July 23rd 2011: Eastern 3rd Circle

1 week after getting lost in Leominster on the Monoosnoc Ridge Trail, I was out sightseeing again. Maynard was the next town on my list. The first place I visited was Ice House Landing on Winter Street and Boeske Avenue. This small area is on the banks of the Assabet River, and has a good view of the river.

Assabet River from Ice House Landing

Next, I decided to head to downtown Maynard to look for interesting architecture. The Clock Tower Place Office Park looked interesting enough, and it was right next to Mill Pond which has a small park with benches.

The Clock Tower

Mill Pond

Other places I visited in Maynard included the Acme Theater, United Methodist Church, St. Bridget Parish and Memorial Park on the corner on Summer Street and Nason Street, which contains the war memorials.

United Methodist Church

Maynard War Memorial

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Acme Theater

St. Bridget Parish

Done with Maynard, I proceeded to the town of Sudbury. The only place I had on my list at the moment was the Grist Mill near the Wayside Inn, but I happened across a quaint little area called Stearn's Mill on Dutton Road between Pratts Mill Road and Moore Road along the way. There is a small waterfall leading away from Stearns Mill Pond with some remains of the mechanisms and gears used during times gone by.

The Old Grist Mill is found along Wayside Inn Road on the Grist Mill Pond between Prides Crossing Road and Dutton Road. This is a pretty historical building, with a red water wheel on the side of it. Of all the luck in the world, there was someone present inside the mill to show us how it actually worked. Firstly, water had to be diverted from the pond onto the water wheel. Apparently there is a gear to activate the panels on the water wheel to allow the water to be trapped behind the panels and accumulate, eventually spilling over to the troughs below. Eventually, the weight of the water would cause the wheel to start to turn, and it gradually speeds up, spinning the mill inside the building that is connected to the wheel. The operator then pours in the grain to be milled, the product of which is sent elsewhere.

The Water Wheel

Millstones

The Mill

Pouring in the Grain

Water Wheel from inside the mill

Filling Up the troughs with water

trough full and about to turn

Mill at work

releasing the grain to be ground

After this educational experience, I headed on to Framingham. The first place I visited was Callahan State Park. The spot I parked at was the southern entrance along Millwood Street near Winch Road. The route I took is shown below highlighted in pink.

I did not explore much of the park because it was getting pretty late by then. I chose to walk along the Earthern Dam because it provided the best views of the area, and there were a few butterflies flittering around the flowers on the dam. I continued on the dam until its intersection with Eagle Trail, which involved heading down the steep slope of the dam into a meadow. I then proceeded to Eagle Pond using the trail, where people were playing catch with their dogs in the water. With that, I decided to return to my car by going along Moore Road. Pictures follow.

Butterflies at work

Views from atop the dam

Eagle Pond

Maize Field on way back to car

My next destination in Framingham was the Carol Getchell Trail. I parked at the end of Little Farms Road and started on the trail which follows the Sudbury River on its left. However, I soon realized that the views of the river weren't that great. Moreover, the trail was pretty overgrown, and there were tons of mosquitoes attacking me as well. As a result, I decided to stop my exploration here and head back to my car.

Views of Sudbury River 

At this point it was already 4 pm. I thought that I would have time to visit the Garden in the Woods which closes at 5, but by the time I got there, they weren't admitting any more people. Oh well, tomorrow then.

My next destination was the historic mill village of Saxonville in the north end of Framingham. A walking tour of this area can be found at http://www.vistadome.com/sax/index.html To be honest, I was not very impressed by the architecture present there, although I did take pictures of the Saxonville Dam on Central Street between Centennial Place and Water Street and the Saxonville Mills on the corner of Central Street and Elm Street.

Saxonville Dam and Falls

Saxonville Mills

With the daylight hours running out, I decided to go through the next few places of interest quickly. Farm Pond Park/Peace Park on Dudley Road between Dr. Harvey L. Cushing Way and Fountain Street has pretty serene lake views of Farm Pond.

Framingham also has several town beaches that I visited next, with one at Lake Cochituate on Lake Road near its junction with Old Connecticut Path (Saxonville Beach), one at Learned Pond on Shawmut Terrace and Brigham Road, and another at  Waushakum Pond on Nipmuc Road and Wood Avenue.

Saxonville Beach

Learned Pond

Lake Waushakum Beach

Although it was already 7pm by now, the sun was still not setting, so I decided to visit Framingham State University. Although the campus is pretty small, there were a lot of nice buildings on campus, especially the Heineman Center, which used to be the old St. Joseph's Episcopal Church. While walking around the campus, I happened upon some great views of mountains in the distance from a multi-storey parking lot.

Heineman Center

View from the parking lot

I decided to end my day after this, driving towards Eo Noodle at 1245 Worcester Road for dinner. Along the way however, while driving on Salem End Road between Temple Street and Cherry Oca  Lane, I crossed a bridge with a beautiful view of Framingham Reservoir #1 and its dam.

To top a good day of sightseeing off, I had a great dinner at Eo Noodle. Although it is a simple restaurant, it serves great noodle soups, and being from Singapore, I decided to try the fishball noodles, and was immediately reminded of how much I missed Singaporean food. Hence, I recommend this place highly to those from the Southeast Asian regions. The owner was a friendly Chinese guy who started talking to me after realizing I spoke Chinese about his time visiting Singapore during the 70's, and I telling him how much things had changed since then. It also made me realize how much change Singapore has gone through during my 7 years here, and how I've pretty much become a tourist myself every time I go back, the next time probably not being for a few years or more.

On a side note, Punjabi Grill is an Indian restaurant right next to Eo Noodle. I had lamb curry when I ate here, and it was spicy compared to most other Indian restaurants I have eaten at  in Massachusetts.