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Walking Across Nashoba — Stow Part 2
Bob and I soon make a left turn onto Heritage Lane, which provides an excellent example of a newer housing development in Stow and how it connects to the rural tradition and nearby conservation areas of the town. The houses were built in the late 1990s on one acre lots and are currently assessed at between $500,000 and $600,000. A quick survey of the Registry of Deeds reveals that the land was developed by Elizabeth Brook Farms and the Commons Development Group. Apparently, like many farms in the area its most profitable crop was single family homes.
The name of the road itself drips with typical suburban irony. Instead of naming the road for the trees that were cut down to build it as in numerous Oak, Maple, and Elm Streets that cross the land, they chose Heritage Lane. The road is not a lane, which is defined by The American Heritage Dictionary as “a narrow way or passage between walls, hedges, or fences,” or “a narrow country road.” Instead, it is a modern cul-de-sac, with all the curb cuts, sidewalks, median strips, drainage routes, buried utilities, and connections to local conservation land that a planning board…
