RECONASSANCE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY Allandale Woods Park

Boston (West Roxbury), MA

Prepared for Boston Parks and Recreation Department City of Boston

Prepared by Joseph Bagley City Archaeologist Boston Landmarks Commission Environment Department City of Boston

Introduction

Allandale Woods is an 86-acre Urban Wild Park located in the Boston neighborhoods of Jamaica Plain and West Roxbury (figure 1). In the summer of 2014, a walkover survey was conducted covering the entirety of the park with the goal of producing sensitivity maps that will aid the Boston Parks and

Recreation in avoiding or mitigating impacts to known or potential archaeological sites within the park in future improvement projects.

Brief Park History

(The following section is a summary of the work of Richard Heath and Richard Primack, no date, attached to this report as appendix A)

No Native American cultural materials have been found within the Allandale Woods. Just east of the property, within the Arnold Arboretum, there are over a dozen Native archaeological sites ranging in age from 7,500-400 years in age in topography that resembles that of the Allandale Woods. The Park began as a small portion of the massive estate of Thomas and Joseph Weld, who arrived in Roxbury in 1632. At this time, the property was used as farmland.

After passing through several generations, a portion of the Weld estate was sold to Thomas Williams in

1806 who built a farm with several outbuildings in the southern portion of the park near the present-day

Annunciation Church (Figure 2). In 1864, 20 acres in the eastern portion of the current park was sold to

Henry Wellington near where Centre and Allandale Streets intersect. This property was transferred to

Mary Souther in 1884. The Southers owned a farmhouse and associated buildings, possibly built by Wellington, and also had a substantial 1870’s spring-house built on top of a natural spring on the property (figure 2). The spring-house is still standing (figure 3).

The City of Boston purchased the remnants of the Williams estate in 1894 for the purpose of creating a connecting highway between the West Roxbury Parkway and Arnold Arboretum. This road, the VFW Parkway (figure 1) was eventually built in 1936. Sometime after 1894, a large wall with concrete top was built along the boundary between private and City-owned land within the park. This prominent landscape feature stretches nearly the width of the entire park.

In 1891, Mary (Weld) Pratt and Edward Brandegee built a large estate on the north side of

Allandale Woods with smaller buildings and out buildings located within private land on the northern boundary of Allandale Woods. This large Itallianate building included garden sheds and livestock buildings that can be found in ruin within the park alongside marble landscape elements from the

property’s formal gardens (figure 4).

The remaining area of the park not already owned by the City was purchased in 1975. Today,

Allandale woods is the second-largest unimproved park parcel in the City and is used daily by walkers,

joggers, and local residents for passive recreation.

Topographic Description

Allandale Woods consists of a hilly landscape dominated by massive outcroppings of Roxbury puddingstone surrounded by low-lying wetlands on the northern end of the property and rolling topography south of the VFW parkway (figure 2). Bisecting the property from west to east is the Bussey

Brook which flows in a narrow flood plain roughly along the route of the VFW Parkway. Man-made topographic modification is greatest along the southeastern edge of the park where buildings and quarries have cut into the southern edge of the prominent puddingstone outcrops along the VFW

Parkway.

Native American Sensitivity

While no Native sites are known within the park, there is great potential for their existence. Figure 5 illustrates the location of “high”, “medium”, and “low” sensitivity areas for Native American cultural materials. Sensitivity refers to the likelihood of there being preserved cultural materials in a given location. Cultural preferences range for site locations, but in general flat areas near water, prominent high places, locations with boulders that could be easily transformed into rock shelters with minimal construction, and areas near natural features such as waterfalls, confluences of rivers, and cliffs were preferred for camps, tool processing, ceremonial sites, or villages. For these reasons, relatively flat areas near or overlooking sources of fresh water were ranked as “high” as well as prominent points within the landscape that could have served as lookout points in less-vegetated conditions. “Medium” sensitivity was assigned to areas that possessed similar topographic characteristics of “high” areas, but their close proximity to even more favorable use areas or the lack of proximity to water made them less- likely to contain cultural materials, though still possible. Finally “low” areas were assigned to areas where steep topography, wetland, flood plain, greatly undulating topography, or recently modified landscape eliminated the likelihood that significant cultural materials would be located.

