With everything else going on, it seems like a crazy time for this, but habits are habits. For Week #9 of the Newton Photo Scavenger Hunt — the second-to-last week — here are five more photos of objects in Newton that are odd or charming — and rather unique, rather permanent, and visible from publicly accessible property. Can you identify them?
The first person to write in the comments below the correct (and sufficiently precise) location of the object will win one point per object identified. NOTE: Comments will be closed until 8PM Tuesday (9/1) to give everyone some time to VOTE! in the state primary and explore and ponder the photos before answers start arriving.
At the end of Week 10, whoever has the most points will win a $50 gift certificate for the Newton restaurant of the winner’s choice…and a V14 commemorative mug. After eight weeks of the scavenger hunt, the current totals are: Michael 8; Dave Brigham and LisaP 5; Adam and Fignewtonville 3; David Wallace and Dalek 2; and 1 each for Nanci Ginty Butler, Bob Burke, Sean Roche, Maureen Reilly Meagher, Michael’s son, Chuck Tanowitz, Newton Highlands Mom, John Q Public, and Patrick M. Still unidentified — and available for finding — are 22. Phone Booth, 23 Ceramic Sculpture, 32 Dog or Lion?, 37 Ceramic with Message, and 40 Scary Guy.
41. Metal Jumble
42. Faucet in Woods
43. White Horse
44. Bell on Ground
45. Stepping Stones
NOTE: A slight amendment to the rules this week: “visible from public property” is now “visible from publicly accessible property.” I discovered that some of the as-yet-unidentified objects are visible from land that I thought was publicly owned but is not, yet it is open to the public.
#43 White Horse is on Norwood Avenue
#44 Bell on Ground is on Langley Road, in front of the former church where Newtonville Books is.
#42 is in Kennard Park off Dudley Rd.
@Dave Brigham: Correct on both!
@John Q Public: Correct! It’s part of the irrigation system for a long-ago orchard, and now it’s in the middle of a trail through the park.
#45 is located at the top of a small hill in Weeks field soccer park.
@Matt Lister: Correct! It looks like Newton has its own Stonehedge, if not a full Stonehenge.
Newton’s Stonehedge, indeed. From my calculations, it looks like the sun will set over the trees just west of #45 Stepping Stones and pass through the narrow slit between the two tall stones at the southern end of the line…around 4:35PM on September 12. Maybe the date is off by a day or two, or maybe the time is off by a few minutes, but let your Druid friends know. Perhaps these stones were used to mark the start of the soccer season on Weeks Field, back in the day.
Reporting live from Lasell University at the site of #41, “Land, Sea, and Sky,” a 1996 commissioned piece by the late artist Michael D. Bigger.
Q. Who is bigger, Mr. Bigger or Baby Bigger?
A. Baby Bigger, because he is a little Bigger.
@Michael: Correct! Now we’re down to the five unidentified objects from previous weeks …plus the last five that will be added next week.
Me and my grove of Druid buddies will definitely be lined up at Newhenge at 4:35 on the 12th to see the sun complete its annual pilgrimage and shine through Newhenge’s slit.
Despite the grandiosity of our British sister henge, I think Newhenge makes Stonehenge looks positively crude. Newhenge is the iWatch. Stonehenge is the IBM 370.
See you on the Fields of Week on the 12th.
A quick PS from my Auburndale walk – #32 “dog or lion” is evidently this beautiful fountain dedicated to Richard J. McGrath on an island in front of the Auburndale Branch Library, but in real life with the fountain wet and running, the 4 lion-dogs appear to be green.
@Michael,
Impressive sleuthing.
@Michael: Correct! Those dog-lions got a lot more green since I took that photo months ago. How the heck are you finding these things??
It’s been a gorgeous evening for another 15-mile walk! Now reporting live from #23, “Patch Mama,” in the far SE corner of the Durant Kenrick House property on Waverly Ave. The work is not actually labeled and at first glance there doesn’t seem to be anything about it on the web, but I was fortunate enough to bump into a curator who pointed out its allusion to Venus de Milo and its representation of the West Indies slave trade. If she sees this, hopefully she might be able to offer an interpretation.
@Michael-
You are on FIRE! If you ever consider a blog about the walking wonders of Newton, I’d love to read it!
@Michael: Correct, again! I’m in awe.
@Lisap – the gold standard for on-foot exploration of Newton, its environs, and beyond is Dave Brigham’s blog The Backside of America…I still believe he’s going to stage a come-from-behind victory in Week 10.
Although @Dave Brigham, I have to shamefully admit to having been under the false impression that you’d given a bum steer on #43 (White Horse), because last night after my walk to Auburndale and Waltham, my wife and daughter came to pick me up in Newtonville and we walked the length of Norwood Avenue a total of four times with our 3-year-old on my shoulders peeking into everyone’s yard looking for the white horse, with no luck. We asked a half-dozen residents if they’d ever seen it, but nobody had – one even proposed that it might be a metaphor for something. Finally our daughter said, glumly, “I think the white horse goed away.” Very sad!
