Mary Cummings Park
An Excerpt from the will of Mary Cummings:
Fourth, To the City of Boston, Massachusetts, I give and devise all the land together with the buildings thereon, in the City of Woburn and Town of Burlington, Massachusetts which was conveyed to me by Charles Fairchilds( by deed dated February 26, 1890, and recorded with Middlesex South District Deeds, Book 1967, Page 131, excepting so much thereof as shall have been conveyed by me in my lifetime or is herein otherwise specifically devised (the same being known as Babylon Hill), but in trust nevertheless for the following purposes and uses: To hold and keep the same forever open as a public pleasure ground, and to maintain and care for the same in a suitable manner in accordance with that purpose.
At 216 acres (0.87 km), Mary Cummings Park is approximately the 12th largest public park in Greater Boston inside the I-95/Route 128 beltway.
Approximately 26 acres (110,000 m) were seized by eminent domain by the Federal Government during the Cold War for use as a nike missile site, which was subsequently bought by Northeastern University for their Burlington Campus.
The park is now managed by the Trustees of Reservation.
Past Controversy
A substantial "Care and Maintenance" trust fund was left to the City of Boston along with the land. In a complaint to the Attorney General in 2008 it was alleged that in recent years funds were diverted from that purpose and used to pay for lawyers and real estate agents to prepare the land for sale. It was also alleged that approximately $15 million of the trust fund is unaccounted for.
External links
- The Trustees of Reservations
- Friends of Mary Cummings Park
- City of Boston
- WREN (Woburn Residents Environmental Network)
- Burlington RC Flyers, a radio controlled model aircraft flying club
- Map View
References
- ^ "Mary Cummings Park". The Trustees of Reservations. Retrieved 2022-01-20.
- ^ "Boston's 210 acres in the suburbs - The Boston Globe". Archived from the original on 2012-10-24.