Post-1630 Sensitivity

During the research portion of this reconnaissance survey and during the walkover survey, several areas of archaeological concern became apparent. In general, though there is great use of the immediate area during the post-1630 period for farming, the areas around the park that contained the largest historic archaeological resources associated with the history presented earlier in this report lie just outside of the park’s boundaries. That said there are numerous historic resources located within Allandale woods.

Figure 6 illustrates the areas of low, moderate, and high sensitivity. High sensitivity was used to denote areas with known historic resources that were found either through the use of historic maps or through visual survey of the property. Moderate sensitivity is used to denote the area surrounding high sensitivity sites where activities related to the high sensitivity areas may have occurred but are less likely than within the site proper. Low areas are those were no visual or map-based evidence for human use beyond agricultural pursuits were visible.

At the eastern corner of the property (figure 6.1), the u-shaped fieldstone foundation of a probable late

19th or early 20th century ice house is located adjacent to the vernal pool. The collapsed roof is still visible within the foundation indicating it has fairly recently collapsed (figure 7)

Due West of the Springhouse Residents along the Spring House Trail, an area of brick supports and a concrete foundation were encountered just off trail (figures 6.2, 8). This area appears to be a 19th- century structure based on scattered white ware on the ground surface and is likely an outbuilding associated with the nearby Wellington-Souther property, now the Springhouse Residences.

Extant building foundations of a barn or animal pen were encountered at the northern edge of the

Allandale Woods near Rock Pond Trail (figures 6.3, 9). These foundations and associated scattered farm equipment and marble architectural elements are likely those discussed above as belonging to the 19th century Mary Pratt and Edward Brandegee property.

A lengthy cart path was encountered stretching across most of the park (figures 6.4, 10). This pathway appears to extend from the Pratt-Brandegee property along Rock Pond, and southwest to an unknown destination, and eastward towards a second unknown location. This historic resource is now incorporated into the larger of the pathways located within the park and visually and physically represents previous transportation routes through the property.

The post-1894 stone wall marking the boundary between city-owned and private land extends the entire east-west length of the park and is a prominent feature of the landscape (figures 6.5, 11). Several breaks in the wall allow passage over or through this feature. Stone steps up to the top of the wall serve the same purpose elsewhere.

A possible puddingstone quarry was encountered at the southern end of Rock Pond consisting of a flat- faced cliff of puddingstone in roughly-rectangular areas near an intersection of pathways (figures 6.6,

12). While this may be natural in origin, the flatness of the rock faces and overall shape of the localized area are visually distinctive from the surrounding outcrops of rock and indicate man-made modifications, likely quarrying.

The area around where Rock Pond Trail intersects Allandale Street at the northern edge of the Park is indicated in maps as belonging to the farm/property of the Brandegee-Pratt-Tufts families in the late

19th century. This area is designated high due to its concentration of historic buildings and a spring, nearby (figures 6.7, 13).

Just south of the Brandegee-Pratt-Tufts farm is a large u-shaped foundation cut into the hillside near the cart path next to Rock Pond (figures 6.8, 14). It is highly likely that this represents a large ice house built to hold ice harvested at the Rock Pond. Though no date can be easily assigned to the foundation, it is likely associated with the 19th century use of the nearby farm, though could date earlier.

Along the southern edge of Allandale Street, just over the stone wall marking the northern edge of

Allandale Woods, four well-like structures sit in a rough line along the street (figures 6.9, 15). Three of these appear to be made from fieldstones arranged in a circular shape and remain open to the air. The fourth structure is slightly smaller in width and currently has a iron cover. It is possible that the first three structures represent tree wells built around extant trees that needed protection from road fill as

Allandale Street was expanded. The fourth appears to be a true well structure, likely associated with the

Brandegee-Pratt property.

Returning to the Wellington-Souther property, the spring-house discussed above was encountered in good condition (figures 6.10, 16). While the actual well within the house was not visible, the building itself marks the wells location. Another well, now filled, was located just outside the spring-house foundation, likely an earlier well built in the location prior to the house. Both structures are likely mid-

19th century in origin.

