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Home » Travel Guides » United States » Massachusetts (MA) » 15 Best Things to Do in Fitchburg (MA)

15 Best Things to Do in Fitchburg (MA)

In the 19th century this city in North Central Massachusetts was an industrial center, mass-producing paper, tools, firearms and clothing.

The prosperity generated by those mills is apparent in Firchburg’s ornate Victorian residential architecture, its romantic public parks and institutions like the first-rate Fitchburg Art Museum. (FAM).

The FAM has thousands of years of art in its collections, pairing these with contemporary art exhibitions and innovative gallery events.

The landscape around Fitchburg is one of wooded granite hills, and there are a few peaks in the area where the views extend to the Boston skyline, some 45 miles to the southeast.

1. Fitchburg Art Museum (FAM)

Fitchburg has an art museum of high standing, serving as a regional institution for Central Massachusetts.

The museum was founded in 1925, following a bequest by the Fitchburg artist and collector, Eleanor Norcross (1854–1923).

Comprising more than 7,000 works, the collections are wide-ranging and deep, especially for American Art, African Art and American photography, while the museum puts on important temporary exhibitions for contemporary art.

Wandering the galleries, you’ll also come across enthralling pieces of pre-Columbian and Ancient Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan and Roman art, along with decorative arts from the 16th to the 20th century.

There’s also always something exciting going on at the museum, with a raft of seasonal events like spring’s Art in Bloom, combining fine art with matching arrangements by local florists, garden clubs and FAM staff.

2. Coggshall Park

Fitchburg’s premier public park was first landscaped in the 1890s as a gift to the city from Henry Coggshall, an executive of The Fitchburg Gas Company.

Coggshall and his wife gradually added to that donation, and the park now covers more than 250 acres on the wooded shores of Mirror Lake.

There’s a quant stone house overlooking the lake from the north shore, as well as a waterfront gazebo on the east side.

The lake is a haven for waterfowl and turtles, and there benches and picnic tables under the conifers that line the banks. In the woods there’s a children’s playground and a network of walking trails, as well as a highly-rated disc golf course.

3. The Rollstone Boulder

Rising steeply southwest of downtown is the 800-foot Rollstone Hill, which has been the site of granite quarries for much of Fitchburg’s history.

The hill was capped by a 110-ton porphyritic granite glacial erratic, known as the Rollstone Boulder. From the 19th century, this became a popular landmark with walkers and people taking picnics.

It might sound counterintuitive now, but to safeguard the boulder against quarrying activity, it was exploded in 1929, and over the following year was relocated in pieces to its current spot next to Fitchburg’s Upper Common.

This is the prettiest part of downtown Fitchburg, with historic buildings framing the common. Close by is a fountain with sculptures by Fitchburg-native Herbert Adam (1858-1945), as well as a gazebo staging weekly evening concerts in the summer.

4. Wachusett Mountain State Reservation

Ten miles from downtown Fitchburg, Mount Wachusett is the highest peak in Massachusetts east of the Connecticut River.

Spring through fall, you can reach the summit at 2,006 feet by car via an access road for distant views in all directions, including to Boston and Mount Monadnock.

The surrounding reservation is on more than 3,000 acres and has 17 miles of trails, including a section of the Midstate Trail, running north to south for 92 miles through Worcester County.

On the mountain’s northern slopes is a ski area, which runs a shuttle service to and from the MBTA station in Fitchburg.

This has 26 runs, the longest of which is 1.3 miles. Mount Wachusett is also noteworthy for the large stands of old growth hardwood forest on its slopes, with trees dating back 370 years or more.

5. Fitchburg Historical Society

Founded in 1892, the Fitchburg Historical Society is now based at the Phoenix Building (718 Main Street), built in 1912 and with dainty terra cotta moldings on its Georgian Revival facade.

This building was designed by H. M. Francis & Sons, responsible for much of the commercial, residential and institutional architecture in Fitchburg at the turn of the 20th century.

When we compiled this list the historical society was open on Mondays and Tuesdays, and presented compelling exhibitions on various aspects of local history in a series of rooms.

You can pore over rich collections for the railroads and Civil War, as well as fashion, industry, local newspapers and domestic life in Fitchburg.

6. Twin Cities Rail Trail

When we wrote this article the first section of this 4.5-mile rail trail, connecting Fitchburg with Leominster, had just been opened.

