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The Friends ofHemlock GorgeP.O. Box 62 |
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The Friends ofHemlock GorgeP.O. Box 62 |
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Welcome to the Home Page of the
Friends
of Hemlock Gorge Reservation, a community organization dedicated to preserving and
improving Hemlock Gorge, Brian Yates, Founder.
Hemlock Gorge is a 23-acre reservation along the Charles River between Route 9 and Elliot Street in Needham. It was conceived by Charles Eliot in 1892 and is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. At its heart is the famous Echo Bridge. Parts of the park are in Wellesley, Newton, and Needham. In addition to street parking nearby, there are two small parking lots, one in Needham at the intersection of Elliot Street and Hamilton Place and the other in Newton at the intersection of Ellis Street and Boylston Street. The Friends of Hemlock Gorge is now a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Contributions to the friends are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. |
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News & Announcements August 6: Dedication of the Friends' Memorial to Brian Yates and our Summer Picnic Brian Yates, former Newton City Councilor and the Founder, President, and guiding spirit of the Friends of Hemlock Gorge passed away on March 15. A granite memorial to Brian has now been placed in Hemlock Gorge close by the Stone Building and the Circular Dam. The dedication took place on the evening of August 6m before our annual summer picnic, which he always hosted. Nearly 60 people attended, including some of his closest friends and colleagues. Rememberances were given by Rep. Ruth Balser, Newton Mayor Fuller, Amy Mah Sangiolo, Bob Burke, and Rena Getz. Vaunita Schnell and Rob MacArthur recounted the history of the saving of the Stone Building from derelection and the long list of accomplishments of the Friends. Finally, three of Brian's cousins attended and spoke. Pictures of the dedication will be posted soon Music for the picnic was provided courtesy of Karen Osborn, who also landscaped the Stone Building for the event. Brian loved our picnics. For the archive of past picinics, click here. Rescuing the Stone Building was a key project in the founding of the Friends. To read Brian's history of the Founding of The Friends of Hemlock Gorge, click this iink: A Brief History of the Friends of Hemlock Gorge Anyone wishing to contribute to the Friends activities can contact us at friends@hemlockgorge.org. The Friends of Hemlock Gorge is now an approved 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Upcoming Meetings of the Friends
Regular Meetings
are held on the first
Tuesday of the month at 7:15 in the evening unless otherwise
announced. They are are held at the Emerson Community Center off of
Pettee Street. Click
here for directions. There is free
parking.
The next regular meetings will be
held on Tuesday
September 10, October 1, November 5, and December 10, 2019.
No meeting in July. Minutes of
the May, 2019 meeting are
available here.
To read our 2018 Annual Report to Members,
click here.
The 2019 report will be issued next December.
2019 Spring Cleanup
The Friends of Hemlock Gorge’s 39th Annual Spring Cleanup,
held on Saturday, April 27,
was an extraordinary success. We had a record turnout of 42 volunteers including contingents of students from Wellesley College and volunteers from the DCR. The event started under cloudy skies, but the occasional
brief sprinkle gave way to bright sun by the time we met for lunch. A
crew led by Lee Fisher dealt with fallen timber and another headed by
Rena Getz gave the Stone Building its first thorough cleaning in
years. Evan Weststrate gathered debris from the river in his canoe,
and City Councilor Andreae Downs gave her attention to the land in
back of the Baptist Church, which had been long ignored. In the
process we discovered long lost artifacts that had been saved and
stored by the crew that put a roof on the structure in 1990, the year
of Brian's very first spring cleanup. They will be turned over to the
DCR archaeology group. Site Supervisor Erica Aubin and her crew provided all the
necessary logistical support and Sean Gaherin of Dunn-Gaherin's again provided lunch for
all. We will post photos of the even soon in our cleanup archive.
Stone Building Railings: Major Success At our October, 2018 meeting, Evan Westrate announced that fencing for the Stone Building project has been fabricated and installantion is now complete. The new railings, shown in the photos to the right, taken during construction, are gorgeous. This project has been champrioned by Evan who announced last December that the DCR approved our public-private partnership proposal to replace the fencing by the Stone Building. The Friends have contributed $7,000 and the state $14,000 to the project. the official letter of commitment from the DCR was received last spring. We all congratulate Evan on his tenacious
work on behalf of all of us in bringing the project to a successful
conclusion.
2019 Annual
Summer Picnic: The Friends of Hemlock Gorge’s Annual Summer Picnic
is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, August 6, but perhaps it should
be changed to a weekend. Let us know what you think. It will be on the
May meeting agenda.
Echo Bridge Railing
Project
Echo Bridge is one of outstanding landmarks of the Metropolitan Parks
System. Built in 1876, Echo Bridge was designed by the Boston Water
Works (BWW) to carry the Sudbury Aqueduct over the
Charles River. The largest of its seven arches is 130’ in length,
which made it the second longest masonry arch in the United States.
