parks - The Cambridge Historical Commission Blog

Alewife Brook Reservation and National Wildlife Week

Posted on April 9, 2020May 14, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

This week is National Wildlife Week, a time to celebrate our nation’s incredible wildlife. According to their website, “the National Wildlife Federation is working to show how connecting with wildlife and the outdoors can help children and adults thrive during these unprecedented times.”

Juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk, light morph, Fresh Pond. Photo credit: Amanda Hodges.

In honor of this week, we are featuring a special place in Cambridge to observe local wildlife and nature, the Alewife Brook Reservation. In addition to providing information on the history of Cambridge’s built environment, the CHC also collects historical information on Cambridge’s natural environment and landscape, and the City’s various land revitalization projects over the years.

Screenshot 2020-04-08 at 11.08.32 PM — Alewife Brook near Concord Avenue, 1904.

Screenshot 2020-04-09 at 3.45.45 PM — “The Fish Book.” Alewife Revitalization Study, 1979, Cambridge Community Development Department.

The Alewife Brook Reservation is a unique natural resource consisting of 160 acres of protected wetlands, woods, and meadows. A Massachusetts state park, it is “home to hundreds of species, including hawks, coyotes, beavers, snapping turtles, wild turkeys and muskrats,” as well as birds like osprey and Great Blue Heron. The park’s ponds, Little Pond, Perch Pond, and Blair Pond, are also spawning grounds for anadromous herring.

Great_Blue — Great Blue Heron eating tadpole, Fresh Pond. Photo credit: Amanda Hodges.

The surrounding area of Fresh Pond and its natural watershed were formed by melting glacial ice and underground springs. Alewife Brook, historically known as the Menotomy River, is situated in what was the traditional territory of the Massachusett people and served as a gathering place for other groups. Native Americans came to the Pond and nearby area for fresh water; they constructed fish weirs along Alewife Brook, which traversed what was called the “Great Swamp” (also called the Great Marsh) to the north of Fresh Pond; and they hunted in the area’s marshes and uplands. Alewife Brook was given its name after the abundance of alewife fish that returned from the Atlantic each spring, swimming up the Mystic River into the Brook to spawn.

Screenshot 2020-04-09 at 3.39.39 PM — Swamp and maple woods near claypits, 1890-1891. Source: Henry L. Rand Collection, Southwest Harbor Public Library, Maine. Copied 12/92.

Screenshot 2020-04-09 at 3.45.07 PM — Fresh Pond Marshes about 1866. William Brewster, Birds of the Cambridge Region, 1906. Source: “Finding Alewife” slideshow by Charles M. Sullivan.

As industrialization in Cambridge grew, the surrounding area was used for claypits and ice harvesting at Fresh Pond. Marshes and wetlands were filled in to make room for new development.

Screenshot 2020-04-09 at 3.39.59 PM — Clay pit, Alewife Brook (M.D.C.), 1904.

In the early 1900s, landscape architect Charles Eliot planned for a reservation in conjunction with the Alewife Brook Parkway, forming part of the Metropolitan Park District. Eliot hoped to connect the Mystic River with Fresh Pond, creating parks along the watershed system. The Alewife Brook was straightened and channelized next to the parkway between 1909-1912 along with road construction, and landscaping was by the Olmsted Brothers firm.

Screenshot 2020-04-09 at 3.55.09 PM — Fresh Pond Drive, ca. 1905. Source: Detroit Pub. Co., Library of Congress.

Today, the Alewife Brook Reservation is a popular spot for people to walk, bike, nature watch/bird watch, and relax, while the Friends of Alewife Reservation work to protect the area. A 2011 project by the City of Cambridge constructed a 3.4-acre storm water management wetland, which also created habitats such as deep marsh and riparian forest.

thumbnail_IMG_4245 — Source: Friends of Alewife Reservation.

