West Roxbury Open Spaces and Urban Wilds
Having been a life-long resident of West Roxbury, one of the area’s amenities that I’ve always had a deep appreciation for is the amount of open space available to its’ residents. I’ve recently learned that West Roxbury, with 1,146 acres of total open space (both protected and unprotected), has more more open space than any other neighborhood of Boston. How much more? Lots! By the numbers, West Roxbury has nearly 23 acres of open space per thousand residents while the city-wide average is 7.5 acres per thousand. And considering the family orientation of this community, having as much open space available for recreational activities is a real asset.
So, where exactly is all this open space and how is it used?
The neighborhood itself is largely defined by the open spaces surrounding it. To the east are the MDC’s Stony Brook Reservation, Bellevue Hill, and West Roxbury Parkway. To the west are Millennium Park, a municipally owned urban wild at the West Roxbury High chool/Community Center, the MDC’s Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Parkway, Brook Farm, Havey Beach, and large private cemeteries. To the south are two more cemeteries and the West Roxbury Quarry urban wild. To the north is the Allandale Woods urban wild.
Of Play Lots and Fields
Another of West Roxbury’s open space attributes is the plethora of playing fields (e.g. baseball, soccer, football, etc) and play lots for younger children. Playing fields include: Praught, Draper, Billings and Hynes field as well as the many fields at Millennium Park all of which accomodate your typical array of outdoor American-style sporting activities. Additionally, the West Roxbury landscape is dotted with numerous playgrounds located at both public schools and parks, including: The Beethoven and Ohrenberger schools, and all the parks listed above.
For Adults and Nature Enthusiasts
West Roxbury has considerable resources available for walking/hiking, nature appreciation activities, and scenic enhancement. Substantial acreage is in a natural state: 680.05 protected and unprotected acres in West Roxbury. (Included in this acreage is the 8.9 acres of the Millennium Park riverside natural area, formerly the Municipal Shoreline urban wild, and the approximately 60 acres of the Millennium Park Meadow natural area along the slopes of this park.) Most of this acreage is protected. The largest unprotected parcels are the Roxbury Latin School natural area and the West Roxbury Quarry. Both have some acreage under the jurisdiction of the Wetlands Protection Act.
Over the coming weeks I intend to explore these open spaces and urban wilds in more detail. Since I don’t get out much, this will be a welcome change of scene 
The Swan Boats at the Boston Public Gardens
The latest O’Keefe family inexpensive outing was (oops, I was about to say my all time favorite, then remembered I already said that about Castle Island !) one of my very favorites–Boston’s own storied Swan Boats. The truth of it is, I truly love many of 
the things you can do in Boston -especially the ones for $$short money. I’ll take you all on many of these excursions throughout the summer. So, please, sit back and enjoy the FREE ride!
This past Friday my entire family (myself, sons: Paul (12) & Sean (10), my mom (Marion Connolly), niece Mairead (4), nephews: Tommy (7), and Patrick (5) went to The Swan Boats in downtown Boston. We packed a lunch and took the ‘T’, which was in itself an adventure since the kids are used to being driven everywhere. We got off the Orange Line at Downtown Crossing, walked across the Boston Common where we bumped into Ben Franklin giving tours of the Freedom Trail, passed by the Frog Pond and into The Public Gardens. We stopped by the famous statues of ‘Make Way for Ducklings’ based on the book by Robert McCloskey. The little ones all took turns sitting on statues finally making their way to the Mother Duck. Before we boarded the boats we had an absolute blast feeding the ducks…but sadly learned it is not allowed…and for good reasons…overpopulation and non-migration, among others.
The Swan Boat ride was extremely enjoyable. It was paddled by nice young man. Ducks followed along our merry water-way. We saw swans nesting and a large turtle sunning itself on a small island. My mom watched from the bridge to take pictures…thanks Mom! I do have to admit though that my 12 year old felt he was a little too mature for this outing…they grow up so fast!
