilize / replace barn roof
1
C
S
60
13
SR
Replace existing siding on barn with locally sawn vertical
siding and replace "garage style" barn door with more
historically appropriate door.
2
N
S
14
HR
Repair / reconstruct roof (hinge replacement) on well
housing north of Chapin St
1
C
S
15
NR
Remove invasive species from edges of fields, along Chapin
St, and around White Homestead
2
N
EC
40
16
NR
Conduct a Lepidoptera survey
2
D
EC
25
17
NR
Survey vernal pools for rare species
3
D
EC
18
NR
Establish and administer a policy that encourages bow
hunting for deer.
1
N
S
19
NR
Erect nest boxes in and around the open fields for cavity
nesting birds
2
D
EC
20
NR
Determine the best management practices for field
maintenance
1
N
EC
21
NR
Conduct a focused botanical inventory on fields.
2
D
EC
22
NR
Preserve the bat colony residing in the barn and provide
interpretive information
1
D
EC
23
NR
Close and restore areas degraded by off-road vehicle usage
2
N
S
Implementation
8
$0
$0
$0 O
20 yes
$0
$0
$0
$0 O
20 yes
$0
$0
$0
$0 O
8 yes
$2,000
$0
$0
$2,000 S
80 yes
$0
$1,000
$0
$1,000 O
$1,000
80 yes
$400
$0
$0
$400 O
$400
80 yes
$0
$500
$0
$500 O
$500
120 yes
$0
$0
$2,000
$2,000 S
120
120 yes
$0
$800
$0
$800 O
$800
120
120
$0
$25,000
$0
$25,000 O
$25,000
60
$10,000
$0
$0
$10,000 S
$10,000
Cost is an estimate
60
$10,000
$0
$0
$10,000 S
$10,000
Cost is an estimate
$0
$50,000
$0
$50,000 S
$50,000
Cost is an estimate
$100
$0
$0
$100 O
$100
40 yes
$0
$1,000
$0
$1,000 O
$1,000
25 yes
$0
$0
$0
$0 O
25 yes
$0
$0
$0
$0 O
20
$0
$0
$0
$0 O
25 yes
$0
$200
$0
$200 O
10
$0
$0
$0
$0 O
30 yes
$0
$0
$0
$0 O
20
$0
$0
$0
$0 O
80 yes
$0
$250
$0
$250 O
20
8
80
80
120
120
120 yes
16
16
25
20
25
S
10
30
S
20
80
11- 7
Notes
$0
80
EC
Total Plan Budget Operating Supp’l Capital Targeted
Costs
Source
Funding
all Phases
Source
8 yes
20
HR
Total
Phase
3
Costs
$2,000
Possible funds from start-up
budget for hiring a consultant
Expense for interpretive panels.
$2,000
Fund through sponsor program
similar to program at Old Manse
Includes possible rental of
bobcat for lifting stone.
$200
Task is related to barn
preservation. Future
programming needs to be
designed with colony
preservation.
$250
24
GM
Locate and clearly mark property boundaries
1
N
S
RD
25
NR
Expand the trail system and provide ecological information
where possible as local land protection efforts provide new
opportunities to create trail links.
3
D
S
EC
26
LC
Pursue Recommended Actions related to critical land
conservation.
Ongoing N
LC
27
E/I
Establish annual signature event that complements and
respects cultural and natural features of the property.
1
D
S
28
E/I
Develop "inner" interpretive loop trail focused on ChapinCormier farmstead landscape and associated buildings, and
on the ways in which Cormier's ecology has been useful to
and impacted by humans with self-guided learning
materials.
2
D
S
EE
29
E/I
Develop Quest or other family oriented activity
2
N
S
EE
30
E/I
Establish trail steward program with regular volunteer
workdays.
1
D
S
EE
31
E/I
Outline a plan to expand visitor engagement opportunities
that will leverage the assets of Cormier
2
D
EE
S
60
120
60 yes
$800
$0
$0
$800 O
$800
120 yes
$0
$0
$600
$600 O
$600
Time and costs are unknown,
and depend on an awareness of
activities and opportunities on
nearby parcels.
56
TOTAL
56 yes
$800
$0
$0
$800 O
$800
Event will be annual after first
year
60
60 yes
$0
$500
$0
$500 O
$500
Expenses for printing and
possibly small signs / posts.