Finally, a short segment of fieldstone wall of a far-less formal appearance of the boundary wall above was found extending from the parking area behind Boston Rehab Center to a large puddingstone outcrop. This likely represents a former boundary line between properties in the park. Maps in figure 3 and 4 indicate that it may mark the south western boundary between the Wellington-Souther property and the Williams property

Regarding the Williams Property, no above-ground indications of its existence were encountered north of the Annunciation Church property. It is likely that the entirety of the farm buildings seen in figure 3 was located in the lower flood plain of the river and has been heavily disturbed by the construction and landscaping associated with the Church.

Recommendations

Below-ground impacts and modifications including grading, digging, landscaping, removing of plants by their roots, and any other impacts to the ground in areas designated as “high” or “moderate” sensitivity should be avoided. If avoidance is not possible, the Boston Parks and Recreation Department should work with the City Archaeologist to mitigate impacts to known or potential sites through utilizing areas already disturbed or through archaeological survey as-needed. Modification of walls and cart pathways including removing stones, grading pathways, expanding pathways in width, and other changes to the historic character of these historic resources should be avoided. Walls should be made passable with steps instead of additional openings.

Below-ground impacts and modifications including grading, digging, landscaping, removing of plants including roots, and any other impacts to the ground in areas designated as “low” sensitivity do not require any archaeological mitigation or consultation.

Figures

Post-1630 Site Sensitivity High Medium Low

3. Barn Foundation 2. Concrete Foundation 1. Ice House Date Unknown Date Unknown 1890 Bonner Map 1905 Bonner Map Native American Site Sensitivity High Medium Low 9. Well structures 8. Ice House Date Unknown Date unknown

7. Brandegee/Tufts farm and Spring 19th century or earlier 10. Spring and well 19th century

6. Possible puddingstone quarry

Post-1630 Site Sensitivity High Medium Low

11. Stone Walls

3. Barn Foundation 2. Concrete Foundation 1. Ice House c. 1900 Date Unknown Date Unknown

5. Stone Wall 4. Carriage Path Post-1894 Date Unknown

Figure 7- Ice house foundation

Figure 8 Concrete foundation

Figure 9 Outbuilding with animal pens

Figure 10- Cart Path

Figure 11- Post- 1894 stone and concrete boundary wall

Figure 12- Possible quarry

Figure 14 Larger ice house foundation

Figure 15- Possible well features

Figure 16- Spring-house (background) and filled well (foreground) Allandale Woods: A Fragment of the First Families of Boston

Richard Heath and Richard B. Primack

Weeds, wildflowers, and history come together in this little-known corner of the city.

A turn down Allandale Street from the bus- of the present-day Arnold Arboretum, was the tle and traffic of Center Street in Jamaica Plain ancestral grounds of a number of old Boston is a turn down a country road, crowded with families, including the famous Weld family of trees and lined by sturdy stone walls. Boston’s Roxbury, once again prominent because of the last working farm, Allandale Farm, can be election of William Weld as present governor seen from the road. In the summer it sells of Massachusetts. fresh sweet corn; in the autumn it sells sweet Across Center Street from the Arnold cider mashed from its own apples. The road Arboretum (between Allandale Street and the straightens out past the farm, and on the left VFW Parkway), visitors can explore for them- is a deeply shaded, wooden gate that leads into selves the 31-acre Allandale Woods, a jigsaw Walnut Hill Cemetery, the resting place of puzzle of City of Boston parkland and private Professor C. S. Sargent, the first director of the land to which conservation restrictions have Arnold Arboretum, and his good friend, the been applied. The Boston Natural Areas Fund architect H. H. Richardson. (BNAF) has taken the lead in managing the Also located on the road is the very private, property, which has a special connection to early twentieth-century Brandegee estate with the Arnold Arboretum in that both were part its decaying Italianate gardens. The center- of the original land grant to Joseph Weld that piece of the estate is an enormous Georgian included much of modern-day Jamaica Plain. house set on a great hilltop terrace overlook- Superficially, the Allandale Woods looks like ing sweeping green meadows. Opposite the an ordinary oak and maple forest of the former stables and the carriage house of the metropolitan Boston area, most of it an Brandegee estate, now the stables of the undulating glacial landscape of ridges and val- Boston Police Department, is a seemingly leys, streams, and rocky outcroppings of Rox- nondescript clump of woods, the Allandale bury pudding stone, but records reveal it as a Woods, the subject of this article. It is typical place of considerable historical interest as of the secondary growth that invades old well. fields, once they are no longer used for graz- A careful observer can see remnants of old ing. This fragment of land, along with much farm walls, estate boundaries, abandoned

