As a city with a grand title such as the Chair Capital of the World, Gardner has a lot of history that led to where it is today. It is a shame to see a lot of that lost to time and see the general public not understand the city’s roots.
Seeing this lead to the creation of the Gardner History Path. In October of 2020, Life Scout Caleb Pera of Troop 6 Gardner, proposed a project in the form of a historical tour as his Eagle Project. The goal of which was to provide an easy way for the community to not only learn about the local history of Gardner but also allow them to connect it to the actual location in Gardner.
Upon approval several sites of historical interest were selected. The research for these locations was delegated to members of the multiple scouting units in Gardner and others that were willing to help. They were asked to write about the locations past and current situations and select photos that represented their topic. All of this information was compiled on this website and made into a database that anyone could access.
In order to provide a way for the information to be discovered, multiple signs were be placed at certain locations that linked directly to the webpages. Participants met up for a day under Caleb’s guidance to place post that hold temporary signs that will later be replace with more permanent plaques.
