River Pines

River Pines is a neighborhood on the west bank of the Concord River north of the Centre, on both sides of Bridle Road and south across River Street toward the old line of the Middlesex Turnpike. It was laid out as a summer colony by R. F. Smith, surveyor, of Boston Road, Billerica, in five numbered units. Units 1 to 4 are dated May 1927 and were recorded in October 1927 and June 1928 (Plan Book 51, Plans 10, 13 and 16, and Plan Book 52, Plan 10); Unit 5 followed in May 1928 (Plan Book 52, Plan 7). Units 1 and 5 lie along Bridle Road, Unit 2 south of River Street along the river, and Units 3 and 4 are larger lots between River Street, Treble Cove Road and the turnpike. In August 1934 Alfred Millhouse, civil engineer, of Boston drew River Pines Shores for E. B. Hamilton, trustee (Plan Book 58, Plan 43), filling in the land between the earlier units and the river and setting aside a beach on the Concord River, now River Pines Shores Beach.

Most of the streets were named for trees with the ending "wood": Edgewood, Birchwood, Arborwood, Greenwood, Cedarwood, Fernwood, Ridgewood and Sprucewood Roads and Pinewood, Maplewood and Oakwood Avenues in Units 1 and 5, and Rosewood, Limewood, Edenwood, Robinwood, Balsamwood, Alderwood and Eastwood Avenues on the 1934 plan. Unit 2 used another set: Ledgelawn, Laurel, Cypress and Avondale Avenues, Carmena, Palma, Avila, Braemore, Kilsyth, Acanthis, Argyle, Hurlbut, Nestor and Leonore Roads, Westwood Avenue and Elsie Avenue along the river, with a public park at its south end and landings on the river.

River Pines was one of the summer developments of the late 1920s. In 1929 the school committee wrote that River Pines and the Shawsheen Pines estates "are designed essentially for the summer dwellings" and did "not promise any considerable additions to the school population." The town accepted Bridle Road "as it now exists extending northerly from River Street and continuing through River Pines and River Pines Shores" in 1935, and the side streets remained private ways for many years; the River Pines section was graveled and graded by the town in 1970. River Pines 5 (1928, Plan Book 52, Plan 7) laid out Basswood Avenue at the east end of the tract.

Historic Buildings

Points of Interest

• Dutile Park (1958)