The Agassiz Neighborhood Path A walk through history, culture, and the arts in the cambridge agassiz neighborhood

A program of the Agassiz Baldwin Community map, street & tree walk inside Organized by the 2011 Agassiz Baldwin Community Contributors: Judith Elstein, Alice Evans, Cushing Giesey, Andrea Kadomiya, Deborah Lee, Sherry Leffert, Fred Meyer, Jean Rogers, Phoebe Sinclair, Catherine Weller, Seddon Wylde The Agassiz Neighborhood Path A walk through history, culture, and the arts in the cambridge agassiz neighborhood

Welcome to the Agassiz Neighborhood Path. Our path is designed to delight and enlighten you as you walk. The Mayo Clinic recommends walking as a gentle, low-impact exercise that can lead to a higher level of fitness and health. A routine of walking 5 days a week for 30 minutes can help you lower cholesterol levels and blood pressure, reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, manage weight and improve your mood.* For your enjoyment we’ve identified 28 historic places and 31 types of trees. In coming years, we plan to add additional paths with information about different sites and plant life. If you know something we should add or correct, please let us know at agassiz.org or 617–349–6287.

Happy walking, Agassiz Baldwin Community

*Read more at www.mayoclinic.com/health/walking/HQ01612 Somerville Ave

To Porter Square Train Station

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Beacon St

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Prentiss St. Begin Neighborhood Walk Prentiss St. Somerville 20 Sacramento Street, Cambridge, MA

Garfield St. Eustis St. Agassiz Baldwin Community 1 4 Beacon St 20 Sacramento Street This building, the first on Sacramento St, was erected by Crescent St. A Charles McClure after he returned from the gold rush. 5 Agassiz Baldwin Community (abc) is a private, non-profit, Sacramento St Sacramento St tax-exempt corporation providing services and programs 1 Begin D 3 B C Carver St.E for Cambridge residents. The agency works to reflect the 2 diversity and talents of the community. Originally a Cambridge Community School, in 2007 the name was Wendell St changed to Agassiz Baldwin Community to better reflect Wendell St the center’s citywide functions and constituency, and to 24 honor Maria Louise Baldwin, the first African-American Oxford St. F headmistress in . Maud Morgan Arts is a Hammond St program of ABC. www.agassiz.org Beacon St Mellen St Hammond St Museum St 23 K 22 Francis Ave 6 Maud Morgan Arts 2 13 20 Sacramento Street, to the rear of ABC I Lesley University 11 Irving St Named for artist and community resident Maud Morgan (1903–1999), the art center brings people together to make 21 14 Everett St and share art, and support visual arts education. Prellwitz G 19 12 Chilinski Associates designed the building with the colla- Bryant St boration of nine Cambridge artists who created site-specific MassachusettsAvenue public artwork that inspires creative exploration. Light-filled 10 studios, integrated artwork, colorful accent walls, and 7 landscaping enhance the art-making experience. 20 8 18 Classes for artists of all ages and levels are offered in J Oxford St. studios designed for ceramics, printmaking, painting/drawing, 15 9 and sculpture. Participants can attend life drawing sessions, 16 workshops, film screenings, or rent a studio for independent 17 work. www.maudmorganarts.org Divinity Ave Harvard University Kirkland St

To Harvard Square Train Station 2 | agassiz neighborhood path Kirkland St Somerville Ave

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Garfield St. Eustis St. Maria L Baldwin School 3 4 Beacon St Oxford and Sacramento Streets The original school, an eight-room brick structure with Crescent St. 25 End A granite trimming, was completed in 1875 and named 26 27 5 for Professor , a Swiss-American naturalist Sacramento St 1 Begin D who taught at Harvard University. The school has 3 B C Carver St.E been replaced twice by larger buildings. In 2002, the 2 School Committee changed the name to Maria L. Baldwin School, honoring the African-American Canta- Wendell St brigian who served as principal and later masterWendell St 4 of the school from 1889–1922. In 191524 with Baldwin’s prompting, a new school was built. www.cpsd.us/bal/ Oxford St. F Tree Reference Guide Hammond St 4 Oxford Street Laundry and Oxford Spa Page 16 Beacon St 102-104 Oxford Street Mellen St Hammond St Museum St 23 K 22 Francis Ave 6 A sign in the window of the laundry declares:“This 13 I laundromat was in the movie... Love Story.Lesley University” The romantic 11 Irving St 1970 film starred Ali McGraw and Ryan O’Neal. The 14 laundry’s shelves are packed with low-priced recycled 21 Everett St G books — perhaps you’ll find a copy of the novel by Erich 12 Segal there. www.imdb.com Bryant St 19