After that we got ice cream and ate them by the little park in front of The Copley Library. I have been to The Swan Boats countless times in my life and the charm is always 
as fresh as it was the first time.
Talk to everyone soon. And here’s a hint about the next outing: Fire, Water, Peace.
NEW BOSTON CHILDREN’S MUSEUM
I would like to follow up on Helen Coen’s recent article about Teachers Appreciation Month and the Children’s Museum. I haven’t been to the Children’s Museum in a while and just last week I visited the new remodeled Museum. A childhood friend of mine, Madeleine, was visiting from Cannes, France with her husband, Roberto, and her 6 year old daughter, Coline. So I got to play the tourist and we tried to find fun things for all of us to do.
The renovations are great and the most striking one to me is the labyrinth/climbing structure.
I remember how scary the earlier version was. I don’t really know then who was more scared: the adult or the child. You couldn’t really see where your child was except when he/she was screaming because of being stuck or lost. I tried one day to go inside and unfortunately I was too big!!
Now, everybody gets comfortable and it is a really nice time for all. There are tables, chairs and bunches outside facing the water and it is lovely to have lunch there.
The all time favorites are still there (the bubbles room and the golf balls room). The supermarket is better. There is rock climbing which is new. I didn’t remember the Japanese house and it is really interesting! Especially when you sell Real Estate as I do !
Coline had a blast! So did her parents who thought the world of this Museum. France has an impressive amount of Museums but not so much directed towards children and that is a shame!
So if you don’t know where to take the kids this summer, head on to the Children’s Museum! Make it a day trip and walk following the water to the Aquarium and you can even end your day by eating in the North End.
Parking was easy at the Museum with couple of parking lots giving you a great discount if you validate your ticket.
West Roxbury Literary Society of Loose Ends
The final meeting of the 20th year of West Roxbury Literary Society of Loose Ends came to a conclusion at Geoffrey’s Cafe at 4257 Washington Street in Roslindale Square on Monday, June 18th. Over a delightful dinner with appetisers and desserts we would all recommend Geoffrey’s to our friends and spouses. The desserts by Michael Aplin were worth every calorie. We all enjoyed the splendid service of Beau as well as Shari.. Keep in mind the kitchen is open until midnight!
The members of the book club are charter members: (President), Debbie Vinci, Kathy Cummings Tower, Kathy Cooke Wilmarth, Donna Miller, Maureen Hayes Rossi; also attending were (Secretary) Tanya Tower Newburg, Chris Conroy Kristeller, Jeanne Black Guidi, Beverly Sheehan and Maureen Hachey.
This month’s book was a new novel by Khaled Hosseini called A Thousand Splendid Suns. He also wrote, a few years ago, the wildly popular, Kite Runner. Most members had finished the novel within the past month and many described it as “brutal.” It felt more non-fiction than fiction since these are accounts of the war in Afghanistan that we have been assaulted with by the news media for well over a decade. The tragic lives of the women veiled and unveiled, educated and uneducated and how they were valued within their families. Most members rated the book between 4.77 (Our scale runs from 0 the worst to 5 the best).
Society reading list since 1987 here
Our 21st year will start 9/23/07. Stay tuned!
Parkway Soccer Family Day at Millennium Park in West Roxbury–What a Blast!
What a fabulous time! The Parkway Youth Soccer League and the Parkway Family Day task force organizations really outdid themselves this year in a combined community-wide effort that resulted in a very successful Parkway Soccer Family Day this past Saturday, June 16Th at Millennium Park in West Roxbury, MA. 
So many families volunteered, local businesses donated food, pastries, and other give aways. There were pony rides, two (2) moonwalks, a duck pond toss, a theatre production, patriotic songs, trivia games, and The Boston Fire Department allowed children to play on and learn about the fire engines. The Parkway Idol Contest was a big hit as usual…and so much more!
