EXISTING CONDITIONS

Universal Accessibility Standards

Accessibility in this plan set is assessed using the US Forest Service Outdoor Recreation Accessibility Guidelines. Specifications for All-Persons Trails, referenced in analysis and proposed designs, include a maximum running slope of 5% for 50’ and 10% for 30’, a minimum width of 5’ to allow for two wheelchair-users to pass at one time, and surface materials that are firm, stable, and clear of obstacles over 2” tall.

The phase one project area spans approximately 187 acres, offering park-goers a range of terrains and destinations for passive recreation.

Many of the original design features of D.W. Field Park remain intact after nearly a century of heavy use and enjoyment. Within the phase one project area, several miles of parkway with waterfront views wind along linked waterbodies, and large stretches of woodlands line much of the perimeter. This section of the park offers expansive waterfront views, winding roads and footpaths, wildlife areas and wetlands, as well as lawns and picnic areas. While visitors still enjoy walking, running, biking, and driving throughout this long, narrow, and varied landscape, the conditions of the park’s roadways and paths are in decline, and several popular destinations lack comfortable, shady seating options for groups large and small. A lack of universally accessible paths and features may limit who is able to enjoy D.W. Field Park.

Oak Street Lawn is one of the grassy areas visitors enjoy gathering and picnicking on. The soils in these areas are generally compacted from heavy use.

A large stone tower sits at the high point of the park, offering views to Boston when it’s open to the public. This is also a popular area for sledding towards D.W. Field Golf Course to the east.

The park includes multiple formal and informal parking areas, including a large irregularly shaped lot at the top of Tower Hill. This location is a popular event spot for the Kids Road Race and annual Tower Fest.

Throughout the park, roadways are shared between cars, bikes, and pedestrians. In some areas, separate footpaths are available, though not always universally accessible in materials or slope.

Several nature trails branch off the main roadways. Vegetation obscures sightlines during warmer seasons, creating discomfort for some visitors. Unstable path materials and obstructions potentially limit access for wheelchair users.

A 1,450-foot causeway, for pedestrians and bikes only, bisects Waldo Lake. This wide walkway lined with shrubs and birch trees is a popular fishing spot in the park.

The paved shoreline at Waldo Lake Beach is a very popular area in the park, particularly for families with children. The crumbling conditions of the asphalt and flumes directing runoff towards the water are common throughout the park.

The park’s current design includes multiple spillway waterfall features between water bodies. Two of these amphitheater-shaped dams have been the sites of drowning incidents in recent years.

Understanding the long-term history of the land that D.W. Field Park inhabits reveals potential content that future designs and educational programming might consider highlighting.

A Very Brief Summary And Acknowledgement Of Local Indigenous History

For the last 12,000 years, humans have inhabited the lands now considered North America, ultimately forming Indigenous tribal communities and stewarding the lands throughout the northeast. Several tribal communities lived in what is now the Brockton area, including the Massachusett and Wampanoag.

In 1616, an epidemic swept through the region, killing 8% of the Indigenous populations, diminishing tribal communities’ defenses. European colonists started to arrive in the area just a few years later.

In 1657, English officials and missionaries established Praying Towns, only admitting tribal community members who had converted to Christianity. People in these towns were forced to assimilate to English/Christian lifestyles. One of these designated areas was known as the Ponkapoag Plantation, located 7 miles north of where D.W. Field Park sits today.

Indigenous land was regularly sold off by the settlers and emerging Commonwealth. Then, in 1869, the Act of Enfranchisement effectively erased the existence of tribal communities in the eyes of the law. Without recognition of tribal community status, the government divvied up reservation lands and sold them off.

Massachusett villages spanned from Plymouth to Salem and as far west as Worcester. People fished, hunted, and made tools and weapons from quarried stone. Communities practiced agriculture, planting and harvesting corn, squash, beans and grain. In this matriarchal society, women were in charge of the fields, and children were responsible for keeping birds away from the crops.

By 1650, English colonists outnumbered the local Indigenous population, and forced the tribes to move westward into Neponset Territory known as Ponkapoag. Tribal communities were separated from rich agricultural land and access to the ocean, upon which they had relied for thousands of years.

A lease for the Ponkapoag Plantation was requested by the Indigenous community who lived there in the 1650’s and was never presented to them. By 1760, a lease was produced but only for approximately 700 of the original 6,000 acres.

While many Indigenous communities have been displaced from their ancestral lands, tribal communites have endured throughout the region. The Massachusett and Wampanoag tribes have active chapters. There may be opportunities to incorporate Indigenous knowledge and stories into programming and land management practices to help tell a fuller story of the parkland’s past and set a vision for the future.

Highlighting Indigenous History At Passangaset Park

Fourteen miles north of D.W. Field Park, in modern day Quincy, the city has acknowledged and incorporated Indigenous history into a popular space for passive recreation. As the Passangaset Park Project website explains, in 2015 the Army Corps of Engineers completed an extensive Broad Meadows Marsh Salt Marsh Restoration Project, culminating in the creation of a public park. Next door to the project area, a group of students at Broad Meadows Middle School, the “History Girls,” researched the Indigenous history of the area, learning that it had once been called Passangaset and served as a seasonal home for the Massachusett tribe. The students advocated to the school committee that the land be recognized as a significant historical site and that tribal history be added to the school’s curriculum. The new park was ultimately dedicated to the First People of the area, as reflected in the park’s name, and interpretive signs (pictured to the right) were installed around the park.

Design Considerations

There are several high school and middle schools located within walking distance of D.W. Field Park. There may be opportunities to similarly engage students to conduct research into Brockton and Avon’s Indigenous history and incorporate this information into design elements and future cultural and educational programming.