The bridge is remarkable for its graceful and handsome granite and
brick design that contribute to the rugged beauty of Hemlock Gorge.
The historic cast iron railings pictured above are an integral
component of the promenade over which pedestrians and bicyclists
traverse daily. After 140 years, however, they are now in serious
disrepair. In 2008, the MWRA installed a temporary chain link safety
fence inside the historic railings to enable the bridge to remain
open.
The time has come to either raise the funds to properly replicate
the historic railings or to install a more permanent and attractive
safety railing system inside the historic railings while leaving the
old railings themselves in disrepair. Everyone prefers the former path
if at all possible.
While State Rep. Ruth Balser was successful in allocating $250,000 in
a past transportation bond bill for the railing project, full costs
for the project far exceed that amount. In response to the fact that
the MWRA cannot fund historic preservation projects decoupled from its
water supply mission, a group of citizens has joined together to help
raise funds to fix the historic railings, and we invite your support.
For more information, please see the minutes of the February, 2019 meeting, other materials on our website and our flyer. Funds are being sought from multiple sources via a private/public partnership so that the expense of proper restoration is shared across a variety of stakeholders and contributors. Sources will include State funds, Newton and Needham Community Preservations funds, historic foundations, and private contributors. MWRA, the bridge owner, will be the funding recipient and will provide the engineering, contracting, and project management expertise to conduct the project. Will you join us in a pledge? Please e-mail us your willingness to pledge to this project: at EchoBridgeRailings@outlook.com Echo Bridge Across the Years Click here to read the history of Echo Bridge as written by the late historian Ken Newcomb in his online book, Makers of the Mold, published by the Friends of Hemlock Gorge To see stories about Echo Bridge that have appeared on our web site go to: Archive of Echo Bridge news stories. To read a very detailed government report on the Echo Bridge railings, provided to us by Lee Fisher, click here.
2018 Annual Report
The 2018 Annual Year-End Report to Members is online.
Click here
to read it. 2016 Saving the Hemlock Trees Project Through the efforts of Bob Burke, a plan was made to treat the hemlock trees in the Reservation with an insecticide on Arbor Day, April 29. Jason Lupien of Lupient Tree Service was organizing the program to prvovide the labor at no cost, if the Friends could purchase the insecticide. See the minutes of our April, 2016 meeting (click here ). Unexpectedly, the DCR announced that they had decided to undertake the treatment at no cost to the Friends. Ken Gooch of DCR and two USDA staff did in fact treat the trees on May 23. Brian was there to observe during the morning. He reports that they did dozens of trees from the pathway to the overlook to Echo Bridge, including some of the very tall ones near the bridge that look pretty sickly. If the treatment works, the results should be spectacular. They said they were going to spend the rest of the day treating trees and that they had plenty of supplies. Arborist Ken Gooch of the DCR was at our June meeting to update us on the treatment of the hemlocks. At the moment the trees are in greater peril from the elongated hemlock scale than the adelgids. Lisa Barstow of the DCR updated us on the fence project, and Marti Rudi, also of the DCR, updated us on the stone building shingles. For more details read the minutes of our VERY informative June, 2016 meeting; to do so click here. Finishing the rehabilitation of the Eliot Street Bridge in 2017 State authorities have completed reconstruction of the Eliot Street Bridge reconstruction at the southern end of Hemlock Gorge Reservation. Restoration of the meadow is proceeding. The dedication was held in late November, 2012. The efforts of the Friends were recognized and President Brian Yates was an invited speaker. For details click here. To read Ken Newcomb's account of the long history of this bridge in Makers of the Mold, click here.
2018 Fall Cleanup
The Annual
Fall Cleanup of Hemlock Gorge was canceled due to a nor'easter.
It was not a lovely day and everything had to be
deferred.
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Friends' Founding President Brian Yates
The New Railings
 The Echo Bridge Railings as they appeared a century ago
Echo Bridge in Summer (Click for a larger image)
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Echo Bridge in Spring, 1997 |
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Stone Building
Windows News
The Stone Building windows and screens are installed. See pictures to
the right and below. We are planning a dedication event for the
spring, probably in April.
New Windows. View from inside the Stone Barn |
The installed windows |
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Feast in the Falls 2019
Seana Gaherin and her volunteer committee
successfully arranged the second of her Upper Falls Residents outdoor luncheons on
June 23, 2017. The food was delicious and Jerry Reilly entertained us all
with grandeloquent rap singing. A grand time was had by all.
The 2018 Feast will be in Se[te,ber this
year.
Our 2019
Spring Cleanup
went
well,.