The CHC has many images – paintings, drawings, photographs and maps – of the Alewife area spanning several decades, as well as reports written in the 1970s and 1980s regarding Alewife’s revitalization. Once City offices are again open to the public, make an appointment with us to see these resources.

Screenshot 2020-04-08 at 11.10.03 PM — Fresh Pond Marshes looking southwest, 1904.

NWC_P016_28 — Fresh Pond, ca. 1949-1950, Anthony Cabral. Cambridge Photo Morgue Collection.

For a more in-depth history of the Alewife area, especially during the 19th century, we recommend: The Great Swamp of Arlington, Belmont and Cambridge – An Historic Perspective of its Development 1630-2001 by Sheila Cook (2002) and Fresh Pond: The History of a Cambridge Landscape by Jill Sinclair (2009), a small part of which is available on Google Books. For a visual history of Alewife and the Fresh Pond area, see Charles M. Sullivan’s slideshow, “Finding Alewife” (2014).

thumbnail_IMG_4241 — Cows Near Fresh Pond, September 12, 1891, Henry Lathrop Rand, Henry L. Rand Collection, Southwest Harbor Public Library.

Sources:

https://friendsofalewifereservation.org

Fresh Pond Reservation Master Plan

http://friendsoffreshpond.org/aboutfpr/chronology.htm

Tanner Fountain

Posted on April 10, 2019August 21, 2020 by allisoncrosbie

Located between Harvard Yard, the Science Center, and Memorial Hall is the Tanner Fountain, designed by Peter Walker in 1984. At the request of then Harvard University President Derek Bok, Walker was commissioned to design a fountain that didn’t require the extensive maintenance usually associated with a water feature. Walker rose to the challenge and created a basinless fountain, in collaboration with sculptor Joan Brigham, featuring 159 granite boulders arranged in a 60-foot diameter circle with 32 nozzles that emit a fine mist. During the spring, summer, and fall, the mist hovers above the stones, with rainbows refracted through the mist on sunny days. During the winter the boulders are cloaked with steam from the university heating plant. The configuration sits within asphalt paving surrounding two existing trees. Inscribed in a plaque set on grade is a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The soft sheen all enchants a gleam of sun, a summer rain.”

312-01 — Site plan of the fountain showing the arrangement of boulders in front of the Science Center

tanner 06 — View of fountain with the Science Center in the background

The boulders reflect the history of New England when settlers worked to clear land of boulders to make way for farming. Roughly 2 by 4 feet in size, the stones were buried so that only 16 to 18 inches of their surface is exposed. In contrast to the stones and trees, the asphalt speaks to the urban environment in which the fountain sits. As Walker noted,

“The fountain is a minimal piece full of contradictions, …the materials, their perception and their various meanings are brought into conflict and into question. This artistic statement may be apropos to the questioning stance of students and the intellectual inquiry of the university.”

The fountain was envisioned as a source of active and passive recreation. Instead of an object in the landscape, the fountain is a part of the landscape that people engage with. The stones encourage pedestrians to pause and sit, while the spacing of elements prevents through passage for skateboarders. Children gravitate to the fountain to climb, roam around, or play in the mist, and other people carry on conversations while watching the world go by.

tanner shot — View of fountain on an early spring afternoon with food trucks on the plaza beyond

The Tanner Fountain was the first institutional project of the “Landscape as Art” movement which grew out of the Expression Studio offered by the Department of Landscape Architecture at the Harvard Design School. In 1987, the fountain received a design award from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). In 2008, the fountain was awarded the ASLA Landmark Award. Jury comments included the following:

“One of the first examples of a landscape architect creating public sculpture. It set a precedent for the profession and has stood the test of time remarkably well, retaining the full power of the original idea. The landscape architect designed it to be accessible and recognize the four seasons and to celebrate water without a traditional body of water. Transformational. It lives in your memory.”

