Buffumville Lake Park

Buffumville Lake Park

Charlton, Massachusetts 01507

Official Website
Buffumville Lake Park map

About this Location

Buffumville Park is open daily from mid-May through mid-September. The park is a day-use fee area containing picnic sites with tables and grills. The United States Army Corps of Engineers maintains a swimming area with a 300-foot-long beach. This area includes two picnic shelters, a life jacket loaner station, a horseshoe pit, a volleyball court, and a handicap-accessible comfort station.

Almost 500 acres of land and 200 acres of water comprise the natural environment at Buffumville Lake. On the western side of the lake, red oak, white oak, and hickory are commonly found. The east side of Buffumville Lake supports white pine and hemlock. Other species sited along the lake’s edge are red maple, alder, and birch as well as other common wetland plants. Deer, rabbits, geese, raccoons, foxes, and a variety of songbirds are some of the wildlife species inhabiting these natural areas. The lake is a warm-water fishery, with good populations of large-mouth bass, pickerel, horned pout, bream, and numerous other fish species.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manages the natural resources at Buffumville Lake for multiple uses: flood control, wildlife habitat, forest production, watershed protection, and outdoor recreation.

The site where the village of Buffumville was established was first developed as a mill in 1812. The 183-acre tract was situated in both Oxford and Charlton. In that year, brothers Alexander and Jonathan Nichols built a dam and sawmill on the Little River. In 1815, they built a two-story house, and in 1818, a gristmill.

Moses Buffum, a successful miller, and businessman, was born July 10, 1800, at Smithfield, Rhode Island. He began a hat-making business in Slatersville, Massachusetts at the age of 18, and soon became a part-owner of a satin mill in Millville, Massachusetts. He became the sole owner in 1834 and continued to enlarge his business until his mill burned in 1849. In 1852, Moses Buffum relocated to Oxford, Massachusetts, and bought the mill on the Little River to manufacture cashmere (fine woolen goods). Because Mr. Buffum became a prominent and well-liked businessman, the community around his mill became known as Buffumville.

Features

  • Restrooms on site

  • Entrance fee

  • Roadside viewing

  • Wheelchair accessible trail

Content from Official Website

Last updated December 8, 2023