Favorite Drives Around Gardner (Classic Reprint)

Explore Gardner’s scenic drives and blooming landscapes with a thoughtful guide to the area's natural wonders.

This nonfiction volume leads you along winding roads and leafy lanes, highlighting rivers, views, and the rich flora that define New England’s countryside.

Across drives from Monument Square to Crystal Lake, you’ll encounter wildflowers, wetlands, and quiet overlooks. The book links landscapes with local history, pointing out places like Betty’s Spring, old cellar-holes, and notable viewpoints that reveal the town’s character through its plants, rocks, and stories.

• Seasonal flower highlights such as fringed gentian, lady’s slippers, trilliums, and orchids with notes on where they appear.
• Suggestions for scenic routes, overlooks, and woodland views that showcase the region’s natural beauty.
• Short historical vignettes tied to landmarks along the drives, including family homesteads and old cellar-holes.
• A practical sense of how landscapes change with the year and what to look for on each visit.

Ideal for nature lovers, outdoor enthusiasts, and anyone curious about Gardner’s landscape and its wild treasures.