From outside, high above MassachusettstheAvenue laundry’s entrance, notice the words: “Macklin’s Conservatory.” Constructed 10 in 1929 by the Macklin family, this building housed 7 both the conservatory and a candy store that later 20 8 18 became a grocery and then the Oxford Spa, now a J Oxford St. popular local cafe. 15 9 16

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Divinity Ave Harvard University Kirkland St

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Roseland St. William Dean Howells House 5 41 Sacramento Street William Dean Howells (1837–1920), author and editor of The Atlantic Monthly, lived here from 1866 to 1870. The bracketed Italianate house was built in 1857 by developer Charles McClure after his return from the California gold rush. Howells described the neighborhood in Suburban Sketches,Beacon published St in 1872, as “a frontier between city MassachusettsAvenue Forest St. and country” where “the voices of the cows” mingled with the whistles of nearby locomotives. By the time he and his wife, Elinor, left for Berkeley Street, most of the cows had Exeter Pk moved on and the vacant lots were filled with houses. The construction of a two-family house across the street and Prentiss St. Prentissthe arrival St. of an Irish family apparently dismayed Howells and led to his departure. The house has Somervillebeen designated a historic landmark by the city and is currently being renovated. Garfield St. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Dean_Howells Eustis St. 4 Beacon St

Crescent St. 25 End A 26 27 5 Sacramento St 1 Begin D 3 B C Carver St.E 2

Wendell St Wendell St 24 Oxford St. F Hammond St

Beacon St Mellen St Hammond St Museum St 23 K 22 Francis Ave 6 13 I Lesley University 11 Irving St

21 14 Everett St G 12 Bryant St 19

MassachusettsAvenue 10

7 20 8 18 J Oxford St. 15 9 16

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Divinity Ave Harvard University Kirkland St

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Kirkland St Somerville Ave

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Garfield St. Eustis St. 4 Beacon St

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Wendell St Wendell St 24 Oxford St. F Hammond St

Beacon St Mellen St Hammond St Museum St 23 K 22 Francis Ave 6 American Academy of Arts and Sciences 136 I Lesley UniversityCorner of Carver and Irving Streets 11 Irving St Founded in 1780 by a group that included John Adams and 21 14 Everett St John Hancock, the Academy’s 4,000 elected members G 12 conduct independent scholarly research on the challenges Bryant St facing American society. After meeting in a 19variety of

MassachusettsAvenue locations in the area for its first 200 years, the Academy 10 is now located in Norton’s Woods, part of the former 7 20 8 Charles Eliot Norton estate, Shady Hill. The 18building, com- J pleted in 1981, Oxfordwas St. designed by Kallmann McKinnell & 15 Wood. The style shows influences ranging from Tuscan villas 9 16 to the Arts & Crafts movement. 17

A part of the estate was developed as houseDivinity Avelots for Harvard Harvard Universityfaculty by Charles Eliot Norton (the first professor of art Kirkland St history) in 1888. After Norton’s death, the house, built in

1806,To Harvard Square served as the residence of the directors of the Fogg Museum.Train Station Following the demolition of the house in 1960, Harvard proposed up to 300 housing units for theKirkland remaining St area of the estate, but abandoned the idea after opposition from the neighborhood. www.amacad.org

E. E. Cummings house 7 104 Irving Street Edward Estlin Cummings (1894–1962) was an influential poet whose experiments with form, punctuation, spelling, and syntax led him to create idiosyncratic poetry. He attended Agassiz Grammar School, Cambridge Latin, and Harvard College. His first book, The Enormous Room (1922) was a memoir about life in a French prison camp during World War I. Tulips and Chimneys (1923), a book of poetry revealed the playful language and celebrations of freedom that became his trademark. Cummings was also a visual artist who drew and painted from nature and from his active imagination. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._E._Cummings