A fantastic commuter artery, the Twin Cities Rail Trail is along the corridor for the Fitchburg and Worcester Railroad, which was completed in 1850.

Twelve feet wide and paved for the entire route, the trail runs from 1st Street in Fitchburg, past the Fitchburg Municipal Airport to Carter Park in Leominster.

Plans are ongoing to create links with Fitchburg’s MART Intermodal Transportation Center, and downtown Leominster via the Monoosnoc Brook Greenway.

7. Jewell Hill

In the northwest of Fitchburg is a scenic sweep of rolling meadows on 300 acres, open to the public via a network of trails.

Jewell Hill is a former dairy farm, now managed by the Trustees of Reservations, and has a maximum elevation of 1,411 feet.

You can walk to the summit along the mountain laurel-lined Jewell Hill Trail, which leads to the Hudson Overlook for magnificent panormas that stretch out for miles over the wooded landscape to the east.

On a clear day you may even see the Boston skyline, 45 miles away. A little closer is Mount Wachusett, visible to the south along the 0.7-mile Willard Trail.

8. Great Wolf Lodge Water Park

The New England branch of Great Wolf Lodge resort chain is in the southwest of Fitchburg. You don’t need to stay at Great Wolf Lodge to make the most of its facilities, which include a gigantic indoor water park.

This has a choice of high-thrills water slides, like Wolf Trail, which has a freefall drop, and the signature Howlin’ Tornado, featuring a six-story funnel vortex.

Younger children can make a splash at the shallow Cub Paw Pool, the Whooping Hollow playground and Fort Mackenzie, witn four stories of interactive fun.

There’s also a roster of family-friendly tube rides, a long lazy river and the peaceful North Hot Springs hot tub area.

9. Boulder Art Gallery

By the boulder on the Upper Common there’s an independent art gallery presenting work by emerging and established artists.

This is in a diversity of styles and media, including oil painting, watercolors, acrylics, pastels, photography, printing and sculpture.

As well as providing a showcase for local artists, the Boulder Art Gallery sources a wide range of vintage art, and sells an assortment of antiques and collectibles, many with a connection to Fitchburg and North Central Massachusetts.

10. Lanni Orchards

On 90 acres, this local farm has offered its produce to the public for more than half a century and three generations now.

During the summer and fall you can head to Lanni Orchards for pick-your-own strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, pears, peaches, grapes, apples and pumpkins.

This fruit, along with a wide choice of other produce, is available at the farm stand, which also offers an extraordinary choice of locally sourced flowers, meats and grocery items.

There’s a bakery on site, with pies made to order within an hour, as well cakes, cookies and freshly baked apple cider donuts.

11. Coolidge Park

Fitchburg’s most trafficked public park is in the east of the city, by the Fitchburg State University campus.

Coolidge Park is mostly for active recreation, with a number of soccer fields, five baseball/softball fields, a beach volleyball court and two street hockey rinks, all surrounded by a mile-long perimeter walking path.

This is also the location for the J. Robert Cowley Swimming Complex, open during the school summer break.

One other amenity here is the one-acre Fitchburg Dog Park, built in 2018, with a water fountain and separate fenced areas for large and small dogs.

12. River Styx Brewing

There’s a family-run and family-friendly craft brewery in downtown Fitchburg, with board games, arcade machines and shuffleboard to keep everyone entertained.

River Styx Brewing is in the Putnam Place Business Center, a multi-tenant space in a converted 19th-century factory.

As for beer, all of River Styx’s offerings have classical allusions, like Atlantis (IPA), Dionysus (Sour), Hercules (IPA), Prometheus (Stout) and Thanatos God of Death (Stout).

Dogs are welcome, and there’s a packed schedule of events, especially on weekends, which bring live music and rotating food trucks.

13. Flat Rock Wildlife Sanctuary

Less than five minutes west of downtown Fitchburg you can reach a large stand of rugged woodlands managed by Mass Audubon.

The Flat Rock Wildlife Sanctuary is 326 acres of mixed hardwood and hemlock forest offering a habitat for singbirds, red foxes and coyotes, while bobcats and black bears are known to pass through.

