The Gloucester Street Landing

The location I’ve chosen for the Newcomer’s Guide to NU map is known as the Gloucester Street Landing. It’s a small dock just to the east of the Harvard/Mass Ave. bridge, and is simply a nice place to have a picnic or watch the sunset. A series of ramps at the Boston end of the bridge lead to a path for bikes and joggers, and the Landing is not far from there.

The Gloucester Street Landing was restored and repaired in August 2003 by the Esplanade Association (TEA), with the help of the state and private partners, adding another ten years of life to the dock, according to the TEA website.

the Gloucester Landing, as seen from one of the Esplanade's 6 miles of paths

Hours of operation are whenever to whenever, and it is not handicap accessible, although the esplanade itself is. The Esplanade is a 3 mile parkland that stretches along the Boston side of the Charles. It includes 6 miles of paths, 6 wooden docks, 2 playgrounds, 3 softball fields, 5 soccer fields, 10 statues and memorials and more.

the dock is a peaceful place to relax

Photo Project: The Arnold

Most people who live in Jamaica Plain know something of Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum, though for many it’s just a park, a nice place to walk the dog or take a stroll with the family. According to Eric Youngerman, though, it’s also one of the most important horticultural sites in the world.

“Around the world it’s known as “The Arnold,” he said. “For the horticultural world it’s thought of as a mecca.”

Youngerman is a JP resident and one of the visitor education assistants in the arboretum’s Hunnewell Visitor Center, located near the Arborway gate. He started there as an intern, and has been working there for about three years. He explores the arboretum regularly, although it’s not a part of his job.

“It’s a great place to get away,” he said.

Maggie Redfern is another JP resident and education assistant in the Hunnewell Center. She confessed that she has a lot of fun working at “The Arnold.”

“People are always amazed by how this arboretum is in the city limits,” she said. “You don’t feel like you’re in the city of Boston.”

The arboretum is one link in the Emerald Necklace, a series of parks and waterways which also includes the Back Bay Fens, Franklin Park, Jamaica Pond, Olmstead Park, and the Riverway.

“A lot of people don’t realize how many green spaces there are in the city,” Redfern said.

Click for the entire Flickr photo set

Even on a frigid winter day like today, the arboretum was teeming with visitors. One such visitor was Jef Taylor, a zookeeper at Franklin Park and author of The Urban Pantheist, a journal “about loving nature while living in the city.”

Taylor was “trying to figure out what to do with the dogs” when he decided to return to the arboretum for the first time in about a year. He was glad to be back, as were the dogs, Charlie and Maggie.

“They like it here,” he said.

The Arnold Arboretum is located a few minutes’ walk from the orange line’s Forest Hills stop, and is open to visitors every day until sundown.