It’s exciting to see the work we’re doing at Albemarle featured at FieldDay, New England’s Conference on Landscape Architecture.
Albemarle: A Case Study for Watershed Resiliency
Call for Artists
The group Newton Community Pride has put out a call for artists to create murals at Gath Pool! If you are an artist or muralist, or know of any who might be interested, please share this notice, as the May 1st deadline is fast approaching.
Albemarle is a great place for art and community spirit, and we look forward to this exciting installation.
Crash today
Not clear what happened to send this car so completely off the road, but I hope no one was hurt. This intersection is flanked by Fessenden and Day Middle, the largest middle school in Newton, so many children cross this zone on their own during weekday afternoons.
Exciting Groundbreaking
What a thrill to participate in the groundbreaking ceremony for the second round of $10mm investment in Albemarle. After inspiring remarks made by so many passionate officials in Newton, we tossed the dirt into the air and they moved on with the field work. Details are in the below article.
Read the Newton Beacon article
Not everyone reading this remembers August of 2019, when we heard that Newton was considering building on this park. But I do. I remember sitting on my couch in my living room at 9pm on a hot weekday night and seeing the news. My stomach dropped, and I realized that the community voice on this just didn’t exist. On February 13, 2025, we all stood around together on a cool, drizzly day, and celebrated the community, teamwork, creative thinking and persistence that got us here, transforming this park into a crown jewel of outdoor recreation for Newton, open and accessible to all. This is a very tough time in our country, and a good time to remember that what seems insurmountable is not; what seems impossible can be done when people push through barriers – and they do it together, with active listening, compromise and flexibility.
Field Notes: Friends of Albemarle Winter Newsletter 2025
Dear Friends,
A brief but link-packed mid-winter update:
1. Construction has begun on the fields! Woohoo! It’s been detailed in our local news, complete with aerial pictures, so linking directly to that: https://figcitynews.com/2025/01/construction-begins-on-renovation-of-north-side-of-albemarle-field
We’ve heard questions about the mature trees, especially those magnificent oaks – we all love them, and the designs fully accommodate them, just so you know.
Early efforts focus on stormwater filtration and management. Speaking of….
2. …There is a meeting THIS Tuesday that you might be interested in attending, and so sorry for the short notice – it was short for us too, and I can’t make it. But I hope you can.
Tuesday 1/21 at 6:30pm at the Ed Center and also on zoom – Stormwater Solutions Coming to Cheesecake Brook.See details here and register at crwa.org.
3. Albemarle looks so pretty in the snow. File under views. 🙂
4. Back-in Parking STILL WORKS and is a MAJOR SUCCESS…in case you were wondering! Everyone is doing it, from the weekend playground parent crew to the sporadic cybertruck. There is much less honking, fewer near misses and a FAR safer environment. Thanks Newton City Council, the Mayor, DPW and everyone!
5. Thank you for —or, as appropriate, I encourage you to join us in–continually pulling plastic out of Cheesecake Brook – it’s an easy way to keep plastic out of our oceans, as a tributary of the river. This inspiring young lady was cleaning up plastic even before it rolled into the brook!
Thankful for this community. Happy Martin Luther King Day!
Cedar
Cedar Pruitt
President, Friends of Albemarle
Newton, MA
Meeting about stormwater management
Fishing for plastic
I’m often in the brook, pulling out trash. It’s easy for things to get in there, but then they get into the river and the ocean. Let’s keep our waterways clean. Thank you in advance for joining me in doing the dirty work!
Cleaning up plastic bottles like a champ
The more plastic and trash we can keep out and fish out of Cheesecake Brook, the better. It flows to the river, which flows to the Atlantic Ocean.
Who back-in parks at Albemarle?
Everyone! The weekend playground parent crew and the cybertrucks alike. This small adjustment has made a much safer environment at the park. Thank you Newton for supporting this crucial effort to create and prioritize safety in our community.
Snow fields
Friends of Albemarle 