The old spnnghouse on the grounds of the former Souther estate, which once tapped into Allandale spring. This structure is located on privately owned property adjacent to the publicly held portion of the Allandale Woods. Photo by P. Del Tredici. 34

apple orchards, and old foundations that The land remained in the Weld family until clearly indicate former uses nf the land Proh- 1806 During that year Coionpl Fleazer Weld/ ably the most exceptional structure in the great-great-grandson of Captain Joseph, sold Allandale Woods is a six-sided wooden spring- off a large portion of his estate to pay debts house with a conical cap tipped by a large he may have incurred while supporting the metal ball. This crumbling structure, built in Revolutionary Army. What was to become the the 1870s, sits over a pipe that taps the Allan- most famous hundred acres went to Benjamin dale Spring, a famous source of water in the Bussey, a wealthy silversmith and owner of a region. Surrounding the springhouse are woollen mill. Bussey’s estate is today part of several ancient, overgrown apple trees. the Arnold Arboretum. The rest of the land-along the future VFW Early History Parkway and what is now the Allandale The human story of the Allandale Woods Woods-became the estate of Thomas B. Wil- begins with the Indians who had camps and liams. On a site near the rear of the present- lodges in the Saw Mill Brook valley until 1000 day Church of the Annunciation, Williams B.C. This area was presumably hospitable, built a farm that operated for most of the with abundant running water and level nineteenth century. In 1864, Williams sold ground. When the first English settlers arrived twenty acres of his land facing Allandale in the region, Algonquin Indians lived not far Street to Henry W Wellington, and twenty away, near the Neponset River Valley in years later, the land was purchased by Maria Quincy, making it easy to imagine Indian hun- Souther, probably also a Wellington. The ters and fishermen moving through the Souther estate consisted of a grand two-and- primeval Allandale Woods. one-half-story house set on a curving terrace. The historical record begins on June 5, Below the house was a sixty-foot-long green- 1632, when the Reverend Thomas Weld and house and a meandering stream, with the his brother Joseph arrived in Boston and set- springhouse built at its source and with a tled in Roxbury. Joseph Weld became the cap- pond downstream. Maria Souther’s daughter, tain of the Roxbury militia, and fought in the Marguerite, lived here until 1968 when the first major Indian war in the New England set- house, greenhouse, and spring were sold to the tlements, the Pequot War of 1637. After Faulkner Hospital. defeating the Indians, Weld was one of the Numerous remnants of the Souther estate commissioners who negotiated the peace can still be seen in the Allandale Woods, such treaty; a grateful Governor Winthrop rewarded as the curving drive with its enormous oaks Captain Weld handsomely with a large estate and sugar maples. Unkempt crabapples, in the western end of Roxbury called Jamaica ornamental cherries, and butternut trees per- End. sist near the building site. The huge, over- There is evidence to suggest that this estate grown apple trees along the stream survive but covered all of the land from the present-day do not fruit under the shade of nearby trees. Arboretum to the VFW Parkway and north to The six-sided springhouse, with its conical the spring along Allandale Street. The roof, remains elegant even as it falls into ruin. property was used as a large farm for growing The meadow below the old estate is still beau- the crops of the day-rye, corn, squash, pump- tiful with black-eyed Susans, crown vetch, and kins, apples, beans, tobacco, and hay for feed- other wildflowers. Yet the vigorous growth of ing livestock. Much of the labor for the huge poplars, aspens, and other trees in the meadow farm apparently came from Indian and black suggests that the area will soon again become slaves until Massachusetts outlawed slavery a woodland. in 1783. The remnants of the field boundaries The remainder of the Williams farm was can still be seen in the low rock walls found purchased by the City of Boston in December throughout the Allandale Woods. 1894 to build a parkway that would connect 35

