Rear Middlesex Turnpike
Rear Middlesex Turnpike is not a public street. It is the location label the Billerica assessor long used for the grounds of the Minute Man Sportsman's Club, about 100 acres of woodland lying behind the lots on the Middlesex Turnpike in the south part of the town, near the Burlington and Bedford lines. The assessor listed the club's parcel at "Rear Middlesex Tpk" until July 21, 2023, when its address was changed to 56 Rear Francis Wyman Road, after the Burlington street by which the club is reached. The road known by this name is a private track through the club land, running about three quarters of a mile from the end of Plank Street east past the club lodge toward the Burlington line. It was never laid out or accepted by the town, and the label simply describes land lying behind the turnpike frontage.
The club bought the land after the Second World War. By a deed recorded in Book 1045, Page 201 (dated May 25, 1946 in the assessor's records), Harold W. Bennett of Burlington conveyed to "Minute Man Sportsman's Club, Inc., a Massachusetts corporation, having its usual place of business in Lexington," two parcels in Billerica: about sixty acres beginning "at a stone meant for a bound between said Billerica and Bedford," bounded by lands of the Skilton family and of McIntire and "known as the Wyman and Boggins lot," and a second parcel of about ten acres. The assessor dates the club's lodge to about 1940, an estimate; no record of a building there before the 1946 purchase was found. Eight concrete bunkers stand on the grounds. Boston Magazine, writing about the Boston 2024 Olympic bid, described the club as "a privately owned, shotgun-only shooting range," "situated on roughly 100 acres in Billerica, and accessible via Francis Wyman Road in Burlington."
The industrial land along the turnpike grew up around the club. A Land Court certificate of 1970 for land of the Cabot, Cabot and Forbes Land Company on the east side of the Middlesex Turnpike at the Bedford line was bounded by the club's land, and in 1971 the club deeded land to the International Shoe Machine Corporation (Book 1957, Page 235). In 1997 it sold for $50,000 about two acres on the northerly side of the Middlesex Turnpike in Billerica and Bedford, the "50' Wide ROW" on a compiled plan of 1982 (Plan Book 138, Plan 40) that had been excepted from the 1971 deed. The club's land should not be confused with the town's 2.3 acre conservation parcel that the assessor also lists as "Rear Middlesex Tp" (parcel 78-282-1-2), Lot B-2 on a plan of 1986 prepared for William J. Callahan (Plan Book 157, Plan 101) beside the former Boston and Maine Railroad near Route 3; the town acquired that parcel in December 2025, and the Conservation Commission wrote that it "will support the planned Yankee Doodle Bike Path connection to conservation land."
References
- Boston Magazine, Next Stop on Boston 2024 Bid 2.0 Tour: Billerica?: Minute Man Sportsman's Club, about 100 acres in Billerica reached from Francis Wyman Road, Burlington
- Town of Billerica, Article 97 submission for the Yankee Doodle Bike Path: former Boston and Maine railroad alignment, Callahan plan (other Rear Middlesex Tp parcel)
Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 16, 1970 | Certificate of Title | Land Court decree, case 32815 | Trustees of the Cabot, Cabot & Forbes Land Company (declaration of trust of June 1, 1961) | 1970 Land Court certificate for land at the Bedford line bounded by the Minute Man Sportsman's Club | Ctf 17200 |
Original certificate for land on the east side of the Middlesex Turnpike at the Bedford line, shown as Lot 2 on Land Court Plan 32815-A, Sheet 2 (Raymond C. Pressey Inc., Surveyors, Dec. 21, 1961 and Dec. 9, 1966), bounded by the Minute Man Sportsmans Club, Horace B. Skelton, Margaret T. Corcoran and Timothy J. Dorgan et al., with Daniel G. Wheeler et al., Trustees, on the Bedford side. Part of the Middlesex Turnpike industrial land of Cabot, Cabot & Forbes, whose 1961 deed to Waverly Realty, Inc. and 1963 indenture are recited in every later certificate.
Title passed to:
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| July 2, 1997 | Deed | Minute Man Sportsman's Club, Incorporated, of Burlington (Roy A. Duddy, President) | BBB Partners Limited Partnership | 1997 deed by the Minute Man Sportsman's Club of the 50 ft right of way on the Middlesex Turnpike, excepted from its 1971 deed | 8656/1 |
$50,000. About 2 acres on the northerly side of the Middlesex Turnpike in Billerica and Bedford, the "50' Wide ROW" on the 1982 compiled plan for the International Shoe Machine Corporation (Plan Book 138, Plan 40), excepted from the club's 1971 deed to that company (Book 1957, Page 235). Unregistered land that became part of Lot B on Plan Book 196, Plan 66.
Title passed to:
Related:
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted; Probate # is a Middlesex probate case, Ctf a Land Court certificate of title.