A cookout included burgers, dogs, slush, popcorn, cotton candy and much more-all free! 
My kids, Paul and Sean, and my husband Tom had a blast. They bumped into lots of friends and relatives. Many local politicians were also there which gave people a chance to meet them on a more personal level.
I would like to thank all who had a hand in this fabulous day…each year it gets better and better. Keep up the good work!
History of West Roxbury: Part III
The West Roxbury Branch of the Boston and Providence Railroad was completed in 1848, fourteen years after the railroad was established, with stations at Central (later known as Bellevue), West Roxbury Village, and Spring Street.
The town was comprised of three sections: West Roxbury Village, or what is now the Centre Street area; Mount Bellevue, which was literally named for the beautiful views afforded by the hill; and Germantown, a section near the junction of Washington and Grove Streets that was settled by Germans from East Dedham. It was said that in “1851, there were two churches, two grocery stores, and one small dry goods store, and for many years after conditions remained unchanged.”
However, it was the West Roxbury Branch of the railroad that brought the middle class to West Roxbury, and initiated the great changes that were to take place between 1860 and 1900. Some of the estates remained well into the twentieth century — most notably the Codman Estate (later the campus of the Roxbury Latin School ) and the Cabot Estate (the site of the present Saint Theresa’s Church ). It would be the real estate developers who subdivided the farms and created new neighborhoods. This transformed the once rural countryside into urban streetscapes that would become known as “Streetcar Suburbs.” The close proximity of West Roxbury to Boston, with travel made easier by the railroad and the West Roxbury and Roslindale Street Railway, proved far too much of a temptation for the developers, and the push for annexation to the city of Boston became the primary topic of discussion.
Boston had already annexed the once independent city of Roxbury (1868) and the town of Dorchester (1870), and the filling in of the marshlands west of Arlington Street in Boston had created the new “Back Bay” neighborhood, but the steadily increasing population continued to demand more space. West Roxbury (along with the city of Charlestown and the town of Brighton ) was annexed to Boston on May 29, 1873. Thus, the town of West Roxbury ceased to exist twenty-three years after it was founded, and now became a neighborhood of the city of Boston.
The resulting change in West Roxbury was swift and decisive. The opponents to the annexation saw their property soar in value and the proponents began the further subdivision of the farms and estates to attract new residents to the neighborhood. By the last decade of the nineteenth century, the population was served by a street railway line operating between Forest Hills and Dedham. The Boston Elevated Railway had completed the elevated railway that connected Dudley Street in Roxbury to Sullivan Square in Charlestown in 1901. This line was extended to Forest Hills in 1909, and created a passenger terminus for the streetcars that connected Dedham along Spring and Grove Streets and Centre Street. With the increased ease of transportation, West Roxbury became a desirable and accessible neighborhood that would continue to increase steadily in population.
With the increase in population came new schools and churches, along with new streets and major roads, such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars Parkway. The housing boom took place initially in the 1920s and early 1930s, but would double after World War II, due in part to the automobile and to the Veterans Bill that allowed for low interest mortgages for veterans. Today, West Roxbury is a thriving neighborhood of Boston, with open space along the Charles River and Mount Bellevue. 
With a large number of cemeteries, such as the Saint Joseph’s, Gethsemane, and Mount Benedict Cemeteries, and the Jewish cemeteries of Adath-Jeshurun, Baker Street, and Boston United Hand in Hand, the open green space once so attractive to our ancestors remains, but perceived and utilized in a different manner.
It is a thriving community of people who strive to make it a pleasant and friendly neighborhood that offers the best of qualities of suburban living without leaving the City of Boston.
The Chicken and Egg of Boston Housing and Education
In in article by Tracey Jan in last Friday’s Boston Globe entitled ”S. Boston developer plans a private school,” a proposal was announced to develop 2,500 housing units within a 23 acre site in Boston’s Seaport District. A proposed site, which today contains nothing but parking lots, would be developed by John B. Hynes III into residential housing, a performing arts center, two (2) health clubs, a public garden and a private school.