60
60 yes
$0
$1,500
$0
$1,500 O
$1,500
40 yes
$0
$0
$0
$0 O
20 yes
$0
$0
$0
$0 O
$39,100
$65,750
$2,600
40
0
20
430
880
293 1,603
Phase
Rank
Staff
Budget Types
Phase 1: FY2010- FY2012
C- Critical
HR- Historic Resources Staff
(April 2009- March 2012)
Phase 2: FY2013- FY2015
N- Needed
D- Desired
S- Superintendent
EC- Ecology Staff
O- Operating Budget
S- Supplemental
Funds
C- Capital Expense
(April 2012- March 2015)
Phase 3: FY2016- FY20119
(April 2015- March 2019)
Implementation
Needed for accreditation
EE- Education & Engagement
RD- Regional Director
LC- Land conservation
11- 8
$107,450
$33,450 $74,000
Possible expense for hiring
Steve Glazer to lead Quest
development
11.4 Plan Monitoring and Review
This management plan will inform the development of the operating budget for Cormier Woods and
the annual work plans of its managing staff. A review will be conducted annually by staff and,
perhaps, volunteers to assess the progress that has been made on implementing the recommended
actions. A written summary of all progress made will be appended to this plan each year.
Implementation
11- 9
Appendix A:
Massachusetts Historical Commission Form #UXB.147
www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc
Downloaded from Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System (MACRIS)
http://mhc-macris.net/
Appendix
12- 1
Inventory No:
UXB.147 Historic Name:
Albee, E. House
Common Name:
Address:
217 Chapin St
City/Town:
Uxbridge
Village/Neighborhood:
Local No:
Year Constructed:
C 1750
Architect(s):
Architectural Style(s):
Colonial
Use(s):
Single Family Dwelling House
Significance:
Architecture
Area(s):
UXB.P: Uxbridge Multiple Resource Area
Designation(s):
Nat'l Register Individual Property (10/7/1983); Nat'l
Register MRA (10/7/1983)
The Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) has converted this paper record to digital format as part of ongoing
projects to scan records of the Inventory of Historic Assets of the Commonwealth and National Register of Historic
Places nominations for Massachusetts. Efforts are ongoing and not all inventory or National Register records related to
this resource may be available in digital format at this time.
The MACRIS database and scanned files are highly dynamic; new information is added daily and both database
records and related scanned files may be updated as new information is incorporated into MHC files. Users should
note that there may be a considerable lag time between the receipt of new or updated records by MHC and the
appearance of related information in MACRIS. Users should also note that not all source materials for the MACRIS
database are made available as scanned images. Users may consult the records, files and maps available in MHC's
public research area at its offices at the State Archives Building, 220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, open M-F, 9-5.
Users of this digital material acknowledge that they have read and understood the MACRIS Information and Disclaimer
(http://mhc-macris.net/macrisdisclaimer.htm)
Data available via the MACRIS web interface, and associated scanned files are for information purposes only. THE ACT OF CHECKING THIS
DATABASE AND ASSOCIATED SCANNED FILES DOES NOT SUBSTITUTE FOR COMPLIANCE WITH APPLICABLE LOCAL, STATE OR
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REQUIRE A PERMIT, LICENSE OR FUNDING FROM ANY STATE OR FEDERAL AGENCY YOU MUST SUBMIT A PROJECT NOTIFICATION
FORM TO MHC FOR MHC'S REVIEW AND COMMENT. You can obtain a copy of a PNF through the MHC web site (www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc)
under the subject heading "MHC Forms."
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Massachusetts Historical Commission
220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, Massachusetts 02125
www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc
This file was accessed on:
Friday, July 30, 2010 at 10:34 AM
Form no.
Area
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
294 Washington S t r e e t , B o s t o n , MA 02108
Uxbridge
Z ) 1 C\nc<pin Si
s
Highland
Street
ze Name
E. A l b e e
House
'riginal
residence
'resent
residence
;hip:CO P r i v a t e i n d i v i d u a l
Private organization
Public
O r i g i n a l owner
E. A l b e e ( 1 8 5 5 )
SIPTION:
c r o s s s t r e e t s ana o r n e r D U X I U U I
or geographical features.
Indicate north.
S
^
.
1
mid-18th
exterior
Source
Style
C.
timber-frame vernacular
Architect
unknown
Exterior wall fabric
clapboard
Outbuildings
and
garage
timber-frame
barn
Major a l t e r a t i o n s
(with dates)
mid-20th
C;
transom,
12/12 sash
Moved
no
Approx.
