Where the Wild Things Are: The Urban Wilds and Natural Areas of Boston
November 17, 2006
According to the City of Boston Parks and Recreation website, “vast salt marshes once covered most of East Boston and the Dorchester shoreline, meadows dotted the hilltops of Roxbury, and pristine streams coursed through the forests of Hyde Park and West Roxbury. Although almost all significant portions of these habitats have been lost due to extensive human-induced manipulation of land and water, remnants of these original ecosystems—urban wilds—still dot the landscape and provide brief glimpses of the natural world.
“They harbor native plants and animals and perform a wealth of ecological services. They offer refuge from hectic city streets and serve as outdoor classrooms for children and adults learning about nature. By expanding the range of landscape experiences beyond that of the dense built environment and manicured Boston parkland, urban wilds form an essential part of the city’s open space system.”
Since the beginning of the semester, with my bicycle in tow, I have embarked on many an adventure around Boston, and as it happens, it seems they are all interconnected.
First came Urban AdvenTours, a small company specializing in guided bike tours of Boston. Then there was Hub On Wheels, the second annual bicycle ride and festival showcasing the city. It was at the latter where I discovered the booth housing Bikes Not Bombs, a non-profit organization focused on alternative transportation and community development. In a collaborative effort with the equally non-profit EarthWorks, Bikes Not Bombs was organizing a 13-mile Bike and Hike Wild Ride highlighting the unbeknownst orchards and natural areas of Boston, finishing with a cider press at the McLaughlin Historic Orchard in Mission Hill.
Yes, that’s right, I said orchards…in Boston. It may not seem quite possible, and I was definitely rather skeptical upon first hearing the idea of shady, emerald nooks tucked away around the city, some harboring apple, pear and plum trees, others perfect for a short hike admiring the change of seasons. But EarthWorks, an organization dedicated to spreading ecological awareness and biophilia within the urban environment, has been, for the past seventeen years, cultivating small patches of land around the city, planting, maintaining, and harvesting trees, shrubs, and vines of various fruit and nut types. It didn’t take much convincing for me to clearly section off that Saturday in my planner. Two of my favorite activities, hiking and biking, all rolled up into one day replete with orchards, wildlife, and a cider pressing? How could I refuse?
We could not have been blessed with more beautiful weather. The Bike and Hike ride drew around thirty people on a sun-drenched, golden fall day. The morning began at a grassy meeting point in Roxbury, where fair trade coffee and bagels welcomed the incoming riders. Then we were off, our first stop being Allendale Woods, the second largest wooded area in Boston on the Jamaica Plain/West Roxbury line. Numerous trails run through the Woods, leading to several streams, three ponds and a marsh.
Nira Rock Urban Wild was next, a small rocky outcrop bordered by woodlands located in the midst of Jamaica Plain. Following Nira Rock was McLaughlin Orchard and Woodland in Mission Hill, an area managed primarily by EarthWorks Projects. Situated on a hilltop, McLauglin Orchard, flanked on the south side by the Parker Hilltop Urban Wild, provides fantastic views of the city, ocean, and hills in the distance.
Our ride ended with a cider press at the Shirley Eustis House in Roxbury, one of only four remaining Royal Colonial Governors’ mansions in the country, pre-dating 1750. The Urban Orchard around the house was planted first in 1993 with several Roxbury russet apple trees. Then in 2000, Earthworks expanded the orchard with more apple trees, pear, nectarine, peach, and cherry trees, as well as one plum tree.
Retracing some of the same paths I had ridden two weeks prior during Hub on Wheels, I felt a wonderful feeling of recognition washing over me; recognition of my ever-increasing knowledge regarding Boston’s landscape and my strengthening comfort level when it came to riding two inches from a rolling car.
But what struck me above all was the abundance of verdure and opportunities to experience nature right here in Boston. Finding yourself immersed among the towering trees and rocky mounts, lost in the solitude of the leaf-strewn paths and quiet chirping of the birds in the branches, you forget for a moment that you are actually in a city. A magical feeling, to be in two places at once.
Along with the plethora of urban wilds strewn about the city, the expansive Emerald Necklace Conservation offers another option to enjoy nature within the city. Consisting of nine parks connected by waterways and parkways, the Emerald Necklace makes up an area of 1,100 acres and stretches for seven miles. “This linear system of parks and parkways was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted to connect the colonial Boston Common, and the 1837 Public Garden along the Muddy River and Leverett, Willow, Ward’s and Jamaica ponds through the Arnold Arboretum to the great country park—Franklin Park.”
After the Boston Common and Franklin Park, the other seven parks are the Public Garden, Commonwealth Avenue Mall, Back Bay Fens, Riverway, Olmsted Park, Jamaica Pond Park, and Arnold Arboretum.
Fall is slowly slipping away, the trees gradually undressing to reveal their bare branches, the ever larger piles of red, yellow, and orange leaves collecting by the roadside. Relish the next few weekends to discover the other side of Boston—the natural one.