The Waverley Oaks Letter turns 130: A vision from Trustees founder Charles Eliot of a greener Boston
One hundred and thirty years ago, at the end of the 19th Century, Boston had become the nation’s fourth largest manufacturing center. Factories, foundries, ironworks and plants sprang up, and began to fill the open space in and around the city. Farmland and countryside shrank, as industry—and the population—grew.
ABOVE: This clipping of the Waverley Oaks letter comes from a bound scrapbook of printed materials pertaining to land and historic preservation efforts in the United States and abroad. The scrapbook was assembled by Charles Eliot (1859-1897) in the years leading up to and after the formation of The Trustees of Reservations.
Earlier in the century, conservation efforts had swelled to protect and conserve the natural wonders of the American West. In 1890, the same year Congress passed legislation establishing Sequoia National Park (September 25), and Yosemite and General Grant National Parks (October 1), Trustees Founder Charles Eliot published a letter entitled “The Waverley Oaks,” outlining his concerns for dwindling public open space in a City facing overpopulation and pollution. In his letter, Eliot laid out a model of permanent trusteeship, a vision which would lead to the founding of our organization:
“Purely natural scenery supplies an education in the love of beauty, and a means of human enjoyment at least as valuable as that afforded by pictures and casts and if, as we are taught, feeling for artistic beauty has its roots in feeling for natural beauty, opportunities of beholding natural beauty will certainly be needed and prized by the successive generations which are to throng the area within ten miles of the State House,” writes Eliot. “As Boston's lovers of art united to found the Art Museum, so her lovers of Nature should now rally to preserve for themselves and all the people as many as possible of these scenes of natural beauty which, by great good fortune, still exist near their doors.”
The letter was published on March 5, 1890 in Garden and Forest. Eliot founded The Trustees in 1891, while the Massachusetts legislature formed the Metropolitan Parks Commission, with Eliot appointed as landscape architect in 1892.
One year later Eliot would join the firm of Frederick Law Olmsted, where he worked until his death in 1897, leaving behind a legacy of conservation, and his mark on the city of Boston, having also contributed to the designs of Franklin Park, the Arnold Arboretum, and the Fens.
“Map of the Metropolitan District of Boston showing local public reservations, the holdings of the Metropolitan Park Commission and additions which have been proposed.” This map reflects the lands acquired in response to Charles Eliot’s vision of preserving the natural beauty of the uplands surrounding Boston, the beaches, and the three major rivers flowing through the District (1891, courtesy Harvard Map Collection. Photo taken at Isabella Gardner Stewart Museum)
Today, Boston faces different challenges, as the effects of climate change impact our waterfront City. Storm surge events increasingly threaten our homes and businesses, and flooding forecast maps show widespread effects in neighborhoods across the city, as sea levels rise. The Resilient Boston Harbor vision released by Mayor Martin J. Walsh in 2018 began to outline a path forward, including plans to increase access and open space along the city’s 47-mile shoreline, space that is both resilient and welcoming to the many communities it will serve.
The Trustees Boston Waterfront Initiative, One Waterfront, continues to work to contribute to this effort, with a vision of building and managing a series of resilient parks that prioritize equity, world-class design, and help to protect our vulnerable shores.
As the largest owner of community gardens in the City of Boston, and a steward for 118 properties around the state, we are energized to continue this homecoming in an expanded capacity, and draw on over a century of expertise in public open space management to deliver new signature destinations—returning to a vision championed by our founder more than a century ago.
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To read the full text of the Waverley Oaks letter click here
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Nick Black
Nick Black, Managing Director of the Boston Waterfront Initiative for The Trustees, oversees the organization’s plans to create climate resilient open space along Boston’s waterfront through advocacy and collaboration with private, non-profit, government, and community partners. Nick joined The Trustees after serving in a variety of roles in government, political campaigns and nonprofit advocacy efforts. Nick speaks and writes about the need for open space, climate resiliency, and Boston waterfront issues.