Today, it's time to take a trip back to the Worcester area! This is the area I lived in for most of the time I was in Massachusetts, so this will be a long post. Click on any of the headings to see the stores in that area.
Brookfield, MA - Some scenes from the gorgeous and tranquil Quaboag River at White's Landing, about 16 miles southwest of Worcester. Main Street in Worcester becomes route 9 west of the city, which winds its way through the small towns of
Leicester,
Spencer, the Brookfields (
North Brookfield is about four miles north of route 9), and
Ware before turning north and heading towards the Berkshires.
East Brookfield, MA - There are a lot of beautiful lakes in this area between Worcester and Springfield, too, including Lake Lashaway here in East Brookfield. Route 9 actually runs right alongside the lake for a while.
Brimfield, MA - Brimfield is southwest of the Brookfields, not far from Sturbridge. It's best-known for its
massive flea markets, which are not to be missed. It's also a gorgeous, scenic rural area, and it's amazing how this area, which really feels like you're way out in the country, is just 20 miles from Worcester or Springfield. I also spotted this, what appears to be part of a box truck from Popular Super Markets. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about Popular other than that they had stores around Springfield, and the generic name makes searching for details all but impossible.
North Brookfield, MA - My trip from Worcester to North Brookfield was on a picture-perfect spring Saturday, just right for a long bike ride. Here's a look at some of the most scenic portions of the ride, including the historic buildings of North Brookfield, and of course a frog who I don't believe is historic in any way. But still just as handsome as the buildings.
North Brookfield is also home to the northern end of Lake Lashaway, though the northern end is somewhat more remote than the southern end.
Spencer, MA - Worcester was the home of the Worcester Lunch Car Co., a diner manufacturer, and their dining car-style diners still dot the landscape of central Massachusetts, although they're getting rarer. One example is here in Spencer, where the Kenwood Diner was recently demolished. Charlie's Diner, outside of the downtown area but just around the corner from the
Big Y, no longer uses the original dining car, but instead has a spacious new dining room and bar built out the back of the original diner.
Southbridge, MA - Probably not a city that most have heard of, Southbridge is just under 20 miles southwest of Worcester and borders the better-known Sturbridge, home to
Old Sturbridge Village. The pictures above come from the beautiful fall scenery from a bike ride between
Southbridge and
Dudley.
And closer to Christmastime, here's a look at the decorated downtown Southbridge buildings. It's not a large city, but with a population of around 20,000, not a small town either.
Charlton, MA - Charlton is home to
one small grocery store, and is about halfway between
Sturbridge and
Oxford. It's a very tiny town and many of the roads surrounding it are small country roads, some not even paved. When I lived in Worcester, I didn't have a car, and I didn't have a bike either for most of my time. So a lot of my journeys were on foot, and I can highly recommend walking along these peaceful roads between towns. There's also lots of great hiking in the area.
Webster, MA -
Webster is just about 15 miles south of Worcester, and just a couple miles north of the Connecticut border.
Auburn, MA - Auburn is an immediate Worcester suburb and also home to a number of small lakes. Above is Dark Brook Reservoir, along with a picture I love of the moon above Church Street just east of Southbridge Street. See all The Market Report's Auburn coverage
here.
Millbury, MA - Another suburb not far outside Worcester, Millbury has a small downtown including an
independent supermarket. We're at the northern end of the Blackstone Valley here, which runs along the Blackstone River all the way down to Rhode Island. Below is a view across the valley, looking southeast, from the Shops at Blackstone Valley, a large mall outside of town.
Grafton, MA - Worcester is a pretty big city, in fact the second-largest in New England (behind only Boston). But you don't have to go far outside Worcester to feel like you're really in the New England countryside. For some crazy perspective: Grafton's picturesque town common is a mere seven miles from the center of Worcester.
Here's a look at what we saw in Grafton.
Douglas, MA - The Douglas Flea Market, an indoor antique store, is partially located in this converted barn. It's worth a visit not only for the merchandise but because the interior is particularly attractive. Douglas, which is about three miles from Rhode Island, has only
one very small store. Now it's time to actually get into Worcester itself!
Quinsigamond Village - Known for its Ghanaian community, Quinsigamond Village is the place to go for dishes like jollof rice, seen here with a curry chicken stew at Gold Coast Restaurant on Blackstone River Road. To the left, the sunset over Quinsigamond Village, seen from McKeon Road.
Hadwen Park - Near the Auburn border is Hadwen Park, a very green neighborhood of Worcester. Or, in the case of these two pictures, a very snowy white one. In the picture to the right, you can see the downtown off in the distance.