Spillway Dam Repair
News The
dam is completed and the dedication was held in late November, 2012. The
efforts of the Friends were recognized and President Brian Yates was
an invited speaker. New Resource Melissa Moody, a Girl Scout working with Site Supervisor Erica Aubin, has put in place a remarkable signage project running along the Quinobequin Road trail, downstream of Hemlock Gorge. Instead of static signposts, she has installed interactive signage with QR barcodes. Go have a look and bring your smartphone and QR barcode reader. It’s the future of nature trails, and we should plan something similar for Hemlock Gorge, perhaps with the Troop 242 Boy Scouts. Melissa's website is www.qbqtrail.org Very Impressive!
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The new landscaping at the stone building
The new spillway dam.
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2013 Adelgid News from Bob Burke
Stone Building Windows: Great News Windows are fabricated and have been installed! As soon as the prtective screens are put in front of them, we will be able to see and enjoy them--probably before 2013. Of course, we'll have to have a party to celebrate and thank the Sangiolos for their generous support of this much delayed project. We are now hard at work to find the funds to replace the roof.
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Links
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The "Memory House" at Hemlock Gorge Friends member Bob Burke not too long ago wrote a lovely guest columnist article about Hemlock Gorge and the Friends' activities that has appeared in the Newton Tab. Highly recommended. Click here to read it.
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Echo Bridge in the Fall
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Links
News Stories General Reservation News: We have moved older Echo Bridge stories that have appeared on our web site to our Archive of News Stories. This is where you will find news of awards, encroachment, politics and such. For news about key concerns of the Friends like the adelgids, Echo Bridge, and the Stone Building are below. In Waban, there was trouble with the trails along the river. See an opinion article and accompanying blog by Jerry Reilly and a front page news article, both in the Newton Tab. HISTORIC NEWTON WALKS Finding the History in Hemlock Gorge Reservation Sunday, June 22, 2017 2:00 PM This walk took place on a gorgeous day, with about three dozen people in attendance. Everyone agreed that Hemlock Gorge is both a beautiful place to walk and the site of much historical importance as Newton's first industrial center. Old maps and photographs helped the group to visualize the mills that were located on the island and along the Charles River and to appreciate the importance of Worcester Turnpike/Route 9 to the area's commerce. The walk was expertly led by Lucy Caldwell-Stair, with whom the gourp found the site of the 1893 Echo Bridge Park amphitheater and the cave, the "Devil's Den," where Native Americans stored dried fish.
Summer 2014The woolly adelgid has now been in the reservation for some 15 years, and it is unclear how many of the hemlocks will survive.We have moved older adelgid stories that have appeared on our web site to: Archive of adelgid news stories. We have archived the entire saga of the adelgids' appearance, our efforts to pass legislation to combat them, the release of the predator ladybugs in 2001, and follow up analyses in the Friends' Adelgid News Stories Archive. Below are some highlights and links.
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A Stone Building News Archive is available by clicking here June 29, 2011 The new windows for the Stone Building, donated in 2002 and fabricated in 2008, are ainstalled. March 1, 2006 In early January, the Friends of Hemlock Gorge succeeded in our application for a Public-Private Partnership with the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). The Friends earmarked $2500 for a new floor and other repairs to the Stone Building, and that amount will be matched by the DCR. We will post a copy of the correspondence soon. This means that our long hoped for plans to make the Stone Building a great venue for Friends' activities will soon become a reality (February 2006). The new floor will, hopefully, be followed soon by the new windows, for which funds have already been generously donated by the Sangiolo Trust. On February 23, we were notified by the DCR that they are preparing to pour the floor very soon, and that the Friends will be asked for input on design.
Echo Bridge News We have moved older Echo Bridge stories that have appeared on our web site to: Archive of Echo Bridge news stories.Click here to read the history of Echo Bridge as written by the late historian Ken Newcomb in his online book, Makers of the Mold, published by the Friends of Hemlock Gorge |
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| Occasional Notes: The Joys of Hemlock Gorge | |
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Four Seasons of Hemlock
Gorge
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Spring 2000 |
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Summer 2000 |
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Fall 2000 |
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Winter 2001, taken during the storm of March 5-6 |
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| Doug Cornelius posted a lovely account of canoeing through Hemlock Gorge
a few years ago with
pictures.
Click here to see it. Another collection of photos of Hemlock Gorge is at Boston Online: Click here to see them.
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Publications of the Friends
Makers of the Mold, a full-length illustrated history of the Newton Upper Falls community which borders Hemlock Gorge, is available only on the Web. Authored by Historian, Conservationist, and Friend Ken Newcomb, who passed away in 2002. Copies of the print edition of The Makers of the Mold can be purchased online and are also available at several local restaurants, convenience stores and cafes. The full list of outlets can be found here.
A Walking Tour of Hemlock Gorge
This work is available onl at this Web site.
1. Our most important Resource is People!
3. Contemporary Challenges Facing the Hemlock Gorge Reservation
4. Local Governmental, Civic, and Conservation Organizations Online
| The Friends were honored with a beautification award from the City of Newton in 1997. Click here for the story. Click on the small picture to see a larger image of the award. |
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