Fort Devens

Shirley Shaker Village is a historic former Shaker community in Lancaster and Shirley, Massachusetts. Defined as an historic district, it includes about half of the original buildings and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Shirley Shaker Village began in 1793. Hundreds of acres of land was donated by John Warren, Elijah and Ivory Wildes, and Nathan Willard near their properties. At its peak there were 26 buildings; Now there are 13. Within the community there were the North, South and Church families. By 1853 there were 150 believers, or members, and the community continued into the 20th century. The buildings were first made of clapboard and painted yellow and white. After the 1840s and the founding of a brick factory nearby, new buildings were constructed of brick. The brick administration building was styled similarly to one at the Canterbury Shaker Village in New Hampshire. The interiors of the buildings were described by William Dean Howells in 1875 as "the unpapered walls, the scrubbed floors hidden only by rugs and strips of carpeting, and the plain flat finish of the wood-work. Each chamber accommodates two brothers or sisters, and is appointed with two beds, two rocking chairs, two wash stands, and a wood stove with abundance of rugs. There were few tokens of personal taste in the arrangements of the rooms." The Shakers earned income by producing and selling jellies, applesauce, herbs, mops and brooms. When the community dwindled and they were no longer able to be self-supporting, in 1908 "believers" moved to the Hancock Shaker Village.The state purchased the property in 1909 and adapted it for use as an "industrial school" for troubled and delinquent boys. Extensive changes were made to the property, resulting in the movement, alteration, and demolition of buildings. In 1971 the school was closed. New construction was done on site and the total facility was converted into the Massachusetts Correctional Institution complex. A historic district, encompassing the Shaker-related resources on more than 700 acres (280 ha) of land in Shirley and Lancaster, was defined and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The Shirley Historical Society arranges periodic tours of the former Shirley Shaker Village.Several other Shaker village sites operate today as museums. A similar community was founded in nearby Harvard. The meetinghouse of Shirley Shaker Village was moved in 1962 to Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield to replace an identical one which burned and then was razed in 1938.Today, only one "society" remains in the control of the last Shakers, located at Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester, Maine.

Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center (SBCC) is a maximum security prison in Lancaster, Massachusetts (though it receives mail through a post-office box in the town of Shirley). It is operated by the Massachusetts Department of Correction. It is close to the medium-security prison Massachusetts Correctional Institution – Shirley, which is directly to the north over the town border. Souza-Baranowski opened on September 30, 1998. As of January 6, 2020 SBCC housed 672 inmates in general population beds.The prison is named in honor of a corrections officer, James Souza, 29, and an instructor Alfred Baranowski, 54, who were shot in July 1972 by an inmate whose wife had smuggled in handguns into what was then the Norfolk Prison Colony. Souza-Baranowski is the only post-conviction maximum-security state prison in Massachusetts. Massachusetts Correctional Institution – Cedar Junction operates a pre-trial maximum-security "reception and diagnostic center", and the Federal Medical Center, Devens operates at all security levels, including maximum.

Massachusetts Correctional Institution – Shirley is a medium-security state prison in Shirley, Massachusetts. The facility also contains a minimum-security section which houses less dangerous prisoners. MCI-Shirley maintains 13 inmate housing units, a 28-bed full-service hospital unit, a 59-bed segregation unit, gym, recreation areas, school, industries, laundry, vocational area, and food services/programs. This facility is under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Department of Correction. It is located directly to the north of the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, a maximum-security facility in the town of Lancaster. On January 6, 2020 there was 992 Medium and 269 minimum inmates in general population beds.

The Ponakin Bridge is a historic Post truss bridge spanning the Nashua River in northern Lancaster, Massachusetts. The bridge was built in 1871, and originally carried the main north–south road (now Ponakin Road), which was bypassed by the construction of Massachusetts Route 70. It is now unsafe and closed even to pedestrians. The bridge, with a design once common but now extremely rare, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

The North Village Historic District encompasses a well-preserved 19th-century rural village on North Main Street in Lancaster, Massachusetts. The district includes a collection of houses, most dating to the first half of the 19th century or earlier. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

The Shirley Village Historic District encompasses the main commercial and industrial village of Shirley, Massachusetts. It is located in the southern part of the town, and grew up around a series of mills that were located along Catacoonamug Brook, and then the railroad, which was built through the area in the 1840s. The district contains 441 properties. It is roughly bounded by Center, Harvard, Leominster and Shaker Roads. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

Shirley is a census-designated place (CDP) comprising the main village in the town of Shirley in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,611 at the 2020 census, out of 7,431 in the entire town of Shirley.

The Beaman Oak was the largest white oak tree in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It stood in the front yard of a colonial era three-story house in the town of Lancaster. It was so named because Gamaliel Beaman had originally settled the spot in 1659. The oak became known as a prominent landmark in Central Massachusetts and is featured prominently on the town seal of West Boylston. In 1970, the Beaman Oak's circumference at its base was 31 ft (9.4 m), with a circumference 5 ft (1.5 m) above the base of 31 ft (9.4 m), and its height was 75 ft (23 m) and spread was 75 ft (23 m). The oak's trunk was partially hollow towards the end of its life. After a storm severely damaged it, the tree was cut down in 1989.

The Lovell General Hospital South is a former hospital at Fort Devens. It was named after the first Surgeon General of the United States Army, Joseph Lovell.

Shirley station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Shirley, Massachusetts. It serves the Fitchburg Line, and is located in the village center. The station consists of a short low-level platform with an asphalt patch for passengers to cross the tracks, plus a small wooden shelter on the inbound side. Shirley station is not accessible.

The Still River is a 5-mile-long (8.0 km) tributary of the Nashua River in Bolton, Massachusetts and Harvard, Massachusetts. The river is located near Lancaster, Massachusetts in eastern Worcester County, Massachusetts. The village of Still River, Massachusetts is located in Harvard, Massachusetts, where the river merges with the Nashua in the Bolton Flats.

The Anthony Lane House is a historic house at 250 Seven Bridge Road in Lancaster, Massachusetts. Built in 1809, it is one of the town's finest examples of Federal period architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.