One of two enormous sugar maples that line what was once the drive leadmg to the Souther estate, now pri- vately owned. Photo by P Del Jredici. the Arnold Arboretum and Franklin Park to Country Club and included a 79-room, neo- the Stony Brook Reservation. The landscape Georgian house and Italian gardens on the architectural firm of Olmsted, Olmsted and north side of the Allandale Woods. Broken Eliot furnished detailed plans in 1896, but the slabs of marble, pieces of Romanesque statu- Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Parkway was ary, and rusty mowing machines can still be not completed until 1936. A great stone and seen in the tumbledown garden sheds. Nearby cement wall was built at some point to are covered stalls that were once used for keep- separate these city lands from the private ing domestic animals. lands to the north. When this wall was built and who built it has yet to be discovered. It Vegetation is about eighteen inches wide and about three After three centuries of use both for farming feet high, and runs up and down the steep and for the cutting of firewood, the Allandale landscape. Woods today is a young forest with mostly Between 1891 and 1905, Allandale Woods small trees that have colonized the area. The became part of a second extensive Weld estate, dominant vegetation along the sides and tops that of Mary (Weld) Pratt who married Edward of the ridges consists of oak trees (including Brandegee, a wealthy clothing manufacturer, the white, black, red, chestnut, and scarlet in 1902. Her 195-acre estate extended as far species) with an understory of blueberry and as Newton Street opposite the Brookline huckleberry bushes. White pines are surpris- 36

pignut hickory, and shagbark hickory. In many nf t~,aea ara.,o p~ti!:1,l12rly ~.~hP., rl;ar,~,-l.o~ hm dumping, there isis a densedense understoryunderstory of alderalder buckthorn and common buckthorn, mul- tiflora rose, gooseberry, and a truly prolific growth of poison ivy that covers the ground and grows up tree trunks. On the edge of some of the most disturbed wet ground are large eastern cottonwoods, Asian cork trees, and castor aralias, the last two most likely started from seeds carried by birds from the nearby Arnold Arboretum. In the center of these disturbed areas of dumping and old quarrying, one finds a tan- gle of vines, such as wild grape, bindweed, Vir- ginia creeper, catbriars, oriental bittersweet, and brambles. The wildflowers found in the Allandale Woods are almost exclusively weedy species characteristic of disturbed ground (butter-and-eggs, Canada hawkweed, goldenrods, asters, yarrow, and garlic mustard). Some of these are either escaped or persisting ornamentals, such as lily-of-the-valley and dame’s rocket. Presumably because of the heavy human impact, only a few native wood- land herbs are now found in the Allandale The long boundary wall that runs through part of the Woods including bastard toadflax, wild ger- Allandale Woods. Photo by P. Del Tredici. anium, Indian pipes, sarsaparilla, dogbane, false indigo bush, yellow gerardia, cow wheat, Solomon’s seal, wild lily-of-the-valley, and ingly rare, only occurring as a few scattered false Solomon’s seal. trees near the old garden sheds. Openings in the forest contain small trees of black cherry, An Ecological Experiment trembling aspen, sassafras, gray birch, and Many common perennial wildflowers do not sweet cherry. Common herbs include wild occur in the Allandale Woods even though lily-of-the-valley and sarsaparilla. These ridge they are common in conservation areas only tops have thin, dry soil, which makes them a few miles away. Apparently during the prone to fire, such as the one that burned a period of intensive farming, many species section of the woods in 1988. were eliminated from the landscape and have On slopes that are damper and more pro- been unable to return to the site via natural tected, hickories, hemlocks, and beeches seed dispersal. In the fall of 1989, the BNAF become more common, with numerous decided to introduce a number of common sprouts of American chestnut, patches of the perennial species into the Allandale Woods in maple-leaved viburnum, and scattered clumps an attempt to increase the number of native of ghostly white Indian pipes. On these lower, wildflower species present and to test alter- damper slopes the forest is composed primar- native techniques for species introductions. ily of red maples and black birch, with scat- The first part of the project involved collect- tered ash, sugar maple, mockernut hickory, ing wild adult plants of foam flower (Tiarella 37

