A First Anniversary

The past year brought the Emerald Necklace Conservancy one of the biggest milestones in its 14 year history – the opening of a permanent visitor center located at 125 The Fenway. The Center welcomed more than 3,000 visitors in its first year hailing from 30 states and nearly that many countries across the globe.

“The Shattuck Visitor Center has given us an outlet to connect to the community in new and exciting ways,” says Conservancy President Julie Crockford. “We’ve developed new visitor services and programming and look forward to expanding our offerings in the coming year.” The public has been invited to participate in a range of free programs at the Shattuck Center– from docent-led park tours and interpretive activities, to talks and walks and story-time for kids. Community meetings and volunteer training are also held at the Center.

The building, constructed in 1882, was designed by H.H. Richardson as a pump- station, the Stony Brook Gatehouse, to regulate the flow of water from the Stony Brook Conduit into the Fens. Today, those functions have been consolidated in the pump house next door that was built in 1905. The Richardson gatehouse was decommissioned in the 1970s and fell into disrepair. In 2007, Boston Water and Sewer Commission restored the exterior and added a new roof. Its new incarnation is the result of a modern design by Ann Beha Architects, and nearly $1.3 million in gifts. The transformation from idled gatehouse to visitor center and offices represents an adaptive reuse of a historic building and was a collaborative effort of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy and the City of Boston and other partners.

Wendy Shattuck, the center’s namesake is a longtime supporter of public parks and founder of the annual “Party in the Park” event to support the Justine Mee Liff Fund for the Emerald Necklace. As a special tribute, her friends created a generous endowment in her name to provide for the continued maintenance of the building.

The Shattuck Center has served as a base of operations for the Green Team and Youth Leadership Programs under Julia Golomb. “The Visitors Center serves as an ideal home-base for the Conservancy's Youth Programs,” says Golomb. “There are the basic benefits of being centrally located and set within the Emerald Necklace park system; equally important is the multi-functional use of the conference room, which has hosted numerous workshops and meetings for our Youth Leadership Program and Green Team.”

With a base of operations, volunteer activities have expanded as well. Last year, 847 volunteers came together on 24 projects in the Necklace.

The Shattuck Visitor Center’s first year also coincided with the inaugural year of a program to recruit and train docents to provide informational tours and interpretive exhibits to the public. To date, docents have led 29 public tours and 17 private group tours with more than 500 participants. The docents have also launched a series of talks and exhibits this winter at the Center.

View upcoming events at the Shattuck Visitor Center here.