5 Josiah Royce/ Julia Child house 8 103 Irving Street Josiah Royce (1855–1916), prolific writer on ethics, Christian faith, and philosophy of community, came to Harvard from California to fill in for philo- sopher William James during a sabbatical and stayed on. Close colleagues, Royce and James were often at odds but influenced each other on key issues, particularly sources of truth, knowledge, and religious experience. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josiah_Royce Julia Child (1912–2004) and her husband, Paul, moved here in 1961 after years of living in Europe. Julia had studied at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and wrote Mastering the Art of French Cooking, published in 1961, with Simone Beck and Louis- ette Bertholle. The popularity of the book and the public television series The French Chef made her a cultural icon. Her television shows in the 1990s, starting with Julia’s Kitchen with Master Chefs, were filmed in her kitchen. When she moved to California in 2001, the house was donated to her alma mater, Smith College, which sold it and used the proceeds to build a Campus Center. Julia’s kitchen was moved in its entirety to the Smith- sonian’s National Museum of American History, where it is now on display. http://bit.ly/pMPz11

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Garfield St. Eustis St. 4 Beacon St

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Wendell St Wendell St 24 Oxford St. F Hammond St

Beacon St Mellen St Hammond St Museum St 23 K 22 Francis Ave 6 13 I Lesley University 11 Irving St

21 14 Everett St G 12 Bryant St 19

MassachusettsAvenue 10

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Divinity Ave William James House 9 Harvard University Kirkland St 95 Irving Street William James (1842–1910) impacted both psychology and To Harvard Square philosophy. By closely observing, documenting, and reflecting Train Station on human experiences, he challenged academic theories about thoughts, actions, and choices. James studied both Kirkland St science and medicine at Harvard. From 1871 onward, he taught at Harvard, moving from the department of physiology to psychology and then philosophy. plato.stanford.edu/entries/james/

J. K. Galbraith House 10 30 Francis Avenue Built in 1905 on “Professor’s Row” this colonial was home to Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006). A Keynesian, proponent of political liberalism and a prolific author, he was arguably the best-known economist in the country. He served in the administrations of presidents Roose- velt, Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson and was twice awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. A 1955 FBI security check said of him: “Investigation favor- able except conceited, egotistical, and snobbish.” President Kennedy once asked Dr. Galbraith his opinion of a New York Times profile. Galbraith said he had liked it well enough, but wondered why it had called him arrogant. “I don’t see why not,” the President said, “everybody else does.” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Galbraith

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Crescent St. 25 End A 26 27 5 Sacramento St 1 Begin D 3 B C Carver St.E 2 Center for the Study of World Religions 11 Wendell St Wendell St42 Francis Avenue 24 Constructed in 1960, the building was designed by Catalonian architectOxford St. Josep Lluís Sert, then dean F of Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. The Hammond St original building was primarily residential, with Beacon St Mellen St Hammond St Museum St 23 nineteen apartments for Kfellows and22 the director, Francis Ave 6 13 as well as an administrative wing. An open-air I Lesley Universitycourtyard, enclosed by the building on three sides, 11 Irving St

became a favorite “green21 place” 14on the campus. Everett St The building offers doctoral students and visiting G 12 scholars, many from outside of the US, the Bryant St chance to enrich their studies of world religious 19

MassachusettsAvenue traditions by daily interaction with one another. 10 www.hds.harvard.edu/cswr/ 7 20 8 Andover-Harvard Theological Library 12 18 J Oxford St. 45 Francis Avenue 15 Andover Hall, an affiliated project of the Andover 9 16 Theological Seminary and Harvard Divinity School, was completed in 1911. The building is 17 Divinity Ave Harvard UniversityHarvard’s only example of the style known as Kirkland St “Collegiate Gothic.” The architects, Allen & Collens, also designed Riverside Church (1930) andTo TheHarvard Square Cloisters (1938) in New York City. Train Station www.hds.harvard.edu/library/bms/ Kirkland St