A distinctive outcrop of Roxbury pudding stone capped with a glacial erratic, known as Table Rock. Photo by P. Del Tredici. cordifolia), partridgeberry (Mitchella repens), late summer of 1990 and again in the spring Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides), of 1991. Based on these limited observations, wood lily (Clintonia borealis), Jack-in-the- it is apparent that all species, with the possi- pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), Indian cucum- ble exception of Indian cucumber root, have ber root (Medeola viiginiana), shining club survived transplantation. The Jack-in-the- moss (Lycopodium lucidulum), wood sorrel pulpit, foam flower, and wood lily all flowered (Oxalis montana), and wintergreen in 1991. (Gaultheria procumbens) from woods in New- While the success of the adult transplants ton, Massachusetts, and Sunapee, New Hamp- demonstrates that the Allandale Woods is shire. With the exception of Jack-in-the-pulpit, suitable for the growth of native species that which is rare in Allandale Woods, none of do not occur there naturally, the experiment these species apparently grows here even does not say anything about the process of though the site looks suitable for all eight spe- their establishment from seed. In an attempt cies. These plants were transplanted onto to investigate this crucial phase of their life what appeared to be suitable sites along the cycle, the seeds of ten additional species were path running from so-called Table Rock down obtained from the New England Wildflower along an old rock wall into a wooded dell. The Society and introduced into the Allandale transplants were checked in the spring and Woods at specific marked points during the 38

Allandale Woods and the surrounding area. The main public trail begms behmd the ornate Church of Our Lady of the Annunciation (arrow) and turns through the oak woodland to the distinctive outcrop and flat boulder known as Table Rock. ,’. fall of 1989. None of the species selected Species that grow in four different types of occurred in the woods, yet there were many habitats were selected for the experiment. sites that looked as if they were at least poten- Seeds of the first group were planted in open, tially suitable for the species. The purpose of disturbed ground and included butterfly weed using seeds was to simulate the natural (Asclepias tuberosa) and coneflower (Rud- process of establishment of new plant popu- beckia sp.). The second group, planted in lations through seed dispersal by animals or lightly shaded, open forest, included colum- wind. bine (Aquilegia canadensis), harebell (Cam- 39

panula rotundifolia), and wild pink (Silene for the appearance of seedlings from the caroliniana). The third group, planted in experimental seed introductions and for the shaded forest with rich soil, consisted of wild persistence of the adult transplants. The ginger (Asarum canadense), golden alexander results will help to determine which tech- (Zizia aurea) and painted trillium [Tiillium nique is the most effective for increasing the undulatum). The fourth group, planted along biological diversity of a young, disturbed wet stream banks, included cardinal flower conservation area, with the ultimate goal of (Lobelia cardinalis) and cow parsnip (Her- partially restoring the original species com- acleum sphondylium). position. A cursory check of the sites in the late sum- During the last three-and-a-half centuries, mer of 1990 and the spring of 1991 did not re- the land has been the scene of key events both veal any seedlings of any of these species. in New England history and in the history of These failures suggest that the successful the Weld family, with a cast of characters establishment of new populations from seed including Puritans, soldiers, farmers, slaves, is probably a rare event, with many apparently Revolutionary War patriots, merchant princes, suitable sites for a species actually being and, most recently, estate owners and unsuitable for unknown reasons. Another pos- dowagers who have built homes fit for royalty. sibility is that under field conditions the seeds An appreciation of this history can add to the may have to undergo a long period of dor- enjoyment of a stroll through the Allandale mancy before they will germinate. Under Woods-far from the sounds of the modern laboratory conditions there appears to be con- world. siderable variability among these species in their seed dormancy requirements. Seeds of Acknowledgments weed after butterfly germinated vigorously As it exists today, Allandale Woods consists of thirty-one three months of cold stratification, golden acres of publicly owned or publicly accessible conserva- alexander seed required two three-month epi- tion land. The Boston Natural Areas Fund, a nonprofit sodes of stratification, and painted trillium organization dedicated to the preservation of urban green and the Boston Conservation Commission have seeds did not germinate at all after two periods space, worked together for the past twelve years to protect Allan- of stratification. dale Woods through the outright purchase of land, with Our experience in finding adult transplants public and private funds, and through the procurement far more effective than seed in establishing of conservation restrictions. The material in this article is the result of new populations is in agreement with the presented a with from the conclusions reached numerous other work- project sponsored by BNAF, funding by Boston Parks and Recreation Department, to protect and ers who have tried to recreate wildflower enhance the city-owned Allandale Woods. meadows and prairie communities. Simply placing seeds in a new environment is gener- ally not enough to achieve successful plant establishment. Richard Heath is a landscape management consultant for These sites in the Allandale Woods will the Boston Natural Areas Fund, and Richard Primack is continue to be monitored in the years ahead a Professor of Biology at Boston University.