Name: Open House at Boston Outdoor Preschool Network
Start: 2021-02-05T10:00:00-05:00
End: 2021-02-05T11:00:00-05:00
Location: Elm Bank Reservation

With Wellesley cross country season over, it’s your turn to try out the new course

December 15, 2020 by admin Leave a Comment

By Rick Cleary

The impact of COVID-19 on the fall 2020 athletic season for Wellesley High School meant the postponement of some sports, such as football, and some major changes to the format of others, including soccer. Cross country running had fewer changes to deal with. There’s relatively little contact between athletes, there is no equipment to share, and all events are held outdoors where transmission risk appears to be very low. But fewer changes doesn’t mean “no changes” and the Wellesley High School team faced a big change that needed to be resolved in a short time. They needed a new place to run!

For many years Wellesley had hosted home meets at the Elm Bank Reservation along the Charles River, but the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the property’s manager, did not extend an invitation to return in 2020. Coaches Colin Corkery (boys’ team) and Cassie Short (girls’ team) brainstormed with runners and booster club parents about possible locations. Wellesley residents, ask yourself: Where would you go to have about 80 high school kids run a race of 2.5 to 3.1 miles, with room to start waves of 10 runners at a time, socially distanced six feet apart, on a course and so they don’t pass each other going in opposite directions? You want varied terrain and not all pavement, and you want to avoid traffic and stay away from trails that are crowded with people and dogs. You also need someplace where you can mark the course in an environmentally sensitive way, but clearly enough that runners know where to go.

Various ideas were floated. The area around the Middle School and Sprague fields? Too crowded with soccer players and not enough room to make the course long enough. Centennial Park? Not enough room for a start/finish area and too many dogs and walkers. Trails on or near the Babson and Wellesley College campuses were off limits. The Brook Path? Too many road crossings. But one area held some promise.

Remember all the buzz about what to do with the North 40 land that the town of Wellesley acquired from Wellesley College a few years ago? Criss-crossed with trails of varying widths, adjacent to the Morses Pond access road and a parking lot that could serve as a start/finish area, it seemed a good candidate. The question remained whether there was room to fit a long enough course. In mid-September, booster parent Rick Cleary and Jeff Dosdall, the captain of the 1970 WHS cross country team, met to scout the area. Using some aerial photos and their GPS watches, the two were able to map out a 2.8 mile course that met all COVID restrictions. Now with a candidate course, various approvals were needed. WHS Athletic Director John Brown contacted the requisite agencies and councils and was pleased that they were enthusiastic about the area being used. The team had a home.

And it worked well. During Wednesdays in October and early November, there were four racing days, two for the boys and two for the girls. (Usually the same school hosts both groups, but reducing the number of students and spectators at each site was another COVID adaptation.) Wellesley protected home turf, winning all of its races there.

Parents and other adult spectators at high school sports events might look on and think, “Wow, that looks like fun! I wish I could play!” While most teams won’t let them in the game, the cross country course is on public trails so anyone can walk it or run it. Give it a try (at your own risk). The course map is below and brief instructions follow that. And if you’d like to compare your time to the WHS athletes, here are the fall 2020 results.

XC course at north 40

Varsity 2.8-mile course

Start in the middle of the Morses Pond parking lot. Take off toward the beach and follow the paved trail/roadway around the small pond, keeping the pond on runner’s left. A to B to C on map.
Proceed up Morses Pond Access Road; turn right onto Crosstown Trail (point D on map)
Watch for trail to left off Crosstown Trail. Take it. One mile mark just after the left turn.
Now the tricky part (preview this before trying to set a record): Watch for a small purple arrow indicating marked turn to the right. (Point F.) Then ignore next small arrow that points left, then watch for left turn to point G at community gardens. (During home races we would rake this area to make it clear; and nobody got lost!)
Proceed almost all the way around community gardens to a sharp u-turn at point H; then after long straightaway continue straight (point I) onto a trail that will lead you to a boardwalk.
Follow boardwalk (there is a left turn in the middle) out to Turner Road (point J). Turn left onto Turner Road sidewalk.
Take Turner Road and Morses Pond access road straight back to point C, go around the small pond, this time keeping it on your right, and finish in the middle of the parking lot again.

For the junior varsity course, about 2.4 miles, skip the second lap around the small pond and run straight to the finish.

A wish comes true along Wellesley’s Guernsey Path

December 4, 2020 by Bob Brown 5 Comments

About a year ago we’d noticed that the wishing well that abuts the Guernsey Path and Charles River in Wellesley had been destroyed by a falling tree. We’d happened upon it during a Wellesley Trails walk.

