Recreation - 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

The Cambridge Trotting Park: Part 4

Posted on March 5, 2019May 14, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

This post is the fourth and final in a series of four written by guest author, Dan Sullivan, owner of The Book Oasis in Stoneham.

What do I think about the track? It did offer, at least at times, an extremely high level of competition from both horses and the human athletes. Hiram Woodruff, for instance, is in the Trotting Hall of Fame as an ‘Immortal.’ (As is Lady Suffolk.) Besides managing the Cambridge track for a few years, he was also a trainer, driver, and horse owner and wrote a book on the sport. It was said that his “honesty was unimpeachable.” Woodruff was not the only person associated with the track who made his home in the area. Dan Mace, another leading driver, lived in the Cambridge track neighborhood. A study of the city directories shows several people living near the Trotting Park who list their profession as something that is most likely linked to the track, such as horse trainer.

DanMace — “The celebrated trotting horse Judge Fullerton, as he appeared, driven by Dan Mace” published by Currier & Ives, 1874

Because of the drinking and gambling the park was held in very low esteem by its contemporaries. Was it immoral? It is always dangerous to judge another era’s morals. It was seen that way by many locals but other sections of the country embraced such tracks. Was it rowdy? Certainly it could be, but when you compare the number of these types of stories to the way that they were played up, I believe there was an imbalance. Yes, the majority of stories on the track dealt with negative activities and yes, I am sure not all were covered. But if you consider that the track spanned eighteen years there were not actually that many of them. I see the dangerous driving on city streets as a real problem that needed to be dealt with, but I think that the drinking and gambling might have been overblown by the press, considering how isolated the track was. I have to ask myself, “Did the average resident come in contact with many of the rowdier activities?”

JohnStew — “Celebrated trotting horse ‘John Stewart’ as he appeared on the twentieth mile: In his great match against time over the fashion course L.I. Tuesday Sept. 22nd 1868. When he performed the unparalleled feat of trotting to wagon 20 miles in 59 minutes and 23 seconds” published by Currier & Ives, 1868

Also, once the park was no longer allowed to collect ticket revenue, the money from betting was their main source of income. Could gambling have been less of a necessary evil if ticket sales had been allowed to continue?

As often happens with such things, as decades passed the disdain for the track lessened. Several rather nostalgic articles were written after the park closed. I wonder if by that time some of the ‘Young Bloods’ that enjoyed going to the track had become staff members of the Chronicle.

CambChron_24March1924 — Clipping from the *Cambridge Chronicle*, 24 March 1924

I said at the beginning that the Cambridge Trotting Park had not left much of a mark on today’s map of Cambridge. That is true in the sense that one would not know it existed by just looking at a map. It did affect the way the map of Cambridge looks, in an odd way. Almost a century after the original park had opened, a greyhound park was proposed for Cambridge in 1935. It got approval from the state. It would have been built near Concord Avenue and Fresh Pond, completely changing that section of the city. After much debate, that track was built in Revere rather than in Cambridge. What stopped it? The trotting park closed in 1855. To prevent anything like it from ever coming back, the city enacted a new law in 1856 that gave the mayor and the council veto power over any new racing facility.

The Cambridge Trotting Park: Part 3

Posted on February 26, 2019May 14, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

This post is the third in a series of four written by guest author, Dan Sullivan, owner of The Book Oasis in Stoneham.

Most of the local stories related to the track dealt with the dangerous riding and driving of the patrons on their way home. It seemed that after spending a day watching others race on the track many people would race each other on the streets of Cambridge causing a safety hazard. To make matters even more scandalous, some of the racers were women! “Their mouths poured forth clouds of smoke, from cigars they were puffing, and boisterous songs, while urging their horse to his speed.” Headlines cried out, “Nuisance” and “Furious Driving.”

furious_driving — Clipping from the *Cambridge Chronicle*, 13 December 1849

Police blotters also made mention of illegal alcohol and card playing at the hotels on and near the track. There were also a few prominent stories about fights at the track..

