Bolton Center comprises layers of heritage landscapes — historic dwellings, farms, mill sites and civic buildings. A narrow linear district has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Center area includes: former William Sawyer Farm, Pond Park (designed by Alfred Stone); the Sawyer mill pond, dam and tailrace; three stone slab bridges; remnants of a rail line; and upland fields; opportunity for Native American archaeological sites; the Old Common; Town House; First Parish Church, powder house, and old roads.

The Bolton-Lancaster Railroad was a short-lived rail line that ran from Hudson to Lancaster through Bolton. It was used only twice before being abandoned. Other rail lines passed through Bolton, but only along the southern edge of town. Remnants include: stone culverts, a sheep tunnel, and abutments of an old bridge that crossed Great Brook. Because this line was so short-lived it has never shown up on historic maps.

The Century Mills Area is located in the southeastern part of Bolton and includes the mill complex, a miller’s house and agricultural resources that supported the mill. The focus is Century Mills, at the intersection of Century Mill and South Bolton Roads, both designated scenic roads. The Century Mills Area is broader than this main intersection and is important for its scenic quality and its geological features. At the intersection, mills are reported as early as ca. 1700 operated by Thomas Sawyer and succeeding generations throughout the entire 18th century. The saw and grist
mills were operated by Captain Amory Pollard for the first half of the 19th century. Pollard built a house (197 Century Mill Road) and operated a saw and grist mill on Wattaquadock Brook (now referred to as Mill Brook), which is downstream from Century Mill Pond, thought to have first been dammed in ca. 1700 by Sawyers. The pond’s two stone dams remain and have been reinforced with concrete. On the miller’s house lot there also are barns and an old ice house from the days when the miller/farmer also harvested ice from the mill pond.

One of Bolton’s oldest roads is Old Bay Road, a designated scenic road, which was a section of the Old Bay Path, laid out by European settlers over old Native American trails or paths. The Old Bay Path cut through Bolton in an east-west direction with some variation, and more or less followed Wilder Road, Old Bay Road, Town Farm Road, South Bolton Road and Spectacle Hill Road into Hudson and then easterly through Sudbury. The corridor along Old Bay Road, a segment of the old path, retains its rural agricultural landscape. This scenic road is important for its vistas, its historic houses and farms that line the route, and the trees and stone walls that contribute to the town’s rural character. Sections of Old Bay Road are lined with sugar maples, and other areas have stone walls along the road as well as perpendicular to the road, separating farmland.

The Still River is a tributary of the Nashua River. It and Bolton Flats are part of an Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC). In the northwest corner of Bolton, it is framed by the town borders, Still River Road on the east, and Main Street (Route 117) on the south. The area has been designated an ACEC for its concentration of wetlands, rivers, aquifers, wildlife, rare and endangered species, and agricultural and archaeological resources. In addition, the Still River and its environs are part of the Nashaway Landscape study unit described in the Town of Bolton Preservation Plan. (Nashaway was the Native American name for the area.)

West’s Pond, one of the largest ponds in Bolton, was formed by damming a tributary of Great Brook, which flows north of Main Street through this part of Bolton. Bolton’s first tannery was located on the Baker-Sawyer property (392 Main Street) close to the outflow of the pond, and on the property at 401 Main Street John Sawyer established mills downstream, north of the road.

Wilder Road, a designated scenic road, extends from Main Street (Route 117) southwesterly to the town of Lancaster. The Bolton Preservation Plan describes the Wilder Road area with its orchards at one end and protected Twin Springs Golf Course (295 Wilder Road) at the other end as part of the Nashaway Landscape.

Wilder Road is named for the Wilder family, who settled here before Bolton was incorporated as a town. In ca. 1814 a later Wilder, S.V.S. Wilder, acquired an old Richardson family farm and inn (on the Old Bay Path) and turned it into a French inspired “country seat” (as it was advertised) with spectacular hilltop views. The Wilder Mansion once was surrounded by over 600 acres of land. Today the property is substantially reduced in size, but this Bolton treasure still commands a presence on the hill top overlooking the orchards to the south.