Quick History Stops: Dorchester, MA

Finishing up the trip where I visited Franklin Park Zoo and Pierce House, I took a walk in Dorchester Park. Frederick Law Olmsted originally planned this park to become part of the Emerald Necklace, a chain of green spaces throughout Boston. His sons, John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., joined his apprentice Charles Eliot to design and built this landscape in 1891. All three had long worked under the oldest Olmsted. Eliot had designed multiple landscapes, including Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. Later, the trio would become the architecture firm Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot. They influenced the founding of The Trustees, a Massachusetts non-profit organization dedicated to preserving over one hundred attractions covering 47,000 acres. While this early project is a feat in itself, Dorchester Park never attained the same status of later works. Despite a similar naturalistic style, paved walking trails, small sports venues, and jurisdiction falling under the City of Boston Parks and Recreation Commission, Dorchester Park is not recognized as belonging to the Emerald Necklace.

Across the street on the west side of Dorchester Park is Saint Gregory’s Parish, a Roman Catholic Church founded by Irish-Americans in the mid 19^th century during a time when Irish Catholics faced persecution both in their homeland and in America. According to the Dorchester Atheneum, Father Thomas R. McNulty bought the land in 1863, and the parish began construction on a Romanesque Revival Style building made of red brick. Father McNulty’s successor, Father William H. Fitzpatrick, led the construction of the distinctive two towers on the building in 1895, four years after Olmstead, Olmstead, and Eliot built Dorchester Park across the street.

Across the street on the east side of Dorchester Park is Cedar Grove Cemetery, a burial ground opened in 1870 after the American Civil War and still used today. Many members of the extended Pierce family are buried here, although the lineal descendents who lived in Pierce House are interred elsewhere. The oldest cemetery in Dorchester is North Burial Ground or First Burial Ground, which was used from 1633 to the early 19^th century. Most early members of the Pierce family are buried here. Dorchester South Burial Ground was established in 1814 with design assistance from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and is currently operated by the City of Boston Parks and Recreation Commission, just like Dorchester Park.

This area has free, two-hour, on-street parking located near a hospital and within a residential neighborhood. If you want to take a break away from the action in Boston, this part of Dorchester is the perfect spot to relax and enjoy the outdoors while remaining in the city.