Hikers meet paddlers at River Bend Farm in Uxbridge, Mass., the centerpiece of the Blackstone River & Canal Heritage State Park.

The Providence Journal / Tom Meade

UXBRIDGE, Mass. –– River Bend Farm has something for everyone, including hikers, history buffs, music lovers, anglers and paddlers.

It’s all free.

Once a working dairy, River Bend Farm is the centerpiece of the Blackstone River & Canal Heritage State Park (mass.gov/dcr/parks/central/blst.htm). It is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. The park is part of the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor (nps.gov/blac), stretching from Worcester to Narragansett Bay where the Blackstone becomes the Seekonk River.

The park includes more than 1,000 acres of land along one of the most scenic stretches of the Blackstone, said Kathryn Parent, park interpreter. It also contains several historic sites in the towns of Uxbridge, Northbridge, Millville, and Blackstone.

The park rarely rests, she said. On a recent hot summer Sunday, a men’s chorus was preparing to perform outside the visitor center. Inside, Parent was getting ready to lead her weekly 1 p.m. canal walk. Erik Grubb, president of Blackstone Carp (blackstonecarp.com), was demonstrating his European style of fishing and members of the Blackstone River Watershed Association (thebrwa.org) were helping visitors slip into lifejackets and canoes.

You don’t have to own a boat to go paddling on one of the most scenic stretches of the river.

“Every Sunday, when there is an event planned, we have a whole fleet of canoes,” said Jim Plasse, president of the association. “The boats are free for members to use.” An annual membership costs as little as $10, he said.

The stretch of the Blackstone that flows through the park is gorgeous, said Grubb, especially during the summer when wildflowers are in blossom, and in autumn when red maples are aflame. (In late winter, Grubb and a group of volunteers tap the maples for their sap; they boil it to make syrup for public programs at the park.)

From June through September, the park offers special programs and classes open to everyone, said Parent. “Last year, we had 125 events, and 6,000 people attended.”

Thousands more visited the park just to explore its trails, the river and historic sites, she said.

First-time guests of the park generally start at the visitor center, formerly the barn for the Voss family’s farm. The hayloft is used for exhibits and it features Following the Plough, a farm-to-factory story about the Industrial Revolution. (The visitor center is not air conditioned, so the hayloft can be uncomfortably hot during the summer.)

Outside the visitor center is the 3.8-mile Towpath Trail, the actual towpath where draught horses walked while pulling barges. The Blackstone Canal linked central Massachusetts to the ocean from 1828 to 1848, Parent said. For self-guided walkers, numbered posts along the path –– from Plummer Landing to the Staley Woolen Mill –– mark significant highlights of the canal’s construction and operation.

On many weekends, music fills the air outside the visitor center, and the concerts are free. Bring your own chair.

The Quintessential Brass Band is scheduled to perform Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

Guided tours are scheduled for Sundays at 1 p.m. outside the visitor center. Tours for groups are available by appointment with Parent; her telephone number is (508) 278-7604.

A schedule of special events in September is available online at mass.gov/dcr/events/bkst-sept.pdf.

To get there from Route 146, take the Uxbridge exit for Route 16. Turn onto Route 16 east. Drive two miles to the traffic lights, then turn left on Route 122 north. Drive 1.25 miles, then turn right at the traffic light onto Hartford Avenue. Drive one mile, then turn right on Oak Street at the UMass Memorial Tri-River Family Health Center. The visitor center is just down the road in the red barn on the left.

tmeade@projo.com