The
Upper Falls News is an email newsletter about what's going in our
village. The Upper Falls News is brought to you by the Upper Falls Area
Council but it's intended to cover any and all news in the village.
Upper Falls Trivia - What supernatural phenomenon drew hundreds of people to the Elliot Street bridge over the Charles River in 1839 (answer below)
The Sun's Going to Shine - Two weeks ago, the scheduled neighborhood walk of the Upper Falls Greenway trail was a washout with torrential rain. Only
a few hearty souls
took a ramble in the rain. So we'll try again this Saturday, June 16.
The weather forecast this time around is looking great. Come join
your neighbors and earn yourself a FREE ICE CREAM!
On Saturday morning from 10 AM to noon, walk the trail to the Charles
River and you will be handed a token. Walk to the other end of the
trail at Easy St/National Lumber and you'll get a 2nd token. Take the
two tokens to the Upper Falls Variety store and trade them in for the
ice cream or Slush of your choice.
Many thanks to the Upper Falls CDC and the Variety Store for sponsoring the Greenway walk.
It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time - Two men were arrested last Sunday night while
climbing the antenna tower
off Chestnut St with parachutes on their backs. They were about
halfway up the 1100 foot high tower before being talked down by the
police.
Countryside Family to the Rescue - On Tuesday night,
this article
was posted on the Newton Patch describing Countryside school's Outdoor
Classroom project. The project is three years in the making and needs
about $5000 to be completed for next fall. Early the next morning
Countryside's principal received a message from a Countryside graduate,
whose family offered to donate the funds for the entire project. The
Outdoor Classroom crew of parents, teachers and volunteers are
absolutely thrilled that one family's generosity is going to make this
plan a reality!
The Gardens of Upper Falls - A plan is afoot to put
together an Open Gardens of Upper Falls event sometime in the future.
The general idea would be recruit as many Upper Falls gardeners as
possible to open up their back yard to visitors on a single day for a
walking tour. We certainly hope to recruit the people with unique or
elaborate gardens. We'd love though for everyone with a garden to
participate. Even the most modest garden always has something of
interest.
If you'd consider opening your garden for the event or if you'd like to help organize the event,
send an email to Liz Reilly and let her know.
Braceland Park Takes Shape - Work seems to be coming
along nicely on the refurbishment of Braceland Park. The old tennis
courts and fences have been removed and it looks like work on the new
tennis courts are about to begin. The new pathway is all laid out and
the bordering curbs have been laid. Out on the street, the two opposite
sidewalks have been dug up for "curb cuts" to make way for the new
crosswalk. This morning they were pouring the concrete. Despite the
recent iffy weather it looks like the project's proceeding well.
Summer Schedule - As the temperatures slowly rise,
activity slowly falls. The Upper Falls News will most likely switch to a
more leisurely once-every-two-weeks publishing schedule over the summer
months. The editor will be away for the summer and publishing The News
remotely. He'll be relying even more than usual on all you readers to
send neighborhood news to him at
news@UpperFallsNews.org.
He does have a good news sense, so don't you more mischievous readers
try sending him fabricated news stories - e.g. "Charles River to be
re-routed through Newton Highlands"
Have We Got a Deal For You - How do you park for free
in a City lot? Where can you go for lunch for $1.75? What do you have
to do to get $1000 off your property taxes? If you are a Senior or look
after a Senior you can find out at the next Area Council Meeting, where
Marian Knapp from the Newton Council on Aging will be answering these
and many other questions about the deals and services available to
senior citizens in Newton. 7 PM, Thursday June 21 at the Emerson
Community Center.
Send Us Your News - If you have any upcoming events,
activities, news, trivia, stories, anecdotes or jokes related to Upper
Falls just send them to
info@UpperFallsNews.org
and we'll include them in the next newsletter. For those who prefer
living in the past, back issues of the Upper Falls News are archived at
UpperFallsNews.org.
Trivia Answer - The Baby Ghost appeared on a rock in
the river. "It was naked, and would rapidly pass back and forth from the
rock to the water for an hour, and then disappear for the day. The
ghost was about as large as a ten-months-old-child. All could see it
pass back and forth from the rock to the water; no one saw it go away,
but it always disappeared. The excitement for a week was fearful."
After a few days a young man went to the rock to investigate, captured
the ghost, and brought it to the crowd for inspection. It was found to
be a piece of glass .. and the sun at the right elevation ... reflected
in the glass, produced the appearance of the 'baby ghost'" -
from Mr. Sweester's account in Ken Newcomb's "Makers of the Mold - A History of Newton Upper Falls".