We hadn’t been by there in a while, but were happy to see that the wishing well is back and looking better than ever. It even has reflectors on it to ensure people don’t smash into it in the dark…

Thanks to a Swellesley reader we connected with one of the homeowners, shared more details on the wishing well renovation (we agreed to keep their names out of this).

“My husband spent several weekends reconstructing the wishing well behind our home. He tried to preserve and reuse as much of the original cedar as possible as it’s quite hard to find. He replaced the entire roof with cedar shingles and even purchased a strip of copper for the peak of the roof. He added reflectors as we often see cyclists, runners and even x-country skiers going by after dark. Coming soon is a newly purchased wooden bucket and rope!”

Many neighbors stopped by as the homeowner worked and shared their appreciation for the trails landmark.

The fix-up finished in the fall. “We had a big delay in construction because wasps built a nest in the ground under the rubble and my husband was stung twice trying to get at it. He decided to wait until fall when the wasps settled down to finish the work.”

The homeowners says they don’t know when the well was originally built. It’s actually not really a well, but a decorative cover for “an unsightly sewage access point.” If you don’t know, the trail along that stretch exists in the first place because it’s an easement for the town sewer line that runs behind the properties there.

“If you look closely along the trail you will see other access points that are concealed in other ways,” the homeowner says.

One more fun fact: Rumor has it that former Pats quarterback Tom Brady looked at this property but decided against it because the easement would allow the public in his backyard…

Before

After

Beyond Wellesley: this South Natick, Massachusetts garden brings on the drama

October 15, 2020 by Deborah Brown 1 Comment

“When you love something, you don’t look at your watch or the clock. You don’t think about the time. When you love something you just do it,” said Karen Coffman as we looked out at her South Natick garden all dressed up for fall in purples, yellows, oranges, reds, and browns. “I put in the time in the garden, and I love it. I also have really good help. My husband is strong, built like an offensive lineman, and is willing. We’ve lived here since 1995, and I’ve been gardening the whole time.”

Natick garden, Karen Coffman — South Natick gardener, Karen Coffman. She grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri and comes from a long line of mid-western farmers. Karen says she’s the first generation off the farm. “I learned a lot about the instincts of gardening from my parents.”

Karen hasn’t always had her dream garden. For 11 years before she landed in South Natick, she and her husband called Wellesley home. She liked the town, but found the gardening an exercise in frustration. “There were just too many trees shading my property,” she said. “I couldn’t get the six hours of sun per day that I needed without chopping down my neighbor’s trees. I told Lonnie I needed more sun for a garden.”

She found the perfect property that abutted acres and acres of apple orchards and, most importantly, it was a place where she could get direct sun for the necessary 6 – 8 hours per day. Still, the 1⅓-acre space wasn’t exactly ready for its close-up. “When we got here we cut down 37 swamp maples,” Karen said.

With the shade eliminated, the sun poured onto the lot. That was one box checked.

Next, there was the matter of the lack of organic matter. “You know how they say in real estate it’s all about location, location, location?” Karen asked. “Well, in gardening it’s all about the soil, the soil, the soil. The soil was so poor here I knew nothing would grow.”

So she had truckloads of the offending dirt hauled away. “Then I ordered the best loam and filled the yard back in. My budget was 75% spent and I hadn’t bought a single plant. But I had to do it. The land tells you what to do if you pay attention.”

Once the dirt deed was done, another box was checked off. Karen was just a couple more steps away from realizing her dream.

Natick garden, Karen Coffman

Soil and sun are all very well and good, but a garden can’t grow without water. Since, as you can probably tell by now, Karen goes big or goes home, she had an 850-foot well drilled. “With the kind of investment I was making in this garden, I wasn’t willing to just let everything go during periods of drought.”

With the infrastructure in place, it was time to have fun and bring on the drama. Not a problem for someone who trained as an opera singer for 12 years. In fact, both Karen and her husband Lonnie trained at Indiana University. After graduation, they went to New York City and tried to break into the business.

“I did the starving artist bit for three years. Then I came to a fork in the road and made a decision to go into the tech industry, I went into business and entered the sales side of things. I had sold pianos before, and had been good at it then. I found I was still good at sales and that’s what I built my career around.”

But she never lost her love of all things theatrical, and compares the topography of her garden to a raked stage. That’s a set that slopes upward, away from the audience, giving those at the back a better view than if all the seats were at the same level, which explains why so much of the garden is visible from no matter where you stand. As I looked out from the back deck, I could see how the garden layout moved from orchestra pit to mezzanine to balcony.

Unsurprisingly, this was not by accident. Karen considers herself a student of gardening, but says, “I’m not a designer. Never claimed to be one. So I got help from someone who knew what he was doing.”

Enter landscape architect Thomas Wirth who fit in 40 specimen trees to replace the felled maples; added a koi pond; used the existing gazebo as an architectural element; and created flow and balance throughout.