South Worcester - One of the biggest activities in South Worcester is rail switching, as the Providence & Worcester Railroad has several yards in this area. The CSX line also passes through.
The Worcester Lunch Car Company was also based here in South Worcester, and manufactured diners that would eventually be sent all across New England and beyond. There are three diners in the area, although the Corner Lunch (now Marvin's Corner Lunch, as it was sold a few years ago) was actually built on Long Island and shipped up.
The Miss Worcester is the most famous in Worcester, and is an original, unaltered Worcester Lunch Car diner sitting just next door to where the diners were made decades ago.
Blanchard's 101 Diner was also made by the Worcester Lunch Car Company, but never opened, instead sitting in storage for decades. The Blanchards, who ran a catering business next door also, rebuilt and restored the diner, operating it until 2020. It was apparently a casualty of the coronavirus, but it's now open again as the Unique Cafe, a Jamaican restaurant. See more about the history
here.
Webster Square is, of course, a square (particularly the intersection of Main, Mill, Park, and Stafford) but is also used to refer to the neighborhood around that intersection. On Stafford just beyond the
Shaw's is Sister's, a small diner that's particularly interesting because it's a replacement for the original building. The original diner, now walled up, appears to be either storage or an apartment next door. The new building isn't a Lunch Car diner, but it has the same feel.
Coes Pond reservoir is between Webster Square and Tatnuck, and has a small beach, an attached park, and a number of paths around the area.
Main South - Worcester and its immediate suburbs are home to a number of colleges, including Main South's Clark University. Its iconic Jonas Clark Hall faces Main Street, and University Park is across the street.
Oread Castle Park breaks up the otherwise urban neighborhood, and is tucked away at the top of a hill above Main Street.
Downtown - Worcester isn't a particularly high-rise city, but it's still very urban and has a bustling downtown. There's a number of government and cultural institutions in the downtown area, including a federal courthouse, a large theater, several significant office buildings, a remarkably good art museum, as well as the historic city hall (right) and Union Station (left).
The city is oriented around a common, as many New England towns and cities are. Below you can see the big buildings around the common, including the DCU Center -- an arena -- to the left.
The Kenmore Diner is just across from Union Station, and although it has a seriously old-school diner feeling inside, it's only about 25 years old. The original diner on this site burned down in 2001, and the Kenmore rebuilt with a brand-new, but retro-designed, interior.
In the last decade or two, Worcester has significantly improved its financial and economic outlook. Part of that redevelopment is ongoing, as several large buildings downtown remain vacant or under construction. The Worcester Auditorium, left, and the former vocational technical high school, right, are both at Lincoln Square. Both have ongoing redevelopment plans, but are still vacant. Across the street, the former courthouse has been redeveloped into residential units.
You can get an overview of the city from the hill at Franklin Plantation, and below you can see the downtown along with the distinctive spires on Union Station to the left.
And that's a good transition to the neighborhoods east of downtown...
Green Island - Another icon of Worcester is George's Coney Island, in business since 1918 and with
neon dating to 1940. The incredibly-preserved hot dog joint serves up hot dogs in paper trays, and being just blocks from the new
Polar Park seems like an appropriate location -- even if George's predates Polar Park by a good 103 years or so.
Franklin Plantation isn't a neighborhood we visited, as there really aren't any grocery stores there. But the suburban neighborhood sits just north of
Billings Square.
Union, Grafton, and Vernon Hills - These neighborhoods southeast of downtown are mostly urban, and get less so farther out from the city center. Although they're present across the city, the
Worcester three-deckers are ubiquitous here. The steep, hilly streets roughly follow Grafton Street, which heads east and eventually becomes Worcester Road in Grafton.
Main Middle/Piedmont is where the more urban downtown and Main South areas meet the more suburban
Tatnuck and
Columbus Park neighborhoods. Pleasant and Highland are two of the main business districts through Main Middle, with the campus of Worcester Polytechnic Institute just north of Highland. Tatnuck is out towards Worcester State University, and is an affluent, green, and very beautiful neighborhood.
I've chosen to include Shrewsbury Street and its surroundings in this group, which is home to many of the longtime Italian restaurants in the city -- and is in general one of the restaurant districts in town -- but has a growing Brazilian and Portuguese community. The Boulevard Diner is hard to miss, and it's the only 24-hour diner in Worcester. I'm not a party person, but the one big night time party I went to was followed by a 3am trip to the Boulevard for some pancakes, which was absolutely essential and exactly what I needed!
