The newly landscaped shoreline is looking pretty spectacular.

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Sadly, though, the big old willow along the shoreline blew down in early May. DCR removed it this morning. A little willow grows just east of the now stump. Many of you helped to water that willow when Turner Construction planted it for us two years ago.

Early May

Today

The past but also the future–May 2018

New trees: thank goodness we’re planting them at the park now. Contractor R. Bates planted eleven last fall as part of Phase II-1, and the City promises to plant more once the coronavirus fades and it’s safe for City staff to do so. Thank you, Cambridge!

Stay tuned for info about when the fence will come down and IF the pool will open this summer.  After a winter and spring of being cooped up inside, everyone really wants and needs to be outside and moving. Take a walk at the park and check out spring and all the changes…

Needing a shot of spring and river, too? Magazine Beach awaits you… Bring your kites, balls, chalk, and bicycles and enjoy the afternoon at the park. It’s easy to social distance with 17 acres of green.

*See the BIG old willow that sadly blew down this past week. DCR will be removing it soon.

*Check out the goslings!!!!!!!

*Gather sticks in piles along pathways, OR, make a fort with them.

*Bring a bag to take trash home with you. DCR has removed receptacles in the picnicking and pool areas.

*Cross over Memorial Drive to the park on the pedestrian footbridge at the foot of Magazine Street.

We are so lucky to have this extraordinary resource RIGHT HERE.

Look for signs of spring at the park. This next week things will be bursting out. Go explore!

We need your help, though: please pick up trash (using plastic gloves) and gather sticks in piles along pathways.  If you need work gloves or plastic gloves, take some from the white bucket on my front porch at 202 Hamilton St. Since the 4.25 Earth Day Cleanup has been cancelled, we really need your help.

*MIT set up at the park, and then, after students were sent home, removed their dock and equipment.

*Riverside Boat Club has closed temporarily.

The park is a great open space to run around and linger. As per Governor Baker, no groups of 10 or more, please, though, and keep your distance, and, sorry, for now the exercise station is closed.

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THANK YOU, enjoy, exercise, and let nature refresh you!

As you might have noticed up river, MIT is rebuilding their boathouse. This spring, while MIT renovates, their students will row out of the park—just behind the swimming pool.

Both Cambridge and DCR have given MIT necessary permissions and the Riverside Boat Club, good neighbors, will accommodate the new influx of college rowers. MIT will just be at the park through June. See sad, existing conditions above and where MIT rowers will be below. (We really need to get rid of that sunken parking lot!)

Also, this spring at the park:

*The City will be planting some new trees!!!!!!!!

*3rd grade CPS students will start engaging in a river study using Magazine Beach as base.

*We’ll host the big Earth Day Cleanup Saturday April 25–contact the Charles River Conservancy’s Sasha Vallieres to register at svallieres@thecharles.org.

*Around May 31, DCR will take down the protective fence blocking off the newly renovated shoreline path and Powder Magazine. 

See our 2019 MBP Annual Report here. 

Many thanks to all who contributed to a transformative year at the park.

• to the Mass. Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and Cambridge for the shoreline and patio work around the Powder Magazine, the boat launch and outlook, and park maintenance
• to State Rep. Jay Livingstone and Sen. Boncore for advocating for us and for budget earmarks
• to Crosby Schlessinger Smallridge for their design work and to R. Bates & Sons for their construction
• to our business sponsors, who contributed to park improvements and programs:  MIT, BioMed Realty, Inc., Biogen, Boston Biomedical, Inc., Alexandria Real Estate, Brookfield Properties, Kimco, Charles River Conservancy, Crosby Schlessinger Smallridge, Barrett Tree Service East, Inc., Cambridge Family YMCA, Good News Garage, Harpoon Brewery, Middle East Restaurant, S & H Construction, Target and Torrey Architecture
• to our amazing Magazine Beach Partners board:  Marge Amster, Ken Carson, Brian Conway, Decia Goodwin, Richard Garver, Heather Saforrian and Cathie Zusy
• to our amazing Summer Program Coordinator: Doug Feinburg
• to our many partners, including the Charles River Conservancy and Riverside Boat Club
• and, of course, to YOU. Nothing would be happening at the park without your engagement. Your gifts inspire City and State investment. With over a half million acres to tend to, DCR engages at Magazine Beach because the City matches dollars and the community advocates and contributes.

Please make a tax deductible gift TODAY and help us advance Phase II-2. See below. Mail checks made out to “Magazine Beach Partners” to Cathie Zusy, President, 202 Hamilton St., Cambridge, MA 02139 or donate on PayPal (but they take about 3%).

