Vision behind Trustees founding turns 132
The Trustees of Reservations was founded in Boston in 1891, out of a concern for dwindling, public space in what was an increasingly industrialized, growing city. By the end of the 19th century, Boston was the nation’s fourth largest manufacturing center, with factories, foundries, and plants beginning to replace countryside and open space.
On March 5, 1890, a letter written by Charles Eliot entitled “The Waverley Oaks,” was published in Garden and Forest, raising concerns about this shift. In his letter Eliot proposes a model of permanent trusteeship for natural, outdoor spaces—a vision that led him to found The Trustees the following year.
ABOVE: This clipping of the Waverley Oaks letter comes from a bound scrapbook of printed materials. The scrapbook was assembled by Charles Eliot (1859-1897) in the years leading up to and after the formation of The Trustees.
“Purely natural scenery supplies an education in the love of beauty, and a means of human enjoyment...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,” wrote 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.”
Today, The Trustees owns and protects 123 properties across the Commonwealth, as the nation’s first and Massachusetts’ largest preservation and conservation nonprofit. The Trustees is also the largest owner of community gardens in the City of Boston, and its Boston Waterfront Initiative represents a continued investment in the capital city—as well as a return to the organization’s roots. Piers Park III, the initiative’s first park, is being designed to address some of the major challenges of this era including climate resilience and equity, just as Eliot worked to address the concerns of his time.
A recent webinar hosted by The Trustees brought together three of the organization’s leaders to share progress on the future East Boston waterfront park, while also explaining how this work fits into The Trustees larger Boston and statewide mission to engage communities, nurture the next generation of environmental leaders, and act on one of the most pressing challenges of our generation—adapting to climate change. In the video embedded below, hear from Nick Black, Managing Director of the Boston Waterfront Initiative; Jen Klein, Director of Outdoor Experience; and Vidya Tikku, Director of the Greater Boston Management Unit.
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To read the full text of the Waverley Oaks letter click here
To learn more about the current Piers Park III design, click here, and to provide feedback visit onewaterfront.org/feedback.
To learn more about Charles Eliot and his apprenticeship with Frederick Law Olmsted, watch a recent presentation from Boston University Professor Emeritus Keith Morgan and Landscape Historian Lauren Meier: “Frederick Law Olmsted and Charles Eliot, the mentor and the student, 1880-1890"