There are six miles of trails through the sanctuary, and this system is augmented by trails onto neighboring properties managed by the North County Land Trust and Fitchburg Water Department, encompassing the scenic Overlook Reservoir.

14. Lakeview Driving Range

Strictly speaking, this golf facility is in Lunenburg but is less than ten minutes from downtown Fitchburg, and has been in business since 1951.

Lakeview Driving Range has been owned and operated by the same family since 1971, and has something to offer people of all ages and golfing abilities.

Up to 250 yards, the range has grass and synthetic tees, as well as a putting green and a sand trap for bunker shots.

There’s also an excellent mini golf course, set in gardens with ponds, streams, waterfalls and more than 300 bushes, shrubs and trees.

For something different, you’ve got a three-unit baseball batting range. Each stall has a different pitching speed, and all are open so you get to watch your hits fly.

15. Cherry Hill Ice Cream (Lunenburg)

Also within a ten-minute drive, this ice cream stand has a picture-perfect setting in green rolling hills.

Cherry Hill Ice Cream has more than 60 flavors, with plenty of unusual creations such as coconut cheesecake brownie and pumpkin oreo (available in fall).

There are more than 20 toppings to choose from, like strawberry pieces and peanut butter sauce, as well as sorbets, sherberts, no-sugar-added ice cream and a choice of frozen yogurts.

The stand is tucked in from Day St and has a few shaded picnic tables so you can enjoy your treat in this secluded spot.

15 Best Things to Do in Fitchburg (MA):

• Fitchburg Art Museum (FAM)
• Coggshall Park
• The Rollstone Boulder
• Wachusett Mountain State Reservation
• Fitchburg Historical Society
• Twin Cities Rail Trail
• Jewell Hill
• Great Wolf Lodge Water Park
• Boulder Art Gallery
• Lanni Orchards
• Coolidge Park
• River Styx Brewing
• Flat Rock Wildlife Sanctuary
• Lakeview Driving Range
• Cherry Hill Ice Cream (Lunenburg)

From trolleys to planes, a city on the move

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By Anne O’Connor

Correspondent

FITCHBURG — A former Fitchburger, now living in Boston, recently claimed not to have been more than a mile and half from his home in several months. Living in an urban setting, his work, shopping needs and social network are all in the neighborhood.

At one time life was like that in Fitchburg, too. Most workers lived within walking distance of their jobs and small stores served their needs.

Children walked to school; owning a horse and carriage or later a car was limited to the wealthier families.

The earliest roads wandered from one house on a hill to another.

“The principal roads thus passed over the loftiest hills in town; and it would seem that generally the most direct route between two places was avoided for the purpose of making the public ways both crooked and uneven,” Rufus G. Torrey wrote in “History of the Town of Fitchburg” in 1836.

Inns and taverns served the travelers on the mail and stagecoach roads leading to places like Boston, Lunenburg and Dorchester, Canada.

The last destination was not as far away as it sounds. Dorchester, Canada, was created when a large chunk of land was granted to soldiers from Dorchester, Mass., who fought in Canada in 1690. This parcel and several smaller grants later became Ashburnham.

Those who did not have a horse or the fare for the stagecoach walked.

Jonas P. Whitney, whose family later opened an organ factory in Fitchburg, worked for a time in Cambridge with his brother-in-law around 1800. Poverty and obligations for work and religion made for a tiring weekend.

“When they visited their homes in Ashby, which was usually once in two or three weeks, they were obliged to travel after their work was done on Saturday night … (T)hey usually walked the nearly fifty miles to Ashby in company, and, after spending Sunday there, would start back immediately after midnight on Monday morning, so as not to break the Sabbath, and yet be in Cambridge in time to begin work Monday morning at the usual time,” descendant Andrew Whitney wrote in “Ashby, Springfield and Fitchburg Massachusetts” in 1912.

Industry became the linchpin of Fitchburg’s economy, growing rapidly in response to the demands of the region and the nation. These goods needed to be shipped over the roads. The heavy carts, often pulled by oxen, destroyed the hilly, dirt roads.

The 5th Mass Turnpike Co., begun in 1799, built the first toll road through the area. At tollbooths travelers were charged a fee determined by their mode of transportation. The collected funds were used to maintain the road.

Bits and pieces of the turnpike survive as residential roads near Route 2. The hotel built for turnpike travelers was removed when Route 2 was built.