The longest story in the Chronicle that even mentioned an event dealt with Lady Suffolk racing a mile on June 14, 1849. It was stated that: “It was considered a great occasion by those who take pleasure in such amusements…. One of the horses on the Course beat anything ever before heard of – trotting his mile in two minutes and twenty-six seconds!” Not only is the horse not named but she is referred to as ‘he’. Most of the remainder of the article dealt with how congested and ‘dusty’ the roads leading to and from the track were. The Chronicle even reported the highest single-day volume of alcohol ever consumed in Cambridge. It was obviously not seen as a proud milestone for the city!

A similar coverage was given for the Stetson-Grindell ten-mile race. The paper dealt more with traffic and how much was taken in tolls on the West Boston (now Longfellow) Bridge that day. Volume was so high on the bridge that extra men were called into work.

Even as the property was put up for sale it still caused a scandal as a rumor spread that the property would be purchased by the Catholic Church.

A few decades later a local Baptist church, in looking back on its early days and its neighbors, the course and the hotels, recalled a fire at one of the hotels as “the great purifier” for the area.

CambChron_26Oct1848 — Clipping from the *Cambridge Chronicle*, 26 October 1848

The two boxing events that were held there met with the same disdain by the Chronicle: “We are of the opinion that those whose business it is to look after such matters, will cry ‘enough’ before these persons are allowed to test the skill they possess in pounding each other to a jelly. Let not Cambridge be disgraced by any such proceedings!”

JohnSull — “John L. Sullivan, champion pugilist of the world. Born in Boston, October 15th, 1858” published by Wm. M. Clarke, ca. 23 November 1883.

Check back next week for Part 4, the conclusion!…

The Cambridge Trotting Park: Part 2

Posted on February 19, 2019May 14, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

This post is the second in a series of four written by guest author, Dan Sullivan, owner of The Book Oasis in Stoneham.

Decades after it closed, A.G. McVey, a journalist who played on the track as a child, remembered the opening of the track this way: “Hiram Woodruff and his brother William, who ran the Old Elm House in North Cambridge, were appointed to take charge. The soil was of clay composition and the footing was good … races took place nearly every fine day.” The Trotting Park was laid out by the local engineer and surveyor Charles A. Mason. It was said to be as flat as a “billiard-table.”

Woodruff_LC — “Dutchman” and Hiram Woodruff as printed in Currier & Ives, 1871. Library of Congress.

McVey went on to say: “There was no grandstand, rude seats being made inside the pole by planks nailed on the tops of posts. There was a low fence built around the track and youngbloods drove out in all kinds of equipages from the whalebone buggy to the one-horse shay.” He also stated that the track was never profitable. This is a situation that was made worse by an 1846 article in the Chronicle that mentioned the track was brought in front of the local Police Court twice for charging admission to a sporting event in violation of an existing statute. The facility went through some improvements because another description of the track does mention that it later had a grandstand in front of and slightly to one side of the entrance to the Track House. There was also a judges’ stand.

CambChron_30July1846 — Clipping from the *Cambridge Chronicle*, 30 July 1846

Some of the events could be described as gimmicks. I assume they were created to increase the uncertainty of the betting. A blindfolded man ran the track pushing a wheelbarrow running against time and running into both fences, John Stetson ran a mile pulling a sulky; a horse trotted sixteen miles with an added weight of 41 pounds. One race was a trotting horse against a horse pulling a wagon loaded with 263 pounds. One race was held against two untrained street horses.

In 1855 the property was divided into 275 housing lots and auctioned off. It is somewhat ironic that this enterprise, that was never profitable, would have what was probably it’s most successful day just before it closed. On May 15, 1855, John Grindell of New York and John Stetson from Boston ran a ten-mile race that drew 15,000 spectators.

NW_Camb1874 — Detail of 1873 Cambridge Hopkins Atlas showing the area after the course was sold and divided into lots

So how exactly did the locals view the track? When the property was auctioned off, the New York Herald stated that, according to locals, it “was voted by all good people a wicked concern.” Looking back, in 1893, the Chronicle referred to the track as “anything but a moral centre.”

Check back next week for Part 3…

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!