Lincoln Plaza is your average big-box strip mall, but because it's low and flat, and at a relatively high elevation, it's the perfect spot to see a rainbow!
Indian Lake - As you've probably gathered by now, there's a lot of small lakes, rivers, and ponds in and around Worcester. This one is Indian Lake, to the north of downtown and not far from Assumption University, another college in town. And you can't talk about retail and
Greendale without visiting the Greendale Mall, which was demolished around 2020 to make way for an Amazon warehouse.
As you can see from these pictures, it was already pretty dead when I photographed it in October of 2019. I'm not particularly interested in this type of malls, dead or alive, but I remember thinking at the time that somebody who reads The Market Report would probably be interested. So many years later, here you go.
And we can't talk about malls and Worcester and photography without discussing Stephen DiRado, a Worcester-based photographer who had a
spectacular series at the Worcester Galleria downtown before it was demolished. I would strongly recommend browsing Stephen's work on his website, and as I know him personally, I can also tell you that he is simply the nicest person you'll ever meet.
Lake Quinsigamond separates Worcester from
Shrewsbury, the first suburb east along route 9. I've walked across the bridge on route 9 enough times that I've photographed the lake in just about every weather condition you can think of.
Shrewsbury, MA is also home to Dinky's Blue Belle Diner, another Worcester Lunch Car diner.
Northborough, MA - The areas between Worcester and Boston on route 9 are pretty suburban, but there are small pockets of nature throughout, too. Here's a view over a valley home to Crane Swamp and the Sudbury Reservoir, looking east towards Framingham. Northborough is also home to the classic Chet's Diner, which I believe is also a Worcester Lunch Car diner.
And over in
Westborough, MA, we come across Harry's Restaurant, a standby for seafood staples -- charming if rather expensive for the diner-like experience and menu.
West Boylston, MA - Just north of Worcester is yet another scenic body of water, this one the Wachusett Reservoir between West Boylston and Clinton. It's absolutely gorgeous in all seasons, but visiting the Old Stone Church on the shore of the reservoir in the fall was particularly special.
And should you find yourself hungry in this neck of the woods, you can stop by Bamboo Garden, a Chinese and Japanese restaurant right off of the reservoir.
Sterling, MA - The town is tiny, barely even a blip on most maps of Massachusetts. But it's incredibly beautiful, with a rail trail winding its way through the forests and bringing hikers and bikers out to a cider mill that's been converted into a sprawling antique store.
Clinton, MA - From here we head to Clinton at the north end of the Wachusett Reservoir. Just outside of the quaint downtown is a large dam, forming the northeastern border of the reservoir. Twice a year, the dam is opened and you can actually walk across it. I've never been able to do that, but it's worth a stop just for the scenery regardless.
There was, at one time, a rail line that went over the northern part of the reservoir on a very high bridge, and although the rail line itself is long gone, there's still a tunnel nestled in the mountains above the reservoir. It's not easily accessible, and it's since been closed off (I'm not particularly certain that I was allowed to be there when I was, but...nobody stopped me). But it was an incredible sight, as you could walk through the whole tunnel from end to end. Obviously, I wasn't the first to be here.
Part of the way into the tunnel, the smooth concrete walls give way to an incredible carved stone interior. This is the rock of the mountain that they blasted through to build the tunnel, and it's strong enough that it's held up for a century.
We are almost done with the Worcester area! One more part of the county to visit before moving along...
- Remember Stephen DiRado, the photographer I mentioned earlier? The Fitchburg Art Museum recently had an exhibition of his life's work. And remember how I mentioned I knew him personally? Well so does about half the city of Worcester, which this entertaining interactive activity points out. Here are the degrees of separation from DiRado, including both "I know Stephen DiRado" and "I think I know someone, who might know someone, who might know someone, who might know another someone, who has had dinner in Worcester in the past 40 years."
Now back to diners, and Fitchburg had the recently-restored Moran Square Diner downtown until it closed a few years ago. Just outside of downtown was the East Side Diner, now El Paso, which serves tacos and pupusas. Both of these are Worcester Lunch Car dining cars.
Leominster, MA - We end this post with a look at one more fantastic meal, a remarkably well-priced $14 bibimbap lunch special from Arisu on the border between Leominster and Fitchburg -- served with all the accompaniments, of course, including kimchi, bean curd, pickled cucumbers, daikon, and miso soup. As you can see, I had no trouble polishing that off after riding my bike from Worcester!
That's all for this (extremely long) post, so thanks for sticking with me and I hope you enjoyed the trip to Worcester and the surrounding towns. Tomorrow, we're looking at the areas south and west of Boston!
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