A census-designated place, also named Winchendon, is defined within the town for statistical purposes.

The Winchendon State Forest, a 174.5 acres (70.62 hectares) parcel, is located within the township as is Otter River State Forest; both recreational areas are managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Winchendon is a small town in north-central Massachusetts, originally the country of the Pennacook Indians, and then the Nipnet/Nipmuck tribe.

The Millers River provided water power for mills, and at one time Winchendon produced so many wooden shingles that it was nicknamed Shingletown.

Morton E. Converse started his business career in Converseville, New Hampshire, manufacturing acids.

Converse made a great variety of toys, including Noah's Arks, doll furniture, kiddie riding racers, hobby horses, floor whirligigs, drums, wagon blocks, building blocks, pianos, trunks, ten pins, farm houses, and musical roller chimes.

The 12-foot (3.7 m) grey hobby horse was named Clyde, and made from nine pine trees.

A replica, Clyde II, was sculpted in 1988 by Winchendon native Sherman LaBarge, using the original as a model.

In addition to the manufacturing of wood products, Winchendon is known for its textile business during the Industrial Revolution.

Located at the headwaters of the Millers River, Joseph 'Deacon' White of West Boylston, Massachusetts, with his son Nelson, purchased a textile mill in Spring Village in 1843.

In 1870, Joseph N. White, son of Nelson, traveled to Canada to recruit additional workers from Quebec.

Spring Village became a prototype 'company town' with jobs, housing and a school for its workers.

Both World War II and the Korean War demands for denim were instrumental in keeping White Brothers, Inc. in business; the organization ceased operations in 1956 due to economic pressures from industrialization of the south.

It is bounded by Fitzwilliam and Rindge to the north, Ashburnham to the east, Gardner to the southeast, Templeton to the southwest, and Royalston to the west.

This intersection was improved around the turn of the 21st century to include stoplights, in order to make it safer (as it had been a common site for accidents within town).

A line of the Montachusett Regional Transit Authority (MART) links the town with Gardner (and, in the mornings, directly with Fitchburg).