The final mile of the Fourth Meadow
One other thing about this section that should be said up front is that it is one of only three
paddling trips you can make on the Shawsheen River in which you can be sure there will be enough
water to comfortably paddle.
The other two trips are the “Rte. 3 to Little England” trip in Billerica and the
“Ballardvale to Central Street” trip in Andover. The reason there is always water
in the final mile of the Fourth Meadow seems to be that the bridge at Bridge Street
forms a kind of dam that always holds just enough water back. The Billerica trip always
has water because of the beaver dams. The Andover trip has water because of the Stevens Street dam.
Put-In/Take-Out
The place to put your boat in the water is behind the Knights of Columbus (K of C)
on Main Street (Rte. 38) in Tewksbury. At the back of the parking lot, you will find
a short, single-lane dirt road that leads down to the river. Aside from the ease of
entry and exit, the most interesting thing about this site is that it is one of only
two on the entire river where you can look downstream from the Put-In and see enough
of the downstream meadow to appreciate the expanse of the floodplain.
If you stand at the edge of the K of C parking lot about twenty feet to the left (facing the river)
of the entrance to the dirt road, you are almost fifteen feet over the river. From here you can see
the entire length and width of the last mile of the Fourth Meadow. It’s an impressive sight. The
only other place on the river where you can stand on land and see that much of the meadow is the
Middlesex Turnpike bridge over the Shawsheen River in the First Meadow, in Bedford.
The place where you will end this trip is the landing right beside the river’s confluence with
Strongwater Brook on your left, just below the Bridge Street bridge. After you pass under the bridge,
you will see an opening in the bank where Strongwater Brook enters. The relatively flat, grassy
peninsula you see right below Strongwater Brook is the Take-Out. There is a parking lot bordering
Shawsheen Street at the top of the path.
If you decide to leave your boat at the Take-Out and walk back to your car or truck at the Put-In,
the walk will take you about fifteen minutes. The walking distance from the Take-Out back to the
Put-In is precisely 0.8 miles.
The Fourth Meadow
For most of this trip, you have wetland vegetation on both sides of the river as you paddle
through the meadow. As you can see from the illustration on this page, the river crosses from
one side of the meadow to the other six times in the last mile. For some reason, there is an
abundance of muskrats, otters, and minks in this last bit of the Fourth Meadow. I attribute
this to the notable absence of hawks and owls through here — as opposed to the upper section
of the Fourth Meadow, which seems to teem with raptors. I believe the reason for this is that
the end of the Fourth Meadow is bordered by houses rather than by riverine woods. Wherever there
are trees at the meadow’s border here, they are around houses. It is rare to see raptors in suburban
neighborhoods when a wilder habitat is within sight just upstream.
Here are the statistics for the end of the Fourth Meadow:
. 180-degree turns — 4
. 90-degree turns — 6
. 45-degree turns — 4
As you can see in the photograph on the previous page, there are two relatively long sections of the
river in this part of the floodplain where the river runs straight, almost as if it had been canalized.
These make for an easy, restful trip for the novice or otherwise weary canoeist.
You become aware that you are approaching the end of the Fourth Meadow when you cross the meadow on a
short track and find yourself paddling with trees on your right and meadow on your left. Almost as soon
as you become aware that you have crossed the meadow, the river takes a hard left and you are back in
the middle of the meadow. On your next right turn, you’re about to enter the Fifth Woods.
The river runs straight after this last right turn in the Fourth Meadow. You will see a pool at the end
of this straightway. There is a white, partially boarded-up house on the bank over the pool. There is
also a circle of white-painted rocks, a kind of faux fire circle.
If you have decided to turn around at the end of the meadow and repeat the easy paddle back to
the Put-In, this pool is where you turn around. There is plenty of space to make the reversal,
and the water in the pool is calm enough that it is easy to do here.
If you have decided to continue, at the left side of the pool you will see a line of rocks
across the bottom. These are the remnants of another of the old dams on the river. You want to
point your boat into the downstream V formed by the flow between two rocks. When you cross that
line of rocks, you have entered the Fifth Woods. The land on either side of the river is wooded
upland with some riverside housing.
Shortly after you pass through the line of stones, the river takes a ninety-degree right turn.
Just downstream, you see the Bridge Street bridge. You should slow your boat down enough to let
yourself carefully look through each culvert. Take the one that looks clearest of debris.
(One of them is always clearer than the other two, it seems.)
Once you’ve made your choice of culverts, you simply ride the water through. Shortly after
you’re through, you see Strongwater Brook coming in on the left and the grassy peninsula right
beside it. That’s your Take-Out.