Today thousands of cars travel Fitchburg’s roads daily. But automobiles were slow to come to town. Only the rich could afford them in the early days.

“The industrialists…those are the people who had automobiles before the rank and file, and they had expensive cars,” Gerry Martel, owner of Collector Car Appraiser and former columnist for the Sentinel & Enterprise said.

Gas-powered automobiles were just one option. Paper maker Rodney Wallace drove a Detroit Electric with a huge battery, Martel said. The West Fitchburg paper mills had a fleet of electric trucks, each requiring about 20 batteries.

Garages opened and mass-produced vehicles became less expensive. A 1913 Model T cost about $550. Or people could shop more locally and purchase a 1912 Iver Johnson motorcycle made in Fitchburg for $250.

The first Registry of Motor Vehicles opened in Fitchburg in 1930. By 1940 Route 2 was in use, diverting traffic from congested inner city streets.

Twenty-five years later, politicians were looking to get that traffic back into the city, investigating ways to connect Worcester, Route 2 and downtown Fitchburg.

Interstate 190, completed in 1983, ended at the Route 2 interchange. A hoped for connector to Fitchburg was not funded. Drivers still travel congested surface streets to access the highway.

A study done in the mid-1990s compared the travel times from downtown Fitchburg to Route 2. A dedicated connector road would be about one minute faster than improvements to Route 12 and be expensive to build. Making changes to Route 12 was the best way to minimize the travel time according to Brad Harris, transportation project director at the Montachusett Regional Planning Commission.

Sections of Route 12 were widened, curb cuts reduced and traffic signals installed to improve traffic flow. The changes have made a difference Harris said. No formal figures are available, but he sees less traffic back up at rush hour since the work was finished in 2010.

The Industrial Age and Fitchburg grew hand in hand. Even just after it opened, the toll road was not good enough. Business owners demanded better and cheaper transportation. A fortune could be made by supplying the ever-growing market in the west.

Starting in the early 1800s canals like the Erie Canal were built to link East Coast manufacturing centers to the West. Water transportation was cheap compared to overland travel.

Fitchburg’s steep, rocky terrain was not suitable for canals.

The paper and cloth made in the flourishing Fitchburg mills had to get somewhere to be sold, so Alvah Crocker, a paper maker, built himself a railroad to get his goods to Boston.

Just when they were most needed for their strong backs, Irish-famine immigrants started arriving in Boston, one of the closest ports to Ireland. Tens of thousands of Catholics arrived, hungry and jobless. Crocker was there to enlist the strapping young men to lay the tracks.

Work began in Cambridge and as the crew progressed westward their houses, or shanties, were towed along on a railcar behind the steam engine. When the crew arrived in Fitchburg in 1845, the wooden dwellings were left on Sawyer Passway near the rail yards.

Once the laborers and their families located to more permanent housing in the Patch, an area between the rails and Water Street, Crocker gave the lumber from the shanties to the community to build the first Catholic church.

At least one shanty survives today, although in a slightly altered form. It was used as an addition to a house on Forest Street. The two-story shanty links the original house to the more recent porch and deck.

A rail spur once went through the side yard of the house according to owner Bruce Cote. In the years he has owned the home and done renovations, he found newspapers and money in the walls from many different years.

The Fitchburg Railroad was a huge success but Crocker saw room for more growth. He and the other mill owners wanted to ship their products west without paying the premium the already established Central Massachusetts Railroad running south of Worcester demanded.

Railroads need relatively flat ground but the Hoosatonic Mountains stood smack dab in the way. An earlier plan to build a canal had been abandoned. The only answer was a tunnel.

The nearly five mile tunnel built to complete the new, northern route was an engineering marvel.

The tunnel alone took 25 years, $20 million and 192 lives, but Crocker got his route west.

It took the genius of another Fitchburg industrialist Charles Burleigh to make the tunnel running beneath two mountaintops a reality.

The first large drill bored into the rock face several feet and never moved again. If men were to drill holes by hand and blow the rock with gunpowder, the tunnel would take decades to build.

Burleigh stepped in and designed and built a huge drill capable of boring 30 feet into the rock face so workers could set nitroglycerin charges to fragment the rock. The drill was mounted on a railcar and powered by compressed air supplied from buildings on both ends of the tunnel. The equipment was just what was needed to keep the project alive.