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Garfield St. Eustis St. 4 Beacon St

Crescent St. 25 End A 5 26 27 Sacramento St 1 Begin D 3 B C Carver St.E 2

Wendell St Wendell St 13 Labyrinth24 at Harvard Divinity School Museum Street behind Andover Hall Oxford St. F The pattern is modeled after one made in the 13th Hammond St

century in Chartres Cathedral in France. Unlike a Beacon St Hammond St Museum St maze, a labyrinthMellen is unicursaSt — a single path to the 23 K 22 Francis Ave 6 center and out again — preventing the possibility 13 I that the walkerLesley University will ever be lost. Walking for a 11 Irving St sacred purpose is a universal human activity found 14 in many religious traditions. From pilgrimages to 21 Everett St G Mecca and Jerusalem to meandering hikes through 12 the forests, spiritual seekers know the allure and Bryant St 19

MassachusettsAvenue power of walking a sacred path. The labyrinth is a spiritual tool inviting the traveler to turn walking 10 and wandering into pilgrimage. 7 http://hvrd.me/labyrinthdivinity 20 8 18 J Whales, Northwest Laboratory BuildingOxford St. 14 15 52 Oxford Street 9 16 Skeletons of a killer whale and a northern bottlenose whale diving and breaching enliven 17 Divinity Ave the lobby and lower level of this building. Harvard University Kirkland St Both skeletons were restored to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Harvard Mus- eum of Comparative Zoology’s To foundingHarvard Square in 1859. These highly social animals liveTrain Station in all the world’s oceans. In western culture killer whales have a Kirkland St reputation as fearsome predators. The northern bottlenose whale is found in the deep waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. This specimen was collected in the 1930s near the Faroe Islands. http://hvrd.me/northwestlab

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Crescent St. 25 End A 5 26 27 Sacramento St 1 Begin Harvard Museum of Natural History 15 D 3 B C 26 Oxford Street Carver St.E 2 The Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University is a center for research and education concerning the comparative relationships of animal life. It was founded in 1859 primarily through the efforts of LouisWendell Agassiz. Present-daySt Wendell St collections comprise approximately 21-million extant and 24 fossil invertebrate and vertebrate specimens. Of special interest are the 3,000 life-size, botanically correct, Glass Flowers Oxford St. created by the Blaschka family. www.hmnh.harvard.edu F Hammond St Peabody Museum 11 Divinity Avenue 16 Beacon St Hammond St Museum St Mellen St Founded in 1866 by George Peabody who has been called 23 the founder Kof modern philanthropy,22 the Peabody Museum Francis Ave 6 of Archaeology & Ethnology is one of the oldest museums 13 in the world devoted to anthropology.I It houses one of the Lesley University Irving St most comprehensive records of human cultural history in 11 the Western Hemisphere including six million objects and 500,000 photographs.21 www.peabody.harvard.edu14 Everett St G 12 Bryant St 19

MassachusettsAvenue 10

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Divinity Ave Harvard University Kirkland St

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Kirkland St Semitic Museum 17 6 Divinity Avenue The Semitic Museum, founded in 1889, houses over 40,000 Near Eastern artifacts, most deriving from museum- sponsored excavations in Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Tunisia. The Museum, which shares its building with Harvard’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and Center for Jewish Studies, is dedicated to the use of these collections for the investigation and teaching of Near Eastern archaeology, history, and culture. The museum welcomes visitors and offers guided docent tours and exhibits that are open to the general public. www.semiticmuseum.fas.harvard.edu Rhinoceros Sculptures at Biological Laboratories 16 Divinity Avenue 18 The rhinos guarding the entrance to the Harvard Biological Laboratories building were sculpted by Katharine Lane (later Katharine Lane Weems, 1899–1989). Lane also created the animal friezes on the building façade and the three doors with bronze depictions of organisms of the sea, air, and land. The rhinos, weighing three tons each, were unveiled on May 12, 1937, the day George VI was crowned, leading Lane to call the event a “rhino coronation.” Bessie (right) and Victoria (left) were both modeled after a female Indian rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis) at the New York Zoolog- ical Gardens. Copies of the Harvard sculptures were installed there in 1989. http://bit.ly/rhinosculptures

11 Somerville Ave

To Porter Square Train Station

Roseland St.