Although the garden was professionally designed, it’s continually evolving. Karen adds here and subtracts there as the muse dictates and aesthetics allow. “My major considerations when planning and working in the garden are height, texture, bloom time, and maintenance,” she says. “It’s an experiment, number one. It’s a puzzle, number 2. If something doesn’t work, if it’s only pretty for a brief bloom time and then ugly for the rest of the year, out it goes.”

As you can see, she’s ruthless. Karen says it’s the only way and cites her decades in executive recruiting as good preparation for ripping out uncooperative plants. “Now that was a ruthless business,” she says.

My tour over, Karen sends me off with a red Solo cup full of dahlias and other autumn gems that she clipped with her number 2 Felcos as we strolled the grounds.

“Don’t forget to let me know which plants you want divisions from,” she calls out as I leave.

Oh, don’t worry, Karen. That’s an offer nobody could refuse.

MORE PICTURES:

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Wellesley Turkey Trot registration opens: Virtual race dedicated to Carol Chaoui

October 3, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Registration is now open for the Wellesley Turkey Trot, which will be a virtual event in light of COVID-19 restrictions. The race, which has been held under its current name since 2014, traditionally takes place early on Thanksgiving Day, but this year runners will have the flexibility to run or walk a 5K course of their choosing anytime between Nov. 21-29.

Kate Maul and the team behind the race are dedicating this year’s trot to race founder Carol Chaoui, the inspirational runner and Wellesley resident who passed away in August. Chaoui, who lived with multiple forms of cancer for years, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for medical research and other good causes through the Wellesley Turkey Trot Foundation and other fundraisers.

“We’re hoping to really make it a community event even though it will be ‘a virtual’ race this year,” Maul says. “We are asking our runners to honor Carol’s memory by wearing pink or orange, her favorite colors, and/or super hero gear.”

Chaoui earned the nickname Wonder Woman for her endlessly amazing accomplishments. Running and walking mates became known as her Super Hero Friends.

broe turkey chaoui wellesley turkey trot — Carol Chaoui helping former Wellesley High running coach Tim Broe with his turkey costume. (Photo by Karen Griswold)

Participants are encouraged to share photos of themselves in their running attire on the Wellesley Turkey Trot Facebook page.

Runners will receive bibs and shirts as usual. The race logo has been updated with C.C. as well as a ribbon.

While runners can choose a 5K course of their own, race organizers strongly encourage participants to avoid the traditional Wellesley Turkey Trot course since it includes a mile through the Wellesley College campus, which is closed to the public during the pandemic.

Traditional age category prizes won’t be awarded, but plenty of other prizes will be doled out for categories such as largest family team and fastest team.

wellesley turkey trot 2019

Wellesley Gardeners’ Guild visits The Gardens at Elm Bank

September 30, 2020 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

The Wellesley Gardeners’ Guild (WGG) kicked off its civic year by touring The Gardens at Elm Bank at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s Wellesley headquarters. Tour highlights included a turn around Mass Hort’s Trial Garden; the Goddesses Garden; the kid-friendly Weezie’s Garden; the Italianate Garden; and the Bressingham Garden, created by British design powerhouse Adrian Bloom in 2007.

Here are some pics:

Elm Bank Reservation, Wellesley

Elm Bank can always use volunteers looking for a meaningful and rewarding experience. They need help with everything from weeding and mulching to helping out in the library and the office. You don’t need a green thumb — the staff trains and guides volunteers.

DIY Wellesley trails hikes are here

September 26, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the Wellesley Trails Committee to nix its in-person guided trails walks for the fall. But the group has assembled a collection of four self-guided walks in hopes that the public will still take advantage of the town’s 46 miles of trails (28 marked).

The suggested walks are for:

Boulder Brook Reservation

elephant rock wellesley trails boulder brook reservation

Elephant Rock on the Boulder Brook trail

Centennial Reservation

centennial joan gaughan — Photo via Joan Gaughan

Morses Pond Trails

morses pond trail

Town Forest Trails

town of wellesley town forest

Endless Wellesley summer: Morses Pond season extended

August 20, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Update 8/26/20: The beach season has been extended to Sept. 13. That’ll be it.

While it looked like Morses Pond might not even be open heading into summer, now the Wellesley Recreation Department for the second time this month has extended closing day, and is hinting that that day could be even further out if staff can be found.

The pond beach, staffed but without lifeguards and othere amenities this summer, recently had its schedule stretched to Aug. 23. The new closing date announced this week is Sept. 7, and that could be extended to Sept. 13. The Recreation Department continues to recruit staff.

Beach hours and the reservation system remain the same during this extended period.

The expanded beach season coincides with warmer than usual temperatures and a delayed public school start to Sept.16.

no lifeguards warning sign morses pond beach