The Burleigh drill was not reliable, but it was easily repaired. The Fitchburg drills were instrumental in the monumental railroad construction of the 19th century throughout the western states and in Europe.

The Hoosac Tunnel in Florida, Mass., completed in 1875, is still in use. Freight trains roll over a single track beneath the two mountain peaks.

Rail travel quickly became the preferred method of travel for freight and passengers alike. During the first half of the 20th century hundreds of trains from many rail lines thundered into Fitchburg each week.

Snow trains took skiers to the mountains for the weekend. The Freedom Train, a display of historical documents including the original Constitution of the United States, stopped in Fitchburg in 1947 on its national tour.

When freight arrived in Fitchburg it needed to be delivered to the consignees, the businesses that ordered the material. Some cars would be dropped off at factories, other businesses had their own engines and ran private yards, recalled Clayton Whitney, a railroad worker from 1951 to 1989.

A 500-foot-long track was built by grain mill owner Joseph Cushing in 1871, a former stage-coach driver. He even bought his own engine to pull the cars coming in and out of his mill. Eventually the total length of Cushing’s tracks grew to over 2,000 feet.

“We used to shop at Brockleman’s … every once in a while you’d see these little electric engines. Ding, ding, ding. A special engine was made for that,” Whitney recalled.

Cushing parlayed his “railroad” into nationwide rail passes for himself and his family. As a courtesy, railroad owners exchanged travel passes on each other’s lines. The thrifty Yankee could now travel free of charge to see the country.

Passenger and freight trains still come to Fitchburg, but passengers can only go to Boston. Recent and planned improvements to the line, the longest and oldest in the MBTA system, are aimed to decrease travel time to Porter Square to one hour Sen. Jennifer Flanagan, vice-chair of the Joint Committee on Transportation said.

A new station planned near the Route 2 and 31 intersections in West Fitchburg will increase accessibility to the train.

Despite the number of railroads in town, it took another form of transportation to ferry local people around town in the 1880s and beyond — the trolley.

The Fitchburg Street Railway formed in 1886 with horse-drawn, single-track trolleys. Electric trolleys soon followed. By 1893, 30 cars and 70 conductors and motormen served the city.

Suddenly it was easy for urban workers to travel locally for both work and pleasure. Whalom Park, at the end of the trolley line in Lunenburg, opened in 1893 with walking paths and gardens for the previously city-bound visitors. It later evolved into an amusement park that closed in 2000.

Jonas P. Whitney would have found his occasional trip home from Cambridge to Ashby much easier just after 1900. He could have taken the train, now run by Boston and Maine Railroad to Fitchburg and then jumped on a Fitchburg trolley. A final transfer to the Fitchburg Ashby Street Railway would have been the last leg of the journey.

As technology improved, the local rapid transit adapted. The first trackless trolley service began in 1932. The vehicles still needed an overhead wire, but ran on conventional pneumatic tires.

The system was expensive to maintain. The wires were severely damaged in the flood and hurricane of 1942 and buses gradually replaced the trolleys.

A few remnants of the old transit system remain. A 2011 repaving project on the Water Street bridge exposed the cobblestones and trolley tracks running down the center of the span.

Aileen Blanchard, 87, has been riding the Fitchburg buses her whole life. As a child and young woman she took the bus to Whalom Park or the movies and could return on another bus late at night.

The bus system still fills her needs. “I’ve never had any desire to drive,” she said.

She rides the MART bus to the senior center and to go shopping. Late evenings are out though; the MART buses do not run at night.

The early 20th century was a dangerous time to ride the rails. With no radio contact, conductors relied on physical flags set on tracks to warn of dangers.

Flags and audible warnings called torpedoes were placed on the tracks to notify oncoming trains.

There was a lot of room for error.

In 1905, a coal train slammed into a stopped freight train, killing three workers and derailing the cars in Fitchburg, just west of the Wachusett Station. The accident was known as the “Buttery Wreck” since one train was hauling butter, eggs and cheese.

Newspaper readers expected to get a clear picture of the horrors. “(T)he impact was fearful … The heavily loaded cars coming down the hill piled up over the wreck as a heavy rolling billow of the ocean piles over the rocks,” wrote a reporter for the Sentinel.