6 panel door,
acreage
Date
l
e
s
s
than
Setting
rural;
Organization
Uxbridge
orchard
and second-growth
Quad BL
( S t a p l e a d d i t i o n a l sheets., , r e )
fields,
J\//A
1/2
B.R.Pfeiffer
UTM:
small-pane
and window caps ad
Recorded by
Historical
restored i n
newly
19 2 8 5 3 0 0
planted
woods.
4660450
The A l b e e House i s an e x c e l l e n t e x a m p l e o f a p o p u l a r l o c a l h o u s e t y p e
of t h e m i d - e i g h t e e n t h c e n t u r y .
The house h a s a r e c t a n g u l a r f l o o r p l a n s e t
o n a f o u n d a t i o n o f r a n d o m g r a n i t e a s h l a r w i t h some g r a n i t e f a c i n g s a n d e n c l o s e d by a gambrel r o o f .
I t i s l i k e l y that the o r i g i n a l facade i s the south
e l e v a t i o n w h i c h i s n o t v i s i b l e f r o m t h e p u b l i c r i g h t o f way. The n o r t h e l e v a t i o n i s a s y m m e t r i c a l , h a v i n g f o u r windows e a s t o f and one window w e s t o f i t s
entry.
Windows c o n t a i n 12/12 s a s h s e t i n p l a i n s u r r o u n d s w i t h p r o j e c t i n g c a p s .
Side e l e v a t i o n s are asymmetrical.
On t h e o p p o s i t e ( n o r t h ) s i d e o f H i g j i a n d S t r e e
i s a timber-frame barn which appears t o pre-date t h e mid-nineteenth century.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
( e x p l a i n t h e r o l e owners p l a y e d i n l o c a l o r s t a t e
and how t h e b u i l d i n g r e l a t e s t o t h e development o f t h e community)
history
R e s e m b l i n g b o t h t h e C o r n e t F a r n u m H o u s e ( F o r m #47-93) a n d t h e S a m u e l T a f t
H o u s e ( F o r m # 5 6 - 5 3 ) , t h e E . A l b e e H o u s e may p o s s e s s h i s t o r i c a l a s s o c i a t i o n s w i t h
t h e A l b e e F a m i l y who w e r e among t h e s e v e n t e e n t h c e n t u r y s e t t l e r s o f M e n d o n ,
although e a r l y ownership o f t h e house i s u n c l e a r .
I n 1 8 5 5 , t h e h o u s e was
l a b e l l e d a s t h e p r o p e r t y o f E . A l b e e , p r o b a b l y E l l i s A l b e e , a f a r m e r , who i n h e r i t e d t h e Albee f a m i l y homestead i n t h e southeast corner o f Uxbridge(Form
#31
23).
T h e 1 8 5 7 Map o f U x b r i d g e c o n t a i n s a h e a v y p r i n t i n g o f w a t e r c o l o r t o m a r k
t h e n e a r b y t o w n l i n e i n t h i s a r e a ; t h i s c o l o r i n g o b s c u r e s t h e name o f t h e
h o u s e ' s o w n e r , a l t h o u g h t h e name E l l i s a p p e a r s t o b e i n d i c a t e d .
I f so, this
name c o u l d i n d i c a t e E l l i s A l b e e o r a n E l l i s f a m i l y w h o s e c o n n e c t i o n w i t h t h e
A l b e e ' s may b e i n d i c a t e d b y t h e f i r s t name o f E l l i s .
Subsequent owners were
C. D a n i e l s ( 1 8 7 0 ) a n d C h a r l e s A. H e n r y , a f a r m e r , ( 1 8 9 8 ) n e i t h e r o f whom i s
mentioned i n secondary sources.
|
|
|
The E. A l b e e House possesses i n t e g r i t y o f l o c a t i o n , d e s i g n , s e t t i n g , workmanship and f e e l i n g ,
and i s an i m p o r t a n t l o c a l example of a v e r n a c u l a r house type t h a t was b u i l t on farmsteads
d u r i n g t h e i n i t i a l s e t t l e m e n t o f Uxbridge i n t h e e a r l y and m i d - e i g h t e e n t h c e n t u r y . The A l b e e
House meets c r i t e r i a A and C o f t h e NRHP.
BIBLIOGRAPHY' and/or REFERENCES
Maps & A t l a s e s : 1 8 5 5 , 1 8 5 7 , 1 8 7 0 , 1898
O l d Home Week S o u v e n i r 1 9 0 8 : E v e r e t t E l l i s
W o o n s o c k e t C a l l : D e c . 6, 1 9 4 7
OWNER:
D. J a m e s
Cormier
Chapin S t .
U x b r i d g e , MA
01569
Albee's
biography