[EDIT: Let’s meet on Saturday, Sept. 19 instead of Sept. 20. It’s a day before the equinox, but on Saturday, henge artist Curt Lamb will be onsite to tell us about his installation and the Paul family. Also, the weather may be better, and it will be @JerryReilly’s birthday. See you at the henge 4:25PM to 4:53PM!]
The arrangement of large stones on the hill overlooking Weeks Field has been well known to many park visitors and young soccer players over the years. It looks like an art installation that would fit in well at the deCordova Museum. After I featured it in the Newton Photo Scavenger Hunt, I noticed that it’s a bit reminiscent of Stonehenge. It turns out its more henge-like than first appears: The two taller stones at the southern end of the arrangement are set very close together, and the slit between them seems to align with where the sun will set over the trees on the autumnal equinox, on September 20. And according to astronomer @MattLister (who identified this installation in the scavenger hunt), these two stones also seem to be aligned for the sun to shine between them at sunrise on the summer solstice, on June 20. That must have been by design. By whom?
Before the City owned this land and created Weeks Field (and Weeks Junior High), the land was owned by four generations the Paul family. Luther Paul (1793 – 1863) and Luther Paul, Jr. (1829 – 1909) were both very prominent in Newton Centre civic life, particularly in their church and in the fire service — both chiefs of the Newton Centre Fire Engine Co. [EDIT: In the comments below, @Paul Levy provides facts to replace my surmising in the rest of this paragraph!] A great-grandson of Luther Paul, Jr. who played on the farm as a kid says there was a bridle path and drive that circled around the Luther Paul house and barn, and although he did not recall the stones, together we surmised that the lower stones in the photo might have been stepping stones for mounting carriages and horses on that path. The two taller stones may have been added later, as they are not suitable for stepping. Some have surmised that they are repurposed street curb stones. So I’m guessing that Luther Sr. had the lower stones set, and maybe one or the other of these civic-minded Luthers added the taller stones set to align with the sun… for fun?
You can check it out on September 20. Weather permitting, the sun should appear through the slit from around 4:26PM to 4:54PM, with a peak at 4:40PM, as it sets into the trees. Those trees may be taller than they were in the 1800s, so they may obscure the sun a bit. Perhaps you’ll have better luck in the days before that, with the sun slightly higher (and one minute earlier) for each day earlier. On Saturday, September 19, the weather looks to be particularly clear – a great opportunity to meet the henge artist Curt Lamb and to celebrate @JerryReilly’s birthday at an historic site, at 4:39PM!
And keep in mind the opportunity to see sunrise through Newtonhenge at 6:30AM on June 20, 2021.
Curt Lamb, our neighbor, installed the stones.
There had been a tree on that site until Hurricane Gloria knocked it down in 1985. The kids really enjoyed playing on the tree after it fell.
Thanks, @PaulLevy! I stand corrected. I just spoke with Curt Lamb about his art installation. He said created it to replace the oversized chair that used to be there, and he aligned these stones with the remnants of the old foundation of what must have been the Luther Paul barn. I asked him about aligning the taller stones with the equinox and solstice, and he said he had not planned that at all! A fortuitous coincidence.
In any case, it’s still @JerryReilly’s birthday on Saturday. 😉
I was kind of enjoying the mystery until @Paul Levy had to go and be all factual. Oh well, thanks to Curt Lamb. I guess now the only mystery is how will people celebrate Jerry’s bday?
It’s not a coincidence, Bruce. It’s the powers of the gods at work. Don’t mess with Mother Nature: She’s always watching.
BTW, Luther Paul built much of Oxford Road. Apparently, once the railroad came to town, he figured people from Boston might want to live in Newton. So if you look at the houses between Paul Street and Browning Road, you’ll see that they are all of the same vintage and general architectural style.
Luther built one house for his unmarried sister, at 66 Oxford. The next residents there were Rev. and Mrs. Brush, affiliated with the Andover Newton Seminary. The current resident is only the third since 1895!
Mrs. Brush, bless her heart, made fresh Rice Crispie bars for the kids for Halloween for decades. No one had the heart to tell her that the children of the “modern” era had all been instructed never to eat unwrapped treats. (We told our daughters that it was all right to eat them!)
I’m rounding up all the Druids I know and heading down to the Weeks field to celebrate my birthday this year.
Just to be clear: @JerryReilly’s birthday celebration is on Saturday at 4:39PM — that’s one day plus one minute earlier than the autumnal equinox sunset over the trees.
Just to be even clearer. All these henges have nothing to do with the equinoxes. They were all built to mark my birthday. The ancients were just a bit sloppy in their construction/calibration.
Thanks to Paul for sharing the interesting history of the ‘Accidental Newtonhenge’!
A minor clarification on Bruce’s post (and not to disappoint the Druids), you’ll have to wait a bit after sunrise on the June 20 solstice to see the Sun shine through the slit in the rocks, in fact the alignment won’t happen until the Sun is 13 degrees above the horizon and (hopefully) clears the trees on the eastern side of the field. Somehow I think we’ll attract fewer Druids though next June than other sites like this one: https://www.nps.gov/pefo/planyourvisit/summer-solstice-celebration.htm
Delighted to hear all these thoughts about the Weeks Stonehenge cosmic connections. See you on Saturday when I’m happy to share stories about its creation, and my on interactions with the Paul family – from whom I purchased the site for my nearby house.
Having grown up on Halcyon, attended Weeks and had many friends on Oxford, Paul, Rowena, etc, when growing up, I’m loving these stories so much! Thank you!