Much of Newton’s Charles River water front is a wonderful recreational resource for our city. Any day of the week you can see lots of folks walking, bicycling, strolling, bird watching, jogging along the river between Auburndale and Watertown Square. Further up stream, Echo Bridge/Hemlock Gorge is one of the city’s most beloved parks. Beyond that, at the edge of the city, is Nahanton Park with more walking trails, canoeing and boating.
In the middle, between Route 9 and Rt 16 is a mile and half stretch of riverfront parkland alongside Quinobequin Rd. Years ago this stretch of the river was a well maintained showpiece but over the last 30 years it slowly degraded and became less used, maintained, and loved.
This past spring a group of local residents formed the Friends of the Quinobequin with the mission of shining a light on this neglected gem and restoring a bit of its former luster. Since the formation of the Friends group they’ve made a good start. In the spring they organized a few days of volunteer crews doing trash removal, cutting invasive vines that were killing the trees, pulling poison ivy, and clearing overgrown portions of the trails.
The Friends of Quinobequin recently received some good news from the Dept of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). Maureen Reilly-Meagher one of the founding members of the Friends of Quinobequin applied for a DCR matching grant to pay for the construction of two pieces of boardwalk where the Quinobequin trails turn to mud puddles after every rainy day. The good news: the DCR just awarded the grant for the boardwalk. The bad news: the Friends of Quinobequin must raise their portion ($1667) by the end of the month.
The clock is ticking. If you can help out, write a check to the “Waban Area Council”, write “FOTQ” on the memo line and mail it to Friends of Quinobequin, c/o Waban Area Council, P. O. Box 11, Newton, MA, 02468.
If you can’t write a check then go take a walk down those trails and sign up as a Friend of the Quinobequin.
