New Trapelo Road recreation space grand opening draws crowds

Children arrived in droves Saturday for the grand opening of  Waltham’s new 120-acre recreational space at 200 Trapelo Road, located at the site of the former Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center. 

As children explored the new playspace, the city held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening while honoring individuals with disabilities. Several former residents of the Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center joined Waltham Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy, members of the City Council and city officials for the opening. 

“This is for the children,” McCarthy told the crowd moments before the ribbon-cutting. 

Children in attendance took full advantage of the new playspace — including the zipline, miniature village and large play structures. To celebrate the opening, an electric train took junior conductors along a tour of the mini-putt course. 

The event also marked the opening of the Universal area, which prominently features a playground for all ages and abilities, a seasonal spray park and a seasonal 18-hole mini golf course. The Eunice Kennedy Shriver Memorial Area features an open field space, walking path and adult fitness area. The Memorial Area includes signage encouraging visitors to “reminisce on activities at the property.”

City officials have called the new play structure one of the largest universal playgrounds in the commonwealth featuring inclusive design for all ages and abilities. The playground features elements of climbing play, early childhood play, motion play, upper body play and swing play. 

Councilor-at-Large Kathy McMenimen said she was pleased with the park’s accessible offerings as well as the opening day’s turnout.

The grand opening drew sizable crowds on Saturday. The parking lot filled immediately and many visitors scrambled to find parking throughout the neighborhood. The perimeter was heavily fenced and the main entrance was the only access point and served as a bottleneck for traffic. 

Amid the celebration, protesters lined the street surrounding the park’s entrance, holding up signs decrying the park’s opening and acknowledging the property’s past. At times, tempers were inflamed by visitors who disagreed with the protest.

“I’m here because we need to be respectful to the people who lived here,” said Anne Fracht of Allston, who held a sign at the corner of 200 Trapelo Road. “We need a better way to memorialize the people who lived here at Fernald.” 

One protester, who wished to remain anonymous because she feared retribution from McCarthy, said she was concerned by what she perceived as “the erasure of history of individuals with developmental disabilities” by the city.  

“We need to make sure that history is respected,” the protester said. 

Standing beside the protesters was Councilor-at-Large Colleen Bradley-MacArthur, who told The Waltham Times that she voted against funding for the park, but hopes that the universal playground could represent restorative justice for the abuse that took place at the Developmental Center.

“I didn’t want to see $9 million on a train and frivolous things on a site where such terrible history has happened,” said Bradley-MacArthur. 

Some protestors expressed that the site should have been used to acknowledge this history.

“For too many years, a decade literally, things just fell apart here and some of the buildings that could have resources are now scary places to walk around,” said Eric Scribner, a neighbor of the new park.

Scribner remarked that the Fernald properties could have been renovated for other uses, such as housing or spaces for vocational programs for people with disabilities.

Another protester, Liam Beretsky-Jewell, expressed that a museum could have been built on the site acknowledging the abuse that took place, saying that, in his opinion, the park felt like a distraction from what went on at the site.

Amy Carlino, a Boston resident, said that she felt the park was a nice space for the community, but that there had been an effort by some to forget this history. She told The Waltham Times that people drove by shouting that they were aware of what happened and that protesters should just “get over it.”

Bryan Parcival, who was hired by the city in 2015 to document the state of the Fernald building, also felt that there was an attempt to participate in an erasure of the site’s history by some. 

Parcival explained that reforms in the treatment of residents did take place at the property in later years and that there should be an effort to celebrate these reforms, but that it should be done in a way that the site’s past is acknowledged, with the addition of a museum or memorial.

“When we erase the dark times, there’s always a chance that history repeats,” he said.