Forgotten Jamaica Plain

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Had to pick up my car at my favorite auto body shop the other day (Peter’s on Hyde Park Ave. just down from Forest Hills Station).

So I set out on the Blackwell Footpath, a newish stretch of walking path that starts on South St. in Rozzie and ends up on Washington St. in JP.

Hanging a right onto HP Ave., I started to walk by a tiny graveyard I’ve passed many times before and this time I decided to go in.  As a real estate aficionado, I’ve always been fascinated with people’s final resting places — you should see the spot I have waiting for me!

Walking through, I noticed some of the still-legible dates.   Many were from the 1860’s!

So I called the human search engine, Michael Reiskind of the Jamaica Plain Historical Society and he confirmed that yes indeed, the Tollgate Cemetery was dedicated to the Irish-American veterans of the Civil War and their families.

When will we ever learn?

He also informed me that the area now referred to as “Forest Hills” used to be called “Tollgate” because of the toll one had to pay to proceed down Hyde Park Ave!

With the coming of spring and the price of gas, I plan to discover many more such forgotten corners of JP, Roslindale and West Roxbury.  I’m happy to say that my call to Michael reminded him to contact the City to organize a clean-up and fix-up of this sacred and forgotten place. I’ll keep you posted on that!

Forgotten Roslindale

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I’m not making this up:  there was actually a spring-like day last week,  so my friend Denise and I decided to take our inaugural “bird walk” of the season.   We chose to explore the newish paths of the Roslindale Wetlands, part of Boston’s Urban Wilds.

The Aerie overlooking the Wetlands path

It was a little challenging to locate the beginning of the path, but, thanks to the hard work of the Longfellow Area Neighborhood Association’s (LANA) Wetlands Taskforce and the City of Boston, a couple of middle-aged broads were actually able to pick out the trail and have a most interesting urban stroll.

(Thanks also to Wayne Beitler, a neighbor and key player in the saving and creation of the Wetlands who returned my frantic phone call when I feared we’d never find the path!)

Disintegrating barn behind Walter Street

Bird sightings were few, but we did discover a couple of amazing structures behind Walter Street.  We were fascinated, especially by the “aerie” which was so well built back in the sixties (perhaps?) that it looks sturdy enough to be in use today.

A student of real estate in all its forms, it was fun — and a little creepy —  to discover these hidden properties, almost in my own back yard!