Death and dismemberment was also fair play for the newspapers of the day. “There was a clear space in there that kept his body from being mutilated, but some swiftly moving body, probably a timber, had struck him across the front of the body at the hips and nearly cut him in two. Otherwise he was not bruised,” the Sentinel reported about Engineer Charles Kendall, who died in the wreck.

The conductor of the stopped train, George Powers of Fitchburg, was convicted of manslaughter for failing to use proper signals. He was sentenced to 18 months and served 12.

An accident involving two trolley cars in 1904 on the Fitchburg and Leominster Street Railway was reported in The New York Times. Neither conductor knew another trolley was on the track. Thirty-three were injured.

The Times provided a detailed summary of the damage: “The construction car struck the dasher of the passenger car, demolished the wooden and glass partitions and penetrated nearly to the third seat before it was stopped.”

Not everyone is limited to surface transportation. Some visitors to Fitchburg arrive from the air. Fitchburg Airport accommodates jets bringing businesspeople and others into the area.

A good portion of the airport’s revenue is generated through fuel sales, most of which is jet fuel, Debbie Silvar, administrative assistant at the airport said. If the airport builds a 5,000-foot runway as planned, the lucrative jet traffic will increase.

Like the Fitchburg Railroad, the airport was founded by local businessmen. Their mission, according to Stephen Wesley Haynes, one of the founders and a World War I pilot, in “The Fitchburg Airports (sic) Early History” was to be prepared in case of another war.

Pigeon Swamp, a flat area once home to now extinct carrier pigeons, was chosen in 1924. Over the years many changes were made to the area. Runways were built, the river and road rerouted.

A private home was moved across the river on staging during part of the renovations in 1941. As a special favor to the owner, the house was left on the runway overnight, so they could say they slept in the airport, Silvar said.

City boundaries were redrawn when Fitchburg exchanged the Notown Reservoir area with Leominster for the land the airport occupies.

The founders’ mission was realized in World War II. By 1943 over 100 Army and Navy cadets along with 35 “Instructors, Pilots Mechanics and other persons” trained at the airport and attended school at Fitchburg State College. The cadets would run with full packs from the school to the airport as part of their physical education training a retired pilot said.

Later, Northeast Airlines flew passengers and mail from Fitchburg to New York and other locations but pulled out in the early 1960s for financial reasons.

Today several private businesses employing around 50 people are based in the airport. Aircraft service, flight training, an air taxi, a banner-pulling service and a popular diner draw fliers from around the region.

The airport is also home to the Liars’ Table, a group of pilots, retired or otherwise. They trade stories and tell what may or may not be tall tales. They prefer to remain anonymous but have interesting tales to tell:

* The tale: “The McConnell Story” a movie starring Allen Ladd and June Allyson was filmed in Fitchburg. The facts: according to an article in the Sentinel in 1955 about “Fitchburg’s own movie,” the film “tells the true story of the romance of a former Fitchburg girl, Pearl Brown McConnell, a romance that began in Fitchburg and was destined to come to a tragic end.”

* The tale: Actor John Travolta flew his Super Constellation into Fitchburg. The facts: Travolta owned and flew “The Star of Santa Barbara” a Lockheed C-121 Super Constellation. Travolta just might have passed through.

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• Great Wolf Lodge Waterpark

Enjoy the thrill rides with your kiddos at Great Wolf Lodge Waterpark during your visit to Fitchburg. Attend a sporting event in the area, or seek out the ski slopes.

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Enjoy the collegiate vibe when you visit Fitchburg State University, during your trip to Fitchburg. Attend a sporting event in the area, or seek out the ski slopes.

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You can spend an afternoon exploring the galleries in Fitchburg Art Museum during your trip to Fitchburg. Attend a sporting event in the area, or seek out the ski slopes.

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AFTER HOURS:  Call 978-878-8100 if you need clinical advice or call 911 in case of emergency.

Behavioral Health Services

Mental health is an important component of your overall health. Our team of therapists and psychiatric providers offer compassionate, culturally relevant, coordinated care to help you cope with life’s challenges such as relationship difficulties, parenting support, stress reduction, trauma recovery, and grief. We work closely with medical and dental providers at CHC to ensure a team approach to your wellness. We offer a safe space for care; we will connect you with an interpreter to make sure you receive and can participate in your care in the language you are most comfortable.