Beacon St

MassachusettsAvenue Forest St.

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Prentiss St. Prentiss St. Somerville

Garfield St. Eustis St. 4 Beacon St

Crescent St. 25 End A 26 27 5 Sacramento St 1 Begin D 3 B C Carver St.E 2

Wendell St Wendell St 24 Oxford St. F Hammond St

Beacon St Mellen St Hammond St Museum St 23 K 22 Francis Ave 6 13 I Lesley University 11 Irving St

21 14 Everett St G 12 Harvard Cyclotron Laboratory (HCL) 19 Bryant St NE of the NW19 building on Oxford Street

MassachusettsAvenue HCL was built with Office of Naval Research10 funds to replace an earlier cyclotron that was sent 7 20 to Los Alamos for use in the Manhattan Project. 8 18 J From 1949 to 2002, the HCL was notable for its Oxford St. 15 contributions to the development of proton 9 therapy:16 using a beam of protons to irradiate dis- eased tissue with minimal damage to healthy 17

tissue and surroundingDivinity Ave organs. The use of proton Harvard University particle accelerators for external beam radio- Kirkland St therapy was developed here in collaboration with General Hospital. HCL pro- To Harvard Square Train Station vided proton therapy to over 9,000 patients and treatment for ocular diseases to nearly 3,000 Kirkland St patients. neurosurgery.mgh.harvard.edu/hcl

Maxwell Dworkin Building 20 33 Oxford Street A dramatic example of the uses of illusion in architecture, Harvard’s Maxwell Dworkin is a 100,000 sq. ft. building with a one-inch-wide front wall. The architects, Payette Associates, describe the design on its “constrained pie- shaped site” as “a brick exterior wall [that] wraps the building to the north and complements the traditional structures on the adjacent quad. Facing the street, a lighter…façade of glass curtainwall and aluminum sunscreens celebrates the role of technology and discovery….” Dedicated in 2000 and given the surnames of the mothers of its two benefactors, Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Steven Ballmer, the building supposedly stands on the spot where Bill Gates wrote the code for the software that became Microsoft’s first product. http://hvrd.me/dworken

12 | agassiz neighborhood path Somerville Ave

To Porter Square Train Station

Roseland St.

Beacon St

MassachusettsAvenue Forest St.

Exeter Pk

Prentiss St. Prentiss St. Somerville

Garfield St. Eustis St. 4 Beacon St

Crescent St. 25 End A 26 27 5 Sacramento St 1 Begin D 3 B C Carver St.E 2

Wendell St Wendell St 24 Oxford St. F Hammond St

Beacon St Mellen St Hammond St Museum St 23 K 22 Francis Ave 6 13 I Lesley University 11 Irving St

21 14 Everett St G 12 Bryant St 19

MassachusettsAvenue 10 Engineering Sciences Lab (ESL) 21 58-60 Oxford Street 7 20 8 The ESL is one of a pair of designs commissioned by Harvard in 18 1964– 65 from architectJ Minoru Yamasaki (the other building is William Oxford St. James Hall at 33 Kirkland Street, described15 by Robert Bell Rettig as “rising fourteen stories in aloof disregard of its surroundings”). The austere 9 white surface of ESL’s Oxford Street elevation, punctuated16 with ground-to-roof window channels, reflects Yamasaki’s late-60s fascination17

with verticality, which reached its apotheosis in his 1970 designDivinity for Ave Harvard Universitythe Twin Towers of the New York World Trade Center. Kirkland St The structure is incrementally massed from the low Hammond Street end to the full four-story height of the main structure at the south end of the building. The resulting visual lightness has been used to To Harvard Square advantage by subsequent designers who were able to cram multiple Train Station big-box structures behind it, using its ethereal facade as a foil. www.seas.harvard.edu/ Kirkland St

Palfrey House 18 Hammond Street22 After living in Divinity Hall with his students for several months, Rev. John Gorham Palfrey (1796 – 1881), the first dean of the Harvard Divinity School, built a family home near this site in 1831. Palfrey, a Unitarian clergyman and historian, later served as a state representative and congressman from Massachusetts. The house was the Palfrey family’s residence until 1916 when it was bought by Harvard. It stands today as Palfrey House, part of the Department of Physics. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_G._Palfrey

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To Porter Square Train Station

Roseland St.

