CHARLES  RIVER  PARKLANDS  UPDATE
February 2001
Archives—Table of Contents

Hell's Half Acre—A brief history

The following was delivered by Charles River Conservancy president Renata von Tscharner during the planning conference held at Buckingham Browne & Nichols school on January sixth, 2001.

Thanks to the kindness of Sean Fischer, Metropolitan District Commission archivist, we were able to start retracing the evolution of Hell's Half Acre (also known as Gerry's Landing), a little-known spot in Cambridge. As we've registered people for the conference today, we've asked a few questions and discovered that only about one-third of those present have previously walked the site.

Prior to the damming of the river in 1910, Hell's Half Acre and Greenough Boulevard were a tidal salt marsh, like thousands of acres along the Charles River Basin. Colonial records show Sir Richard Saltonstall was granted title to the site in the 1630s, when this area was still part of Watertown. Later, the site passed to Elbridge Gerry, of Revolutionary War and vice presidential fame. Thus the name "Gerry's Landing."

Tide permitting, boats would sail up to Gerry's landing to deliver goods, some going even further to the Arsenal in Watertown. In the 18th and 19th centuries the Charles was very much a commercial thoroughfare, surrounded by a variety of enterprises, some of which exerted a decidedly negative influence on the river and its sediments.
Just across and upriver of where we meet today were the huge Brighton abattoirs; large enterprises that supplied beef and pork to the Boston market. Unfortunately, slaughterhouse byproducts were regularly discharged into the river, creating pollution that continued right up into this century. But neither the slaughterhouses nor numerous industrial sites lining its banks prevented local residents from swimming in the Charles River.

In the plan of 1893 drawn up when Charles Eliot started to acquire land along the river for the Metropolitan Park Commission, Hell's Half Acre shows numerous small streams running through it and venting into the river.

To give you more of a sense of life at the turn of the century, on the opposite shore, where Harvard's athletic facilities and Soldiers' Field road are now located, there was a race course for horse-drawn carriages.

Once the Charles was dammed in 1910 and tidal flow stopped, temporary and then permanent swimming houses were established at Gerry's Landing. A brick bathhouse, now occupied by a Veterans of Foreign Wars post was built by the MDC in 1941.

About 1950, the swimming stopped when it became evident that the river's water had become excessively polluted. In that same time construction of the Eliot Bridge was undertaken, linking Soldiers' Field Road and the southern terminus of Fresh Pond Parkway. The bridge is named after a father and son who were widely influential in the development of the Charles River Basin and its parklands.

Charles W. Eliot, the father, was president of Harvard College and the reformer of American higher education. Charles Eliot, his son, was a leading proponent of urban parklands. His vision for the Charles River Basin was the cornerstone of a regional park system that has long given Greater Boston distinction. Eliot, the son, died an untimely death at age 37, but not before acquiring most of the parkland that would ensure his legacy and the creation of the Charles River Basin as we know it.

The magnificent allee of sycamore trees along Memorial Drive, for instance, was also of Eliot's design. Some present here today will remember the "Battle of the Sycamores" under the leadership of Edward Bernaise, John Moot and others. The plan they successfully resisted in the 1960's was to widen Memorial Drive, create underpasses and lose sycamore trees and parkland along the river.

Once the bridge connecting Soldier's Field Road and Fresh Pond Parkway was built, the MDC proceeded with the planning of Greenough Boulevard. In the late 1950s the area below Mount Auburn and Cambridge cemeteries was an extensive field comprising almost 36 acres. To neighborhood residents and school children it was a refuge and play area; a place to stroll, make believe and learn.
The planned boulevard prompted an article in 1955 in Harper's Magazine authored by Bernard de Voto. In this piece he uses the name of Hell's Half Acre for the first time, borrowing it from his son, whose friends characterized the area dismissively because of the rough use it had received over the years.

It had not fared well during the building of the Eliot Bridge and later contractors and trash haulers used it as an illegal dumping site. Surplus flowers from the cemeteries landed there, as well, but as DeVoto discovered, nature struggled back against the onslaught, repopulating the area with an astounding variety of plant and animal species, as so eloquently described in the Harper's article.

Of the 36 acres of meadowland and fens that defined the area in the 1950s, a "pocket park" of only slightly more than three acres remains today, and that exposed to the noise and detritus of passing cars. Greenough Boulevard was constructed with no drainage system, allowing storm runoff to drain directly into Hell's Half Acre. Today, the landscape of Hell's Half Acre, while not planned, has survived and regenerated itself.

Nature, on the other hand, has brought its own intrusions, mainly in the form of phragmites in the wetland area of the site. This tall, picturesque reed spreads by means of both roots and seeds. Gradually, phragmites create a dense, impenetrable ground cover, overwhelming other vegetation and reducing the biodiversity and potential habitat for different wildlife. Nothing short of deep excavation can eliminate it.

As aerial photos of Hell's Half Acre show, most of the site has already been penetrated by phragmites. Studying the hydrology and the nature of fill on the site will be crucial to determine the chances for establishing a freshwater wetland that can be sustained and attract a wide variety of plants and animals. The phragmites will require careful evaluation.

In abbreviated form, I would like to give you a sense of how people here today responded to the site. I sense you enjoyed your stroll around Hell's Half Acre. Here is some of what you suggested for it...

• Create a habitat that is both wild and diverse
• Offer a place where adults and children can learn from nature for generations to come
• Provide an inlet with access for non-motorized boats, or dredge a lagoon for skating and, possibly, swimming
• Build a boardwalk and observation decks
• Interpret the plants of the area
• Add a concession, public rest rooms, and interpretive panels to the site
• Make the crossing safer
• Replace the outer two lanes of Greenough Boulevard with biking and walking paths
• Keep the sweeping vistas across the river from Greenough Boulevard open
• Test temporary lane closings on Greenough Boulevard
• Turn the boat or bathhouse into a restaurant
• Create parking for school buses
• Limit the number of school classes that access the site simultaneously
• Leave site as is
• Add a soft path through the site
• Make planning of the site part of the educational program
• Expand boating activities and/or boathouse
• Renovate the path under Eliot Bridge
• Open meadow for bridge and water views; remove boathouse
• Build up a buffer between road and habitat
• Remember that this is a river park; offer vistas, observation spots and inviting benches.

As you can see, a host of different and also conflicting issues confronts us. As we move forward to create several options, we will attempt to clarify the questions raised and offer variations on what we perceive to be our primary goal: to create a habitat that provides pleasure and education for all ages. image