Acton is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, approximately 21 miles (34 km) west-northwest of Boston along Massachusetts Route 2 west of Concord and about ten miles (16 km) southwest of Lowell. The population was 24,021 in April 2020, according to the United States Census Bureau. It is bordered by Westford and Littleton to the north, Concord and Carlisle to the east, Stow, Maynard, and Sudbury to the south and Boxborough to the west. Acton became an incorporated town in 1735. The town employs the Open Town Meeting form of government with a town manager and an elected, five-member select board. Acton was named the 11th Best Place To Live among small towns in the country by Money Magazine in 2015, and the 16th best in 2009 and in 2011. The local high school, Acton-Boxborough Regional High School, was named a Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education in 2009.
Littleton is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 10,141 at the 2020 census.
Westford is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was at 24,643 at the time of the 2020 Census.
The Merrimack River is a 117-mile-long (188 km) river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into Massachusetts, and then flows northeast until it empties into the Gulf of Maine at Newburyport. From Pawtucket Falls in Lowell, Massachusetts, onward, the Massachusetts–New Hampshire border is roughly calculated as the line three miles north of the river.
Stony Brook, Stonybrook or Stoney Brook may refer to:
The Pemigewasset River, known locally as "The Pemi", is a river in the state of New Hampshire, the United States. It is 65.0 miles (104.6 km) in length and drains approximately 1,021 square miles (2,644 km2). The name "Pemigewasset" comes from the Abenaki word bemijijoasek [bəmidzidzoasək], meaning "where side (entering) current is".
North Chelmsford is an unincorporated village in the town of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, United States. Although North Chelmsford has its own zip code (01863), library, post office, fire station, water district, and local calling area, it is otherwise run by the same local town government and shares a school district with Chelmsford.
The Assabet River is a small, 34.4-mile (55.4 km) long river located about 20 miles (30 km) west of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The Assabet rises from a swampy area known as the Assabet Reservoir in Westborough, Massachusetts, and flows northeast before merging with the Sudbury River at Egg Rock in Concord, Massachusetts, to become the Concord River. The Organization for the Assabet, Sudbury and Concord Rivers, headquartered in West Concord, Massachusetts, is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation, protection, and enhancement of the natural and recreational features of these three rivers and their watershed. As the Concord River is a tributary of the Merrimack River, it and the Assabet and Sudbury rivers are part of the larger Merrimack River watershed.
Route 110 is a 69.24-mile-long (111.43 km) southwest–northeast state route in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Route 110’s western terminus is at a concurrency of Route 12 and Route 140 in West Boylston, and its eastern terminus is at the junction of U.S. 1 and Route 1A in Sailsbury, a few miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Route 110 provides an alternate route for the northern part of I-495.
Ipswich River is a small river in northeastern Massachusetts, United States. It held significant importance in early colonial migrations inland from the ocean port of Ipswich. The river provided safe harborage at offshore Plum Island Sound to early Massachusetts subsistence farmers, who were also fishermen. A part of the river forms town boundaries and divides Essex County, Massachusetts on the coast from the more inland Middlesex County. It is 35 miles (56 km) long, and its watershed is approximately 155 square miles (401 km2), with an estimated population in the area of 160,000 people.
Beaver Brook is a 30.7-mile-long (49.4 km) river located in New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the United States. It is a tributary of the Merrimack River, part of the Gulf of Maine watershed.
The Five Mile River is a 10.1-mile-long (16.3 km) river in central Massachusetts, part of the Chicopee River watershed. It rises north of Dean Pond in the Town of Oakham within Rutland State Forest and flows south through Dean Pond to Brooks Pond, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) northeast of North Brookfield, then continues south to its mouth at the north end of Lake Lashaway, also in North Brookfield.
Salmon Brook is one of the six major tributaries of the Merrimack River in northeastern Massachusetts in the United States. Its watershed is 31 square miles (80 km2) and is one of the 14 subwatersheds of the Merrimack River. It passes through Dunstable, Massachusetts, and Nashua, New Hampshire.
The Bay Circuit Trail and Greenway or Bay Circuit is a Massachusetts rail trail and greenway connecting the outlying suburbs of Boston from Plum Island in Newburyport to Kingston Bay in Duxbury, a distance of 200 miles (320 km).
Wekepeke is the name of an aquifer and brook in Sterling, Massachusetts, United States. The aquifer has a land surface area of 11.5 square miles (30 km2).
The Stony Brook Railroad, chartered in 1845, was a railroad company in Massachusetts, United States. The company constructed a rail line between the Nashua and Lowell Railroad's main line at the village of North Chelmsford and the town of Ayer, Massachusetts where it connected to the Fitchburg Railroad. Rather than running its own trains, upon opening in 1848 operations were contracted to the Nashua and Lowell; this arrangement continued until the Nashua and Lowell was leased by the Boston and Lowell Railroad in 1880. The Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M) took over operation of the Stony Brook in 1887 when it leased the Boston and Lowell Railroad. In 1983 the B&M was purchased by Guilford Rail System, which renamed itself Pan Am Railways (PAR) in 2006. Passenger service last ran on the line in 1961, but it saw significant freight service under Pan Am Railways. While it never owned rolling stock or ran trains, the Stony Brook Railroad Corporation existed until 2022 as a nearly wholly owned subsidiary of the Boston and Maine, itself a PAR subsidiary. That year, it was merged into CSX Transportation as part of CSX's purchase of Pan Am Railways.
Stony Brook is a 8.5-mile (13.7 km)-long subterranean river in Boston. The largest tributary stream of the lower Charles River, it runs mostly through conduits. Stony Brook originates at Turtle Pond in the Stony Brook Reservation and flows through Hyde Park, Roslindale, Jamaica Plain, and Roxbury. It empties into the Charles River Basin just upstream of the Harvard Bridge. Stony Brook is fed by four tributaries, all of which are partially or entirely in conduits as well.
Stony Brook is a stream largely running through Lincoln and Weston, Massachusetts, then forming the Weston/Waltham boundary, and emptying into the Charles River across from the Waltham/Newton boundary. It has two tributaries, Cherry Brook and Hobbs Brook, and its watershed includes about half of Lincoln and Weston as well as parts of Lexington and Waltham. Since 1887, it has been the water supply for Cambridge, along with the Hobbs Brook Reservoir.
Pennichuck Brook is one of the tributaries of the Merrimack River in New Hampshire in the United States. Its watershed is 31 square miles (80 km2) and is one of the 14 subwatersheds of the Merrimack River. It passes through Nashua and Merrimack, New Hampshire and serves as the public water supply for greater Nashua.
