Recommended Places to Visit: Erving

Recreation

Hiking

Recommended:
Briggs Brook Falls
Cross Street and Briggs Road

Erving State Forest/Laurel Lake
Laurel Lake Road and Dusty Road

Farley Ledges
83 Mohawk Trail

Architecture

Monuments

Memorials
12 East Main Street

Water Tower
Arch Street and Crescent Street

Places of Worship

Erving Evangelical Congregational Church
4 East Main Street

Bridges

French King Bridge
129 French King Highway

Town Facilities
Town Hall
12 East Main Street

Fire Department
10 East Main Street

Fire Station #2
18 Moore Street

Public Library
17 Moore Street

Restaurants

Tried:
Western

French King Restaurant and Motel

129 French King Highway

Recommended Dishes:

Strawberry Shortcake

Colossal Shrimp Cocktail

Seafood Chowder

Beef Stroganoff

October 25th 2017: Hiking in Erving

I passed through Hubbardston today,

Moosehorn Pond

on the way to the Erving State Forest. I have been here once before, but the last time I was here, a hiker I happened to bump into mentioned that there was the remains of a fire tower on the Bear Loop, so I had to go check it out for myself, and today was my chance. The path I took here is shown in pink.

There wasn't anything much to see though, although the brooks were somewhat overflowing from the rain.

From here, I went to looking for the Briggs Brook Falls, which is on the Metacomet Monadnock Trail, the trailhead being at the junction of Briggs Road and Cross Street (upper half of map below).

A short walk from here to a bridge, and there the falls were, behind some huge rocks,

and I could get closer due to a small path nearby.

From here, I headed nearby to the Farley Ledges, where the path I took is shown in the lower half of the map above. The ledges themselves were pretty impressive,

but the hiking was pretty treacherous. Thankfully, I was rewarded in the end at the top of the ledges with this awesome view.

After finally making my way back to the car, I checked out a few more places in town,

Erving Fire Station #2, 18 Moore Street

Erving Public Library

even venturing into the town of Montague for the first time,

Covenant Church

before finally calling it a day and heading home. A pretty fruitful day for hiking.

October 23rd 2016: Hiking at the Erving State Forest, Erving

We started out this windy day heading to the Erving State Forest in Erving,

going for a hike using the path highlighted below in pink.

The hike up was a little intense at times,

but the views from the 2 viewpoints were pretty decent.

From here, we headed to the French King Restaurant and Motel for lunch, a pretty nice and cosy place.

We got the Seafood Chowder,

the Colossal Shrimp Cocktail (5 jumbo shrimp served with hot horseradish infused cocktail sauce)

and the Beef Stroganoff,

which came with a side salad as well.

We also got the Strawberry Shortcake for dessert.

The pasta, soup and dessert were not bad, although the shrimp were just so-so. Overall, nothing special here though.

From here, it was on to the French King Bridge nearby,

where there were excellent views of the fall foliage and the Connecticut River below.

We also went to Dorsey Road below the bridge to take pictures of it.

From here, we decided it was time to head back, going for dinner at Yen Yen, a Chinese restaurant in the town of Gardner.

We got the Salt and Pepper Spare Ribs and Szechuan Style Bean Curd (with Pork).

The bean curd was alright I guess, but the ribs were on the salty side. Not coming back again.

With that, a nice day of foliage peeping in Erving was finally at an end. Back to work tomorrow.

October 11th 2015: Hiking in Wendell and New Salem

Today was a beautiful fall day for hiking, so that was what we did. Our first stop was at Bassett Pond in New Salem, where the trailhead to get to it is at the junction of Petersham Road and Blackinton Road heading south. The path to the pond is pretty straightforward, the pond being right at the next cross junction of paths. We spotted a really small garter snake along the way,

and turned back to our car after seeing the beautiful view of the pond.

Next, on our way to the Wendell State Forest in Wendell, we passed through the town of Erving,

Erving Town Hall,

12 East Main Street

Memorials outside Town Hall

Erving Fire Department

Erving Evangelical Church

Water Tower,

Arch Street and Crescent Street

and the Iron Bridge at the end of Farley Road in Wendell.

At Wendell State Forest, the path we took this time is shown below in pink.

The view of Ruggles Pond was beautiful as always.

We passed by Lyon's Falls

and took a detour to Lynn's Falls, which was just a trickle this time of year.

There weren't any views to be had from the top of Jerusalem Hill though, but the 2 lookouts we went to were something else, although the sun from the west was in our face by the time we got there.

On the way back down, we spotted a bobcat and her cub.

Strangely, the mother ran away as we approached, leaving the cub behind to snarl at us warily.

Finally, we were back at our car, and headed for dinner at Deja Brew, a really small bar restaurant in town. For food, we got the Wasabi Potato Stuffed Portabella (balsamic roasted portabella mushroom stuffed with wasbi mashed potatoes, served with fresh vegetables and side salad)

and the Gourmet Pesto Pizza (with anchovies, avocado, tomatoes, roasted garlic).

Not a bad meal really, and a good end to a nice day of hiking.