We treat most diagnoses, including but not limited to:

• Bipolar disorder
• Available to patients 5 and older
• Substance abuse
• Available to ages 5 and older*  
• Individual therapy
• Couples/Family therapy
• Group therapy 

*3 & 4 yr olds can be screened on a case-by-case basis. Please inquire.

Children's Behavioral Health 

CHC’s Children’s Behavioral Health program is now accepting new patients and booking appointments for clients ages 5-20. Call 978-878-8100 for scheduling needs.

Services include Individual & Group Therapy (with Psychological Services Available), Psychiatry, Play Therapy, Expressive Therapy & Therapeutic Mentoring.

Services are located at all our community health centers in Fitchburg, Leominster and Gardner, including our newly opened Children's Behavioral Health Center at 130 Water Street, Fitchburg. (Location is next to our ACTION Community Health Center.)

Below you will see our new flyer in  English  and  Spanish . If you would like copies, you’re welcome to download/print.  

How Do I Become A New Patient? 

To become a patient you will need to fill out New Patient Forms . 

You can  either  fill out those forms online  or  or you can stop at any of our locations and request a new patient packet and make an appointment.

You may also contact our Patient Call Center at 978-878-8100.

What Payment Options Do You Accept?

CHC accepts a variety of insurances and payment options. 

If you don't have insurance, the  Patient Services  team can be reached by calling the main CHC number 978-878-8100 and choosing option 6 for health insurance, including information about our Sliding Fee Discount.

We look forward to taking great care of you and your family!

Where Are Behavioral Health Services Located?

Behavioral Health services are available at all of our sites:

• 326 Nichols Road, Fitchburg
• 130 Water Street, Fitchburg
• 175 Connors Street, Gardner
• 165 Mill Street, Leominster
• 529 Timpany Boulevard, Gardner

New Patient Booking

Book Appointment

CHC Patient Booking

Do You Offer Behavioral Health Services Off Site?

CHC offers telehealth visits for most Behavioral Health services. To see if you can connect with your/a Behavioral Health provider through telehealth, contact us.

Behavioral Health Providers

Arni casareale, lmhc.

Chief Behavioral Health Officer

Monique Anderson, LICSW

Director of Behavioral Health

Terry Osborne, DO, ABPN

Director of Psychiatry Services

Stephanie Stratigos, DO

Psychiatrist

Felicia Brown, LMHC

Assistant Director of Behavioral Health Services

Gleidistoney DeOliveira, APRN, CNS

Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner

Michaela Dumais, RN, MS, PMHNP-BC

Dorcas korir, pmhnp, lijy mathew, pmhnp-bc, javier asencio-rodriguez.

Therapeutic Mentor

Stephanie Ashman

Tammy benoit, smlc.

Supervised Masters Level Clinician

Kathy Brown, LSW

Recovery Readiness Counselor

Tina Capone, LICSW

Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker

Kathy Dantas-Dwyer, LICSW

Jose drasich, lmhc.

Licensed Mental Health Counselor

Nancy Fuller, Psy.D.

Clinical Supervisor- DBT Program and Internships

Orli Hersey, LICSW

Tim keir, ma, cheryl lauben, smlc, elizabeth lovece, m.ed. ms.

Supervised Clinician

Tatyana Lugo-Gardner, M.Ed.

Elizabeth madison, smlc, cassandra miller, smlc, amanda mello, lmhc, latifa ogunsemore, smlc, katie o'mara, smlc, tawnya peterson, lmhc, reba reusch, licsw, charlotte waitkus, smlc, william (patrick) watson, ma.

ABA Therapy Fitchburg, MA – Autism Therapy & Services

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We’re Here to Help

Using contemporary aba therapy to nurture potential in your child or young adult with autism.

Raising a child with autism is not a one-person job. At BCI, we want you to know we’re here for you — and can help your child make progress every day. In greater Fitchburg, we specialize in using compassionate, contemporary applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy, tailored to the unique needs, behavior, and personality of your child or young adult. Throughout therapy, we consider you, as a parent or caregiver, your child’s first and most important teacher — and work with you to carve your own path to success.

