More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.
From the Wellesley Department of Public Works:
Attention Drivers: Night paving is scheduled for sections of Washington Street beginning at 8pm on Tuesday, June 4 until 5am on Wednesday, June 5.
Department of Public Works crews will be paving milled sections of the road between Route 9 and Crescent Street. Drivers are asked to use caution in that area during the night.
The Wellesley Department of Public Works (DPW) Highway Division will be paving a number of residential streets in Wellesley. Work is expected to continue through May 23. This schedule may change at any time due to unforeseen circumstances such as weather and equipment problems.
Affected streets are Temple Road, Sterling Road, Westwood Road, Bristol Road, Maugus Hill Road and a portion of Abbott Road. The DPW asks that residents please turn off sprinkler systems in these areas.
There will be NO PARKING on these streets between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. Residents who plan to travel at any time during these hours must arrange to park cars in areas not affected by paving.
It is not possible to drive on freshly laid pavement; the DPW can’t predict where crews will be during the course of each day.
Questions or concerns? Contact the DPW Park and Highway Division at 781-235-7600 x3325.
You may recall that the smooth operators of the Wellesley DPW did another big repaving project back in October 2018. At that time, Washington Street was under construction as roadway milling work took place. Given the volume of traffic that daily goes up and down that main thoroughfare, the work was done in the overnight hours. Specific sections affected were from Route 9 to Glen Road and from Morton Street to Wellesley Avenue.
Glad to see a portion of our Wellesley College tuition (oh yeah, we don’t actually go to school there) is going to a good cause: renovation of the track.
It’s true that the track has become a tad chewed up in spots, and the college also will strive to make the area more accessible and improve spectator facilities.
There’s nothing better than a fresh track surface to make slowpokes gain a bit of spring in their steps, and you can look forward to the project wrapping up in mid-August if plans go according to schedule.
In the meantime, you can head over to the Wellesley High track, which was refurbished in 2016, if you’re looking for an outdoor track alternative.
KEEP SWELLESLEY ON TRACK: Here’s how to Advertise and/or Donate to support our independent journalism venture
SPONSORED POST: Warmer weather is on its way and with it a new concept in outdoor living: Nimble Hill Timberworks away-spaces. Whether you enjoy your away space for entertaining family and friends, as a quiet retreat for reading, writing, painting or yoga, or as a bunkhouse for your children and their friends, Nimble Hill’s away-spaces are an affordable way to extend your backyard or vacation home’s living area. House Beautiful reports quality-designed away-spaces add value and appeal to your property.
Nimble Hill Timberworks was launched last year to help homeowners across New England capitalize on the benefits away-spaces provide. Locally owned, Nimble Hill specializes in designing and constructing custom timber frame away-spaces.
Timber frame construction dates back centuries. The well-established joinery and design techniques ensure quality structures that stand the test of time. Timber frame design defined New England homes, barns, and buildings well into the 19th century. With industrialization, the art of timber framing was replaced by framing methods that were less labor-intensive but weaker and aesthetically unappealing.
Today, timber framing has been rediscovered as an artistic and solid method of construction. For owners, a well-crafted timber frame structure makes a living space a work of art.
By specializing in smaller-scale timber frame structures, Nimble Hill has developed cost-effective techniques for sizing timbers, crafting joints, and assembling elements. This allows you to integrate the beauty of a handcrafted timber frame away-space into your backyard and budget.
Whether you select a base or premium model or work with Nimble Hill to create a custom design, you can look forward to a well-crafted and unique away-space that fulfills your vision.
The Babson College Globe has loomed large at the Wellesley business school since 1950, but for decades the 25-ton, 28ft-diameter sphere has been tucked away on a part of campus seldom visited by outsiders. When the idea took hold of creating a park to serve as a centerpiece along the main road of the college, the entrepreneurial school started to think outside the sphere. Their decision would reverberate in a global way.
In a move of incredible chutzpah, Babson actually moved the world. Not only that, they solved all the planet’s major problems. It wasn’t spinning on its axis properly, so they bought Earth some shiny new orbiting equipment. Next, Babson put the round globe in a square structure to keep it warm over the winter (what could go wrong there?). Finally, you know that old saying, “It’s a small world, but I wouldn’t want to paint it.”? Such a defeatist attitude means nothing to Babson College. That’s right. They painted the world.
The globe is about to go from hidden gem to iconic landmark as work nears completion on Kerry Murphy Healey Park, a campus centerpiece slated to debut this spring in celebration of the school’s 100th birthday. The park, funded through millions of dollars in donations, will honor outgoing Babson President Healey, the school’s first female president, and former Massachusetts lieutenant governor.
I got a sneak peek inside the iconic campus landmark as work on the globe nears completion. This was the most fun Wellesley sneak peek story I’ve ever done (there Mr. Swellesley, we’re now even on that Sprague Memorial Clock Tower visit you had).
Come fly around the world with me.
We’re going in to see how the work crew is doing on the year-long refurbishment of the Babson College Globe.
This site visit so exceeded my expectations. I totally believe in dangerous climbs and was 100% game to go straight up, no net, no ropes. It was just me versus the close equivalent of El Capitan. I am so Free Solo. Nice photobomb, dude.
Left to right: Artists Josh Falk and Dana Woulfe from Boston-based Studio Fresh did the painting. David Grissino, Wellesley resident and Babson’s Director of Capital Projects and Planning, was my tour guide. Grissino has been very busy, indeed. Healey park is just the latest major campus transformation in the past five years. Others include the in-progress sports/recreation complex renovation, the library, and a new innovation hub.
In the 1980s, the Babson College Globe barely avoided the wrecking ball after falling into disrepair. At one point covered in enamel tiles, the globe underwent a facelift in the early 1990s and Babson rededicated it in 1993 with fresh vinyl tiles and new satellite imagery.
The Babson Globe itself has been around since 1955 and the 28-feet-in-diameter sphere is one of the largest of its kind.
Studio Fresh has restored the colorful surface of the Globe. Decades of exposure to the elements had left the surface faded, and the paint had peeled away in sections.
There’s the United States. Wellesley is in there just a bit east of the Grand Canyon. To get the Globe across campus, in February 2019 it was eased up onto a flatbed truck and gently transported to its new permanent home at the work-in-progress Healey Park, slated for opening this spring.
This is just one gear that will help make the Globe spin, something it hasn’t done since the early 1990s. In true Babson style, the college will have the power to make the world spin fast or slow. Should we be nervous? In all, the mechanics in the base weigh 22 tons.
The globe, artists, and workers have been sheltered all winter. When the park is complete, there will be over 100 trees of various sizes and types in a natural-type landscape. The goal is for the park to be a gathering place for students and campus visitors. The park will It will also boast a statue of school founder Roger Babson as well as a reworked edition of the Fountain of Flags, previously in place in front of the Horn Library. Space has been made so that all 100 flags will fly, representing the home countries of the extensive international student body. The Fountain of Flags had room for less than half that number, leaving someone with the unofficial job of “flag swapper” every now and then.
Former base for the Babson Globe, Coleman Hall.
While the Babson community might be all donated out for now, others are welcome to park their donations at The Swellesley Report to support our independent journalism venture.