Discover Gardner: Trails, Nature and Furniture History

Gardner brings together a scenic paved recreational trail, a wildlife sanctuary and a distinctive furniture-making history. This gives you several ways to discover the town: through outdoor activity, an interest in nature or its local past.

Trails and Outdoor Activities

The North Central Pathway runs through Gardner to Winchendon. In most sections, this scenic paved recreational trail is used for walking, jogging, cycling, roller skating, skateboarding and cross-country skiing. Its varied uses give it a distinctly active character: you can consider which form of exercise you’d prefer during your stay. Note that the activities listed apply to most sections of the Pathway.

Dunn State Park offers a different focus. Its various accessible activities include fishing, hiking and swimming. The Woodland Trail in Dunn State Park is wheelchair accessible. The outdoor offerings therefore differ: the Pathway offers various ways to get around on a recreational trail, while the park also includes activities such as fishing and swimming. Wheelchair accessibility is specifically noted for the Woodland Trail.

Nature at the Lake Wampanoag Wildlife Sanctuary

The Lake Wampanoag Wildlife Sanctuary in Gardner covers 378 acres. Its ecologically managed grasslands provide habitat for Bobolinks and Savannah Sparrows. Moose, bears, deer, bobcats and coyotes also live in the sanctuary. Gardner’s natural environment thus ranges from a specific habitat and the bird species that live there to the sanctuary’s diverse wildlife.

For planning your trip, this offers a different focus from the trails: the sanctuary is all about landscape and wildlife, while the North Central Pathway invites you to get active with its variety of uses. If you’re especially interested in nature, the sanctuary offers its own reason to get to know Gardner.

Furniture Making and Local History

The history of industry is also part of Gardner’s character. In the mid-19th century, making chairs and other wooden furniture was an important industry in the town. Twelve furniture companies produced more than 1.2 million chairs there each year. This figure brings the scale of production at the time to life and gives furniture making a concrete place in Gardner’s history.

The Gardner Museum is a local history museum in downtown Gardner. It collects and preserves materials related to the town’s history. While furniture production highlights a particular period in the economy, the museum focuses on Gardner’s history as a whole. This gives you two distinct ways to explore the town’s past: a clearly defined chapter in the furniture industry and a museum with a broader focus on local history.

When looking for a vacation rental in Gardner, you can use these highlights as a guide: consider whether outdoor activities, nature and wildlife or local history should shape your stay.

Discover more destinations: Westminster, Leicester, Grafton, Southborough, Sutton, Fitchburg, Millbury, Upton.

For the broader travel overview: Worcester.