But today I incorporated Norwood Avenue into my walk a second time, because a) I thought that there might be some scavenger hunt objects at the New Art Center, and b) I wanted to walk down Washington Park again, which we discovered for the first time last night, and which I think might be the most beautiful street in Newton. So, today back over on Norwood Avenue a resident explained that it was actually Google that had steered us wrong – there are two Norwood Avenues in Newton: the one we visited in Newtonville, and the shorter one over by Crystal Lake which must host the white horse (even though Google only gives you one search result). We’re going to check it out tomorrow. Sorry for ever doubting you, Dave!
In other news, I got a possible lead on the #22 phone booth – I spoke to someone who thought that he’d seen it at a (closed or open) café, which would make sense since it looks like it’s filled with Fermob Bistro furniture.
@Michael – thanks for your kind words about my blog! And yes, the Norwood Avenue I was referring to is over by Crystal Lake. I have my work cut out for me to stage a comeback. Most of my Newton wanderings happened a few years back, although I am ramping up a bit to finish all 13 villages on my blog (Nonantum is next). I will make my best efforts!
I’m pleased to say that the sun shone through the notch at Newton Stonehenge today nearly exactly when Bruce predicted it, proving the even in today’s era, science still works! We had an interesting chat about the possible provenance of the rocks, and whether the phenomenon can be seen in the morning. Next summer solstice (June 20,2021) the Sun will be in the right location at 6:32 am, but only 13 degrees above the horizon – enough to clear the trees? I guess we can gather then to find out.
What are the chances!?! When I stopped by Newtonhenge on this bright, sunny day to check my calculations, I was wishing I had more knowledge of astronomy. And just then, up walks Matt Lister — a professional astronomer! Matt is also the V14er who identified #45 Stepping Stones in the scavenger hunt. But he’s much more widely known worldwide as the leader of the team that recently identified the TIE Fighter Galaxy!
And from Matt I learned that the stones of Newtonhenge might also align in the east with the summer solstice. As Matt confirmed in his comment above, it does indeed. He notes that the sun will be 13 degrees above the horizon on the solstice on June 20 next year. I think it will indeed clear the trees, which I estimate to reach an elevation of 10 or 12 degrees. See you there on June 20 to find out.
Here’s some in depth historical info about henges .. from Eddie Izzard
#42 (above)- It could have happened ….
Today’s Kennard Park is woods, but all the woods there are new growth. In the late 1800’s all of this Newton land and across the border into Brookline was all farmland. The Kennard family’s farm ran right to the Brookline border where it met the Grigg’s family farm at the Brookline town land.
Despite the fact that the Kennard family and the Grigg family had lived as neighbors for generations, they were never particularly friendly, and they had multiple acrimonious disputes spanning back many years.
In the late 1870’s both Newton and Brookline began working on their first public water systems. Both towns began building their first systems by pumping water from the Charles River into reservoirs and then distributing from there to the rest of the town. Eventually in the early 1900’s both towns replaced much of those systems when they later became part of the regional Metropolitan Water District.
In the 1870’s, in both towns, the construction of a municipal water system was very exciting news to all the residents. In Newton, the first reservoir (the Waban Hill Reservoir) was constructed alongside Commonwealth Ave (near today’s Boston College campus). At that time, that end of Newton was already very residential and new homes were steadily being added. The Newton water system began being built outward from there. The Kennard farm at the Brookline border was miles away, out in a largely uninhabited portion of Newton dotted sporadically with small farms. It would likely be many years before the new Newton water pipes would reach the Kennard’s land.
Meanwhile, Brookline was building the Chestnut Hill Reservoir alongside what is now Rt 9, and the town’s first round of distribution pipes included a main line right to the Newton town border terminating at the Griggs property.
Once the Brookline town water began flowing to the Griggs Farm, Nat Griggs took great delight in taunting his Newton neighbor Richard Kennard on a nearly daily basis about how he wasn’t likely to see a drop of Newton water any time in this century. The constant jeering and taunting only added to the bad blood between the families.
Despite the personal enmity between them, less than a year later Kennard approached Griggs with a financial proposition. If Griggs would allow Kennard to lay his own water pipe from the Brookline main at the edge of the Griggs property a quarter mile into Kennard’s Newton farm, Kennard would pay him an annual rent for the illicit pipe.
It was an intensely acrimonious negotiation but after months of squabbling they agreed that:
• Kennard would pay an annual rent of $12 to Griggs
• Griggs would be able to use Kennard’s pipe to supply the Griggs land nearest Kennard.
That final sticking point was resolved thusly. Wrote Kennard “I will install two taps upon that accursed pipe. The west facing tap will be for my sole use, and the east facing tap for yours. Nary a drop must ever spill from the Kennard tap for your use, or forever ever after my water rent shall be free<>”
They laid the pipe and turned on the water.
Two years later the town of Brookline discovered that Griggs was selling Brookline water to his Newton neighbors and both were brought up on charges. The illegal Kennard water line was disconnected. Both parties were fined heavily and the two headed tap in the Kennard woods that remains today was a daily reminder to Richard Kennard, until his dying day, of the bitter blood between them.
This is the 2nd in my ‘Imagined Local Histories’ series inspired by Bruce’s Scavenger Hunt. Here’s the first.
Note: Anything that is actually true in the above account is purely by accident.