Weird: Boston owns 200 acres of parkland in Burlington and Woburn
By adamg - Sat, 12/15/2007 - 10:08pm.
Back in 1930, somebody gave Boston 200 acres of land in the two suburbs on the condition the city maintain it forever as "a public pleasure ground."
Only now Boston seems to want to sell off the land either as a subdivision or a golf course, according to Friends of the Cummings Park, which notes the city took $141,000 out of the park trust fund last year to pay a subdivision surveyor and $13,000 for legal fees this year - while spending absolutely nothing to maintain the land as a park.
Patrick O'Reilly: Mayor Menino, Please don't sell our park!
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Northeastern University in Woburn?
From this map, it appears that two large chunks of this park were carved out and sold or given to Northeastern University at some point. What, if anything, does Northeastern use this land for?
They use it for some
They use it for some specific continuing ed programs. I know they have an EMT program there that a friend of mine was in a few years ago. I don't think it works in conjunction with the regular undergrad campus in Boston at all. They also have another suburban facility in Dedham and the marine biology center in Nahant.
Buckmaster Pond
The Town of Norwood owns Buckmaster Pond, which is entirely in Westwood.
myDedham.org - a community since 1636 and online since 2007!
Arlington's Great Meadows are in Lexington
And the Town of Arlington owns a 183-acre parcel of mostly wetlands, located entirely in neighboring Lexington.
How odd...
I know of this area but never had any idea it was a park--most maps don't even mark it as such. I always wondered why it was undeveloped given that it was so close to 128 and near office parks/shopping/tons of residential. What a strange thing...
Cambridge water sources in Waltham, Lincoln, Lexington, Weston
And of course, the city of Cambridge owns a substantial amount of land (mostly underwater) in four western suburbs, for its water supply.