Groton is located in the Nashoba Valley of northwestern Middlesex County. The Nashua and Squannacook rivers form a “V” that surrounds West Groton. The city features thousands acres of preserved natural terrain allowing for recreational opportunities such as swimming, hiking, fishing, horseback riding, canoeing and cross country skiing and more. Groton is horse country. It is home to the National Shepley Hills Horse Trials and the New England Horse Training Championships.
The Lost Lake area of Groton was created at the turn of the century through damming nearby streams and flooding an existing field. It was popular as a summer resort for city residents and today both permanent and summer residents live there.
The Groton Dunstable Regional School District serves the needs of students in the city through a high school, a middle school and three elementary schools. In addition, students have the option of attending the Nashoba Valley Technical High School. There is also an early childhood center as well as two well-known private schools -- Groton School and Lawrence Academy.
The town’s higher educational needs are served by Wachusett Community College and Western New England College in nearby Ayer. A number of prestigious universities are within a short drive including a state college in nearby Fitchburg and the University of Massachusetts in Lowell. Prestigious Harvard University is located in the city of Boston.
Groton is home to many historic buildings. Built in 1706 as a parsonage for Reverend Dudley Bradstreet, Bradstreet Parsonage is thought to be the oldest house still standing in Groton. The First Parish Church was originally built in 1755 as a gathering place for town meetings and other important political and social events. In 1775, the town common in front of the church was the assembly area for the Groton Minutemen who joined in the battle against the British in the towns of Concord and Lexington. The church bell was cast by Paul Revere Foundry.
The Governor Boutwell House was built in 1851, the same year George S. Boutwell became Governor of Massachusetts, it is now the Groton Historical Society Museum. Various periods of furniture and artifacts are on exhibit. The Old Burying Ground offers an opportunity for fascinating stroll to read the sentimental epitaphs and to note the quaint designs on the markers. Many of Groton's first settlers and their descendants are buried at the cemetery with the earliest surviving tombstone dating back to 1704. There are graves from the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the War of 1812.
Resting on the banks of the Squannacook River is the old red brick Groton Leatherboard factory that serves as a reminder of the late industrial period of a New England mill village.
Groton’s history dates back to John Tinker who followed Indian Trails from the Bay area and settled near the mouth of Nod Brook on the Nashua to set up his trading post to do business with the Nashaway Indians. The area was named Petapawag, meaning swampy land. Families, who crossed the area by foot or horseback, found Groton to be a good place for farming and fishing and quickly made it their home. This settlement was named The Plantation of Groton, which in 1655 encompassed all of what is now Groton and Ayer, nearly all of Pepperell and Shirley, a large part of Dunstable and Littleton, as well as smaller parts of Harvard, Westford, Nashua, NH, and Hollis, NH.
The King Philip's War of 1676 resulted in the burning of all but four garrison houses and the fleeing of all surviving residents into Concord and other safe havens. Two years later, residents returned to rebuild the town. The town’s population growth was paralleled by rising industries including a soapstone quarry, a large hop-growing industry, a brick factory, a sawmill, a gristmill, and a pewter mill, which produced teapots, plates, cups, and buttons. In the past, other areas of Groton were designated as east, south, and north, but only West Groton's name survived.