Pepperell is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 11,604 at the 2020 census. It includes the village of East Pepperell.

Pepperell was first settled in 1720 as a part of Groton, and was officially incorporated as its own town in 1775. The founders named it after Sir William Pepperrell, a Massachusetts colonial soldier who led the Siege of Louisbourg during King George’s War. The town was noted for its good soil and orchards.

Since its formation, the town was active in the American independence movement. Being located northwest of Concord, Pepperell never saw British attack during the American Revolutionary War, though several Pepperell men fought at the Old North Bridge during the Battle of Concord, and a British spy was captured by women on guard at the site of the Pepperell covered bridge (see Prudence Wright). Town resident William Prescott served as the commander at the Battle of Bunker Hill in what is now the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston.

By 1837, when the population was 1,586, Pepperell had three paper mills, one of which was managed by Warren F. Daniell. It also produced palm leaf hats, boots and shoes.

In 1848, the Worcester & Nashua Railroad was built through East Pepperell along the Nashua River as part of a through route from Worcester to Portland. In 1886 the line became part of the Boston & Maine Railroad, who continued to operate trains to Worcester and Nashua, as well as connections to Portland, Maine and beyond.

Pepperell was also a station on the Boston & Maine’s Milford Branch between Squannacook Junction and Milford, New Hampshire. In 1938 the Milford Branch was abandoned from Pepperell to South Milford. Trains continued to operate as far as Pepperell until 1941 when the tracks to Squannacook Junction were also abandoned, leaving Pepperell’s paper mill without direct rail service. To correct this, a trestle bridge and rail connection was constructed from the B&M’s WN&P line over the Nashua River so that freights could still service the mill.

1941 also saw the abandonment of the WN&P line between Hollis, New Hampshire and Nashua; as a result, the railroad renamed the remaining segment from Ayer, Massachusetts through East Pepperell the “Hollis Branch”. Freight service, primarily to the mill, was provided by the B&M with a local freight out of Ayer until 1981. The Hollis Branch was abandoned in 1982 primarily due to poor track conditions, and the tracks themselves were pulled up in 1984.