Beacon St

MassachusettsAvenue Forest St.

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Prentiss St. Prentiss St. Somerville

Garfield St. Eustis St. 4 Beacon St

Crescent St. 25 End A 26 27 5 Sacramento St 1 Begin D 3 B C Carver St.E 2

Wendell St Wendell St 24 Mellen Street 23 Oxford St. F Though just one short block, this street Hammond St is an outstanding outdoor museum Beacon St Mellen St of Victorian houseHammond styles, St mostly from Museum St 23 the 1870sK and 1880s,22 including Greek Francis Ave 6 13 Revival, Bracketed Italianate,I French Lesley University Irving St Mansard, Queen Anne and Craftsman. 11 Many of21 the houses14 are now owned Everett St by Lesley University and are part of G 12 its main campus. Bryant St 19

MassachusettsAvenue North Hall 24 10 1651 Massachusetts Avenue 7 20 8 This Harvard Law School dorm was formerly a Holiday Inn built 18 J in the 1960s. Once it had an outdoor swimmingOxford St. pool that was enjoyed by Agassiz area residents. Today Agassiz Baldwin Community15 has 9 use of a room in the basement of North Hall for programming and 16 community events. 17

Divinity Ave Sacramento FieldHarvard University and Bleachery Reservoir 25 Kirkland St Sacramento Street

Sacramento Field was once the To siteHarvard Square of a reservoir that supplied water for a facility operated by the MiddlesexTrain Station Bleach, Dye, and Print Works at

550 Somerville Avenue. The company was founded in 1801, and the Kirkland St reservoir dates to sometime after 1854. A steam-driven pump sent 100,000 gallons of water per day from the spring-fed reservoir through a pipe to the company’s plant. A 1922 newspaper article described the reservoir as stocked with fish and surrounded by grape arbors, fruit trees, and flowers, making it “one of the beauty spots of Cambridge.” The company closed in 1936, and the land was taken by the city for recreational use in 1980 after an attempt by Harvard to build faculty housing on the site.

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Prentiss St. Prentiss St. Mansard Houses 26 Somerville 9-19 Sacramento Street The two brick 1879 Mansard-roofed buildings Garfield St. originally comprised six townhouses. The Eustis St. Beacon St Cambridge Architectural Inventory notes the 4 unusual arrangement whereby the symmetry Crescent St. of the bays has been broken by asymmetrical 25 End A doors: two on one side, one on the other. 26 27 5 Also unique are the effects of the bay projections Sacramento St 1 Begin D carrying into the Mansard roof, the indented 3 B C Carver St.E cross brickwork pattern that divides the façade 2 horizontally and the window treatment of red- dish stone lintels paired with black stone sills. Wendell St Wendell St 24 Sacramento Street Community Garden 27 Oxford St. F 21 Sacramento Street Hammond St Occupying the site of the M. A. Crosby house, built about 1850 and Beacon St known for its attractive garden filled with berries and fruit trees, Mellen St Hammond St Museum St 23 K 22 Francis Ave 6 the Community Garden was begun in 1974. It contains approximately 13 sixty plots. Member gardeners who share maintenance tasks, tools, I Lesley University 11 Irving St compost, and information, grow a wide variety of flowers, vegetables, and berries. Cambridge residents interested in obtaining a plot in 21 14 one of the thirteen community gardens should contact the Cambridge Everett St G 12 Conservation Commission. http://1.usa.gov/cambridgegardens Bryant St 19

MassachusettsAvenue 10 End Walk 7 20 8 21 Sacramento Street, Cambridge, MA 18 J