Note: Change in date: December park tour will now be Saturday, 12.14 @ 9am, rain or shine. Meet at the Powder Magazine. Also, see our 2019 MBP Annual Report here. 

Yesterday neighbors had a chance to walk the newly restored shoreline of the park and to see the expanded patio and terrace. DCR will offer this access Saturday, December 14 at 9am, too. Come and see the new raised and widened path, seating, plantings and hardscape. It looks fabulous.

DCR has extended their contract with R. Bates & Sons to May 31st so that the contractors are responsible for all plantings through the spring. The fence will come down soon thereafter. Thank you, DCR, Cambridge and YOU, park supporters, for for these renovations!

Each week, Paul Kelley of Mass Audubon’s Habitat Education Center, brings Morse Community School (after school) students to run around and engage with nature. Last week, after learning about the history of the park from me (the big idea: the Powder Magazine was once on an island surrounded by marshes), kids looked at leaves, mussels and other objects they found under the microscope. How wonderful to be outside exploring!

Paul and Habitat also get Cambridge teens out on the Charles via their Paddling Program. In July campers from the Frisoli Youth Center ventured out from our canoe/kayak launch as did youth and adults with special needs from Waypoint Adventure.

Thanks also to the Charles River Conservancy and Sophos for raking the leaves off the pedestrian footbridge and gathering sticks and trash last Thursday. It’s been a beautiful fall…

Update: The fencing at the park will now stay up through May 31. This gives R. Bates & Sons more, warmer weather to finish the bluestone patio and extends their responsibility for the new plantings through the spring.

Yesterday, inspired by how great the park renovations are coming along, we organized a few tours of the site. The stone and grassy terraces are in. The patio has been expanded and the bluestone is being laid. The million dollar question is: What will the Powder Magazine be used for? Stay tuned. DCR hopes to have a tenant there, activating the space, by next summer. Have ideas? Email me and DCR’s Jennifer Norwood.

Thanks DCR, CSS, R. Bates & Sons, the City and to all who turned out yesterday. Also, thanks to Cambridge and to City Councilor Quinton Zondervan, who introduced Policy Order #18 Monday night, supporting the City’s investment in trees and their maintenance (in consultation with DCR, of course), especially in the grove area, at the park. It passed unanimously!

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Nine young trees have been planted and thousands of perennials and shrubs, including Hollow Joe-Pye Weed, Steeplebush and Winterberry, are being planted now. Thank goodness for tonight’s rain.

R. Bates & Sons is preparing the concrete base for the granite of the grassy terrace wall and the pervious 8′-wide path along the shoreline has been laid, along with the asphalt path leading up to the Powder Magazine. It’s thrilling to see and worth a visit to the park.

The Design of Phase II-2 is Funded

Monday night the City Council approved the CPA Committee’s recommendations to invest $47.7k to complete the design and engineering studies for the next phase of work at the park. This will replace the sunken parking lot behind the swimming pool with a grassy beach, better integrating the pool with the site, and add a dock and outlook to increase engagement with the river. This will match a $50k earmark that Rep. Livingstone and Sen. Boncore advocated for in the State budget. Thank you, all!

(L to R) Rep. Jay Livingstone, DCR’s Comm. Leo Roy, Magazine Beach Partner’s Cathie Zusy, Cambridge Mayor Marc McGovern and Budget Director Taha Jennings officially open the new boat launch and outlook.

On Sunday, the new boat launch and outlook officially opened with a ribbon cutting. This was the 4^th official DCR event at the park over the past 15 months. Roy will step down from his 3.5-year tenure as Commissioner this Friday. During his leadership, Magazine Beach Park has witnessed a renaissance. The Powder Magazine interior renovation was completed; the spray deck built and wading pool removed; boat launch and outlook built; and current shoreline and Powder Magazine patio and terrace improvements begun. (Thank you, Comm. Roy!)

Most of this work was seeded by Cambridge Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding. At 17 acres, Magazine Beach is Cambridge’s second largest park. Its free outdoor Olympic-sized pool, ball fields, and old shade trees draw thousands of bathers, soccer and baseball players, and picnickers each summer.

Thank you to launch and outlook funders: DCR, the City of Cambridge, the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority, Kimco, BioMed Realty, the Judy Record Fund/Mass Audubon, the Lawrence & Lillian Solomon Foundation and individuals. And many thanks to CRLS’s Charles River Cleanup Project for doing a park cleanup just before our ribbon cutting.

Photos by Bimal Nepal

Comm. Roy, who has done so much for Magazine Beach Park, retires Friday.