Boston Adventures: Arnold Arboretum and the Emerald Necklace

Better than 17 days have past since my last article describing our wonderful 71st birthday celebration on May 26 in Boston with Myrna, Lesley, Scott and Amelia.  Since then we've been busy and having great fun exploring our new world.  This is the first of three articles in my latest attempt to "catch-up."

Where shall we go today?  Diana suggested the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain area of Boston and off we went.  The drive to the arboretum, which was about 14 miles from Hingham, literally took me through memory lane.  I had driven this route many times as both a kid and an adult.

Explanatory Note: Starting in 1948 when I was five and continuing well into my teens, my parents would rent a home on Nantasket Beach for the entire summer.  We literally packed the house and had professional movers move us to the beach.

As we drove west on Route 3A I pointed out places and events to Diana that had special meaning to me. I'll mention three:

• The route itself.  At age 16 I rode my Bike 28 miles from Newton to Hull (Nantasket Beach) over much of the route we traveled today.  In retrospect that act was clearly dangerous.  I ponder why my father or Aunt Rose (not sure who or perhaps both) allowed me to do this.  
• The bridge linking the Arborway to Morton Street.  This bridge built circa 1953, which is today in terrible condition, used steel the came from my uncle Louis' steel fabrication company (Grossier and Schlager Iron Works, Sommerville).  Louis is the uncle that started my boating career when he bought a 18 foot Old Town with a 50 HP Johnson outboard.  In exchange for taking him fishing on weekends and cleaning the boat (massive task) he gave me free use of the boat and paid for my gas. For a 16 year old that's like dying and going to heaven. 
• As we passed Squantum, just north of Wollaston Beach, I talked about memories of going to what was then called Boston Harbor Marina when I was the first mate of the 50 ft Wheeler motor yacht with Captain Lester Glawson. This experience set the stage for desire to one day have a boat of comparable size.

The Arnold Arboretum is part of Harvard University and is an important green space on Boston's Emerald Necklace.

Arnold Arboretum Visitor Center

Explanatory Note: The Emerald Necklace consists of a 1,100-acre chain of parks linked by parkways and waterways in Boston and Brookline. It gets its name from the way the planned chain appears to hang from the "neck" of the Boston peninsula; to this day it is not fully constructed.  The Necklace comprises half of the City of Boston's park acreage, parkland in the Town of Brookline, and parkways and park edges under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. More than 300,000 people live within its watershed area. It is the only remaining intact linear park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, America's first landscape architect. From Boston Common to Franklin Park it is approximately seven miles by foot or bicycle through the parks.

Boston's Emerald Necklace

Getting to the park, at least the way we chose to get there, proved to be challenging.  It turned out that there is no parking in the park itself so visitors are required to park on the Arborway, a two lane 45+ MPH divided highway.  Not fun with car whizzing by.  Then we missed the parking area and had to go about three miles back to "my uncles bridge" and three miles back to the traffic circle just west of the arboretum.

This sign underlies our parking problem

However, one inside we were in a beautiful park that is about 2 miles long and one 1 mile wide.  We entered at top of the photo and walked over Bussey Hill and then across to Peters Hill, which we walked around, and then back to the Visitor's Center.  A nice 4 mile walk on a lovely spring (felt like summer) day..

Diagram of the Arnold Arboretum

And the scenery was spectacular.  Further the Lilacs, Diana's official flower, and Rhododendrons were in bloom.

Just a taste of the scenery (bushes unknown)

Kodi relaxing at the Rhododendrons

In our travels at Peters Hill we came upon the remains of the Walter Street Burying Ground, a cemetery dating back to before the Revolutionary War (1712).  Early residents and at one time 28 Revolutionary War soldiers were buried in a mass grave on this hill (later moved to Mount Hope Cemetery during road construction.

Graves dating back to 1723

View of the Walter Street Burying Ground

Speaking of history. Around the same time while walking around Hingham Bay in Hull we saw an old boat in a boat storage lot just south of the A Street Pier (where I hung out as a kid) and Sunset Bay Marina where we stayed in 2011.  I guessed correctly that it was built in the 20s.  It's rare to see boats of this era especially one that is fairly well preserved.  I walked into Sunset Bay Marina

Unfortunately, I lost the note pad with the vessel's name, length and asking price.  I vaguely recall she was build circa 1929.  The asking price was $180,000.

Amazingly narrow beam

Stay tuned for an Amelia update and an amazing view of some lovely Hingham homes.

Written by Les.