The problem facing the Seaport district is not unique. Emerging neighborhoods have faced similar problems and addressed them in different ways. What is lacking in the Seaport District are the basic amenities that exist in most other neighborhoods and suburbs of Boston (e.g. schools, shops, restaurants, people, etc.). The concept of ‘build it and they will come’ has not worked well for the Seaport District. There are convention centers, museums, hotels, etc. but what is lacking are people, because there are little to no housing units in which people can live. The Seaport District will never be a neighborhood until people start living there–and people will not start living there unless there is sufficient quality education for their children. This in a classic example of the proverbial problem of which came first the chicken or the egg.
John B. Hynes III has proposed a simple solution to a complex problem: a school which will serve 1,500 children from kindergarten through high school. He hopes the school will help attract families to his development and to the area. City officials are not embracing his idea and are calling it “hair-brained,” and “catering to the upper end.”
By including a school with the development plans, Hynes is solving the age old question of which came first the chicken or the egg? He is proposing a solution by combining the Chicken and Egg.
Good education attracts families, and families attract everything else. Hynes has the right idea: offer good quality educational options and they will come.
Teacher Appreciation Month at WROR (105.7)
This Month It’s All About Teachers at WROR! 
Throughout June 105.7 WROR salutes hard working teachers. WROR is asking you to tell listeners about the best teacher you know… maybe it’s you!
Tell WROR about a teacher that deserves appreciation, especially if it’s YOU! WROR will be saluting teachers on the air during the month-long celebration.
Plus, WROR will invite each teacher to an after-work appreciation party, hosted by Loren and Wally, on Tuesday, June 26th from 5-7pm at the newly renovated Children’s 
Museum in Boston.
Nominate a worthy teacher today!
West Roxbury, MA — Corrib Pub 5K Road Race
The Corrib Pub 5K Road Race in West Roxbury was held on Sunday, June 3rd, 2007. The
race is held annually and this was the 14th race. I was delighted when I woke up to a cool breeze in the low 60’s. This may not be a comfortable temperature for anyone planning cookouts or outdoor activities, but for a runner it was perfect. I try to do it each year the last two years my daughters have joined me in the run as well as many friends and neighbors. This year my colleague, Matt White, from C21 Carole White Associates joined me in the run. My husband, Frank, usually volunteers and was on hand with the camera to get a before and after shot of us.
The race is fun for me because it is my regular running route , 3 miles with one steep hill on Corey Street, and yes the rolling hills of Bellevue Hill seem unending when you are finishing your last mile. They have DJ Dave at the beginning who gets you motivated with the singing of the National Anthem, the fire trucks are present at the beginning and the American Flag drapes over us at the starting line. 
I understand this year they had over 1700 runners and lots of cheering on the rout–and water tables to help those of us that need a reason to stop along the way .
Oh, I am feeling my age this year and also a slower pace due to a longer sabbatical over the past year but as always I am determined to finish as friends and neighbors are cheering you on along the way. I speed up a little bit as I see people I know with a smile on my face and waving to everyone I know along the way! My daughter, Brianna who is 12 years old, is about 3/4 of a mile in front of me (oh, the youth of today…my other daughter, Shannon, 11 years old, is a few steps behind me.
There is a lot of support from the community and the Corrib Pub who supports many local charities and local youth organizations. They have raised over $510,000 from this event from which our community and children have benefited. It ’s great to see so many volunteers each year working hard to make it the success it is today. There is a complimentary cook-out afterward in Billings Field, with all the hamburgers and hot dogs you can eat, entertainment and children’s activities, a great day had by all and a few sore muscles afterward. To get more information their website is www.coolrunning.com. Thanks to all the volunteers and family and friends that cheered us on along the way.
See you next year!!!
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