Centralville's historic 'Apple Orchard' chopped down

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Centralville’s historic ‘Apple Orchard’ chopped down

Melanie Gilbert
UPDATED: March 23, 2025 at 8:27 AM EDT
Categories:Business, Latest Headlines, Local News, News, Politics, Uncategorized


The more than 6 acres of the former so-called Apple Orchard were cleared this month in preparation for the development of 17 single-family homes. This view on March 21, 2025, looks north from Llewellyn Street toward Christian Street. The abandoned barn is all that is left of the formerly verdant landscape. (Melanie Gilbert/Lowell Sun)

LOWELL — Former Conservation Commission member Louisa Varnum may well be rolling over in her too-early grave at the clear cutting taking place on the site of the so-called Apple Orchard property in Centralville. … The long-term and well-respected resident was an advocate of natural and protected resources. Varnum died last August, one week before losing the fight to preserve what she believed was a wetlands protected site, which paved the way for the construction of 17 single-family homes by Berkeley Development LLC, a Pelham, New Hampshire firm.

Varnum had 47 years of service to the city of Lowell as a member and chair of the Conservation Commission. Her passion for conservation and environmental protection ran deep — almost 400 years deep. She was instrumental in preserving 5 acres of the original 1664 Varnum family farm in Lowell, known as Hawk Valley Farm in Pawtucketville.

On Friday, a worker with Pelletier Logging & Land Clearing, a New Hampshire-based company, declined to speak with a reporter. Using heavy equipment, he collected clumps of downed trees and piles of brush in the area that had been known as the inner swale, a previously verdant area ringed by foliage. … According to the developer’s wetland survey, the wooded land contained vegetation, sugar maple, red and white oak, American elm, Japanese honeysuckle and crabapple trees, the latter perhaps giving rise to the colloquial “Apple Orchard” name.

Now, most of that is gone, and the thick ground cover has been stripped, giving clear sight lines across the more than 6-acre parcel. From the top of Llewellyn Street, which used to be dense with greenery, a visitor can see all the way across to the houses on Christian Street, almost two-tenths of a mile away.

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[GiqueCee]

1. What a fucking obscenity...

... the development could have been integrated with the natural surroundings, but greed always wins, and to people like this, the destruction is part of the fun.