Mother Brook

Hey, who pulled the stopper out of the Mother Brook?

adamg — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 20:21:10 +0000

There's probably a good reason why the "pond" off Sawmill Lane and Milton Street in Dedham has been allowed to dry up and become a giant field of mud with a rivulet meandering through it. Like maybe the state's planning to clean up all the shopping carts, scooters, computer monitors and other stuff that's been dumped there (anybody know?).

In the meantime, though, parts of it now look more like something out of a region at the beginnings of a prolonged drought (the other side of Sawmill is apparently more fertile - it's full of green plants):

Time to clean up the Mother Brook

adamg — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 02:26:23 +0000

Rob Villegas makes the case to do more to clean up and promote America's oldest canal, which starts at the Charles, flows under the Dedham Mall and reemerges on the other side of Washington Street to flow through a few picturesque stretches but also behind a lot of "grubby dilapidated buildings" and with a lot of stolen shopping cars in it before meeting up with the Neponset.

Brookblogging

adamg — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:27:07 +0000

Mother Brook is a blog about the country's oldest canal, which connects the Charles and Neponset rivers via Dedham and Hyde Park.

Quality service on the Mother Brook

adamg — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:36:42 +0000

A contractor for the state (I assume) has been busy in recent months dredging and re-lining the Mother Brook near where it connects with the Neponset. In the process, the company's cleared away a lot of brush and brambles and trees (oh my), exposing such things as the side of the old Morrell Builders Supply Co. building on Hyde Park Avenue (now the PMDI building). At least at Hyde Park Avenue, the work makes the brook seem a lot wider (you can also see they haven't yet taken out the three pipes that were diverting the brook for awhile):

And the story it told of a river that flowed made me sad to think it was dead

adamg — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 17:19:26 +0000

Above: What used to be the Mother Brook, from the Hyde Park Avenue bridge.

Anybody know why the Mother Brook in Hyde Park is being diverted into three pipes from the Shaw's to the Neponset River? General de-mucking and wall repair, or are they looking for something (Jimmy Hoffa's body)?

Bonus fun fact: The brook is the oldest canal in North America, built in 1639 to power mills in Dedham (although the manmade part only went from the Charles to a point just on the other side of what is now Washington Street, where it connected to a Neponset tributary called East Brook).

Dedham chimes in: Brian on myDedham wonders if Dedham should try to enforce the 170-year-old court decision under which ~~at least~~ up to one-third the Charles is supposed to be diverted into the brook; currently, it's only about a fourth.

Apology: To anybody who remembers when that song managed to top the charts. The river part popped into my head when I saw the brook bottom and now I can't get it out of my head and misery loves company, right?