Building and Expanding Skills—and Mindsets

We understand that no two kids with autism are the same, and “one-size-fits-all” treatments do not work. That’s why we use science and data to deliver contemporary ABA therapy, backed by decades of scientific research and personalized for your child and family. Our services help your child or young adult:

• Build language and communication skills
• Develop age-appropriate social (and play) skills, while forming friendships
• Increase flexibility and tolerance for new routines and experiences
• Decrease behaviors that interfere with growth and learning
• Prepare for and succeed in school

Mostly, what our services do: foster your child’s confidence and resiliency — and empower them to lead a happy, fulfilling life.

Serving Your Local Community

Our services are available in these neighborhoods and communities:

Worcester County

Greater fitchburg.

Our Learning Center and Offices

Serving You Close to Home

Life is busy — we get it. And every child is different. In greater Fitchburg, we offer therapy in the place that meets your child’s needs, whether in your home or community, at our Learning Centers, in your child’s school or preschool, or through telehealth.

Our Services

We specialize in assess ing and diagnos ing autism spectrum.  

Here, children thrive in a supportive play-based atmosphere.

Our Home and Community Services take place in your child’s natural environment.

Helping infants and toddlers reach developmental milestones through early intervention.

We can provide remote ABA therapy via your computer, tablet, or smartphone.

Katherine Connolly, M.A., BCBA, LABA

“I strive to empower my team so we can provide compassionate care and excellent ABA services to each family we serve.”

Tiffany Zayas, M.S., BCBA, LABA

“I love supporting and empowering my team to provide the families that we serve the best quality care we can give them.”

Tiffany is the Senior Clinical Director of the Central and Western regions in Massachusetts and Vermont. After joining BCI in January 2010 as a behavior analyst, she quickly progressed to Clinical Coordinator, and in 2016, she became Clinical Director. Over the years, she has held multiple director positions, including Director of Scheduling and Intake and Director of the Northeast and Fitchburg regions. In 2020, Tiffany became Senior Clinical Director. Tiffany is a graduate of Kaplan University with a concentration in applied behavior analysis. She is a Massachusetts Professionals in Behavior Analysis member and serves as an ABA supervisor for a local university.

Resource Library

Discover the remarkable contributions of five influential women in the field of autism and applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy. Celebrate Women’s History Month by learning about their groundbreaking research, innovative therapies, and advocacy efforts that have shaped our understanding of autism and continue to inspire future generations.

Enroll your child in a summer social skills program to prevent regression and reinforce learning, ensuring a smooth transition back to school.

Behavior analyst Genevieve Marshall, PhD, provides five tips toward terrific teeth for your children with autism.

Discover how LEARN Behavioral advances autism services through public policy advocacy to create a more equitable society for kids with autism and their families.

Brandon Whitfield, Sr. Clinical Director for AST, part of LEARN Behavioral has presented at several conferences including BABA’s (Black Applied Behavior […]

Dr. Megan Anna Neff, a Neurodivergent Psychologist joins us to discuss discovering her own autism in the aftermath of her child’s diagnosis.

Ezequiel de Fitchburg, MA nos cuenta cómo es ser Técnico de Comportamiento para Behavior Concepts (BCI).

Check out the Grand Opening of our Lowell, MA Learning Center! We are so excited to offer ABA services in a clinic-based setting at our new center in Lowell.

Dr. Ellie Kazemi is the Chief Science Officer at Behavioral Health Center of Excellence (BHCOE), an accrediting organization focused on […]

Kerry Hoops the current President of the Autism Society of Greater Wisconsin and the clinical director for Wisconsin Early Autism […]

WEAP Director of Clinical Services, Dr. Becky Thompson, and Lead Technician, Reux Lennon, share about their work on the Neurodivergent Advisory Commitee and how they’re influencing the evolution of ABA.

Insurance & Support

Helping You Through the Insurance Maze

Navigating the insurance maze, as you search for services to help your child with autism, can feel overwhelming. At BCI, we accept most health insurance plans, including Medicaid, and support you through the entire process.

Whether you’re ready to get started with services, interested in a job, or just have a question, we’d love to chat.

How can we help you today.

• How can we help you today? * Choose One Services for my Child Interested in a Career Make a Referral Other

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• Beacon MassHealth
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• What best describes you? * Pediatrician Diagnostician Daycare/School Service Provider (case manager, counselor, etc.) Advocacy Group Payor/Funder Other

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