Last-Import-1-of-6 — View of fountain and inscription, and Memorial Hall beyond

Based in Berkeley, California, Peter Walker has designed a wide range of projects types and scales, including Sea Pines Plantation, Hilton Head; South Carolina Foothill College, Los Altos Hills, California; Upjohn Corporation World Headquarters, Kalamazoo, Michigan; the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas; and the National 9/11 Memorial, New York City.
Sources
American Society of Landscape Architects, asla.org

Cambridge Chronicle, August 27, 1992

The Cultural Landscape Foundation, tclf.org

commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tanner_Fountain,_Harvard_University_-_IMG_9014-1.JPG

Longfellow Park

Posted on April 4, 2019August 21, 2020 by allisoncrosbie

LongfellowHouse_signature_TomKlein_2016_02 — View of lower garden and memorial with Longfellow’s house in the background

Across the street from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s House on Brattle Street is a 2-acre park extending down to the Charles River, established in memory of the great poet. The park includes an open lawn area off of Brattle Street bounded by several residences as well as the Friends Meeting House of Cambridge and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and descends to a lower garden and memorial on Mt. Auburn Street.

Soon after Longfellow’s passing in 1882, a group of his colleagues organized an association to create a memorial in his honor and formed the Longfellow Memorial Association. The Association sought to erect a monument and create a public park to be given to the City of Cambridge. Longfellow’s children donated two acres, consisting of the central portion of a meadow, in 1883. This donation of land came with a plan illustrating their desire for an open grass area to preserve the view of the river from the house, and a monument located in the northern section of the park. A horseshoe-shaped road was proposed to provide access to subdivided lots planned by the Longfellows.

childrens plan.JPG — Proposed plan by Longfellow’s heirs with the monument located on the upper green space.

Maintaining the open meadow was a concern by all involved in the park. As Longfellow’s son, Ernest, wrote:

“Such a breathing space on the river in connection with the playing fields of
the College, which my father was so instrumental in securing, will one day
be a great boon to Cambridge when it becomes crowded, and would be a
better monument to my father and more in harmony than any graven image
that could be erected.”

longfellow park eliot plan — Plan by Charles Eliot, 1887 (National Park Service)

In 1887, Charles Eliot, a landscape architect who apprenticed with Frederick Law Olmsted, was commissioned to design the park. He envisioned a park with two distinct areas, an expanse of lawn surrounded by the horseshoe-shaped road and walks, and a garden in the lowland with paths and a playground. To mitigate poor drainage, Eliot recommended the upland be used to fill the area and create a brook. He also included shrubs to screen traffic on Mt. Auburn Street, and trees along the edges of the garden. Between the garden and the green, Eliot proposed an exedra, a semi-circular recessed seating area, facing south and on axis with the front door of Longfellow’s house. A proposed walk would lead to the highest point on the site, ending in a terrace and a set of stairs. Only a few elements of Eliot’s design were actually executed. Changes included a large stone stair case instead of the exedra, and fewer shrubs were installed. In addition, trees were not planted on the edges, and the brook was not created.

longfellow park 1889 — View from Longfellow’s house to the river, ca. 1889 (Ellis Gray Loring Papers, Harvard University)

The design of the monument was given to the sculptor Daniel French. The siting of the statue was debated between the heirs who wanted it closer to Brattle Street, and the Association who agreed with Eliot’s original recommendation. The dispute was settled by Frederick Olmsted, Jr. who concurred with Eliot’s idea. Olmsted Jr. also recommended that the design of the monument integrate and redesign the existing steps. The staircase was replaced by a stone retaining wall, designed by the architect Henry Bacon, which forms the base of the sculpture. Two sets of stairs flank the wall, and at the base of the sculpture was a sunken memorial garden designed by Paul Frost.

longfellow park 1900 — View of stone steps connecting the upper and lower levels of the park, ca. 1910 (Library of Congress)

longfellow park 1915 — View of lower level of the park looking back to Longfellow’s house, ca. 1915 (Boston Public Library, Leon Abdalian photo)

175930_AGJKqrFK-Amd_fLso8gDHgQceXg1tr84h7gahukAPdo — View of portrait bust of Longfellow with 6 characters from his poems depicted in bas-relief behind the sculpture

After 1914, pathways were repaved in concrete and narrowed. Houses and institutions were built around the park. In the 1930s and 1940s, several WPA projects repaired the drive and walkways, and planted shrubs and trees in the garden. Lighting was also installed during this time. By the 1970s, a mature canopy of trees had grown in the garden. In 1989, Carol R. Johnson and Associates was hired to address the deterioration of the lower park. Some trees were removed and re-planted, and others were pruned. The lawn was restored, and the area was regraded for erosion control. Granite cobbles were installed at the south gate, and stone dust paving was placed at the base of the monument.

Longfellow Park DSC_1857

Sources
Evans, Catherine, Cultural Landscape Report for Longfellow National Historic Site, Volume I: Site History and Existing Conditions, National Park Service, 1993.

Osterby-Benson, Krisan, “Longfellow Park, A Room With A View,” May, 1983.

Maycock, Susan, and Charles Sullivan, Building Old Cambridge, MIT Press, 2016.

Cambridge Recreation Department Collection

Posted on May 4, 2017November 14, 2018 by Meta Partenheimer

The Cambridge Recreation Department Collection is now processed and available for research! This collection was donated to the Cambridge Historical Commission in August 1995 by Curtis Gaines, an employee of Human Services.

The Collection

This collection includes scrapbooks, books, and photographs that once belonged to the Recreation Department, as well as photographs that were already in the possession of the CHC. Much of the materials consist of City Council orders concerning park maintenance and upkeep, as well as department financial matters. The collection also includes budget appropriations materials, planning materials for parks and playgrounds, and department reports.

park_plan001 — Preliminary Design for the Proposed Observatory Hill Park, Cambridge Planning Board, March 1950. Courtesy of the Cambridge Historical Commission.

A Brief History of the Recreation Department

The Cambridge Recreation Department was established in 1892 as the Cambridge, Massachusetts Park Commission. The Board of Park Commissioners with chairman General E. W. Hincks were now tasked with providing Cambridge citizens with a worthy park system. Previously, Cambridge only had a few poorly planned and maintained public parks with no public programs.

Council_orders001 — Cambridge City Council Order March 29, 1892, ordering “…the Committee on Parks be directed to consider and report upon the advisability of purchasing a tract of land…”

The commissioners hired landscape architect Charles Eliot and his firm, Olmsted, Olmsted, & Eliot to improve the existing parks and plan new ones in poorer, more congested neighborhoods. In 1894, the city acquired Donnelly Field in East Cambridge, Rindge Field in North Cambridge, and the entire Cambridge frontage of the Charles River. The latter section gave the department 800 acres of mud flat and degraded salt marsh by eminent domain and by 1914 a park was created along the length of the city’s shoreline. In 1910, the city began to construct playgrounds and to operate recreation programs there, and these functions expanded after the riverfront park was transferred to the Metropolitan District Commission in 1921.

Approp_request001 — City Council Order asking that the Park Commissioners purchase “Jerry’s Pit” to create a swimming pool. Dated April 7, 1914.

Maypole events were organized by the Cambridge Park Commission in the 1920s and 1930s. After the crowning of a “May Queen,” the young and gaily attired girls of the city would dance around the Maypole. Following this ceremony, there would be music, baskets of flowers, and other spring-themed activities for the children.

May_Pole002 — This image depicts a scene from a May festival on the Cambridge Common c.1925. Courtesy of the Cambridge Historical Commission.

After World War II, the responsibilities of the Park Commission were divided between the Department of Public Works and the Human Services Department. DPW began to oversee the parks, while Human Services took over recreational programs.

hockey001 — A group of teenagers posing on the ice during the 1940s. Three are holding hockey sticks.

We will soon be adding images from this collection to the Cambridge Recreation Department Collection on the Cambridge Historical Commission Flickr page. Follow us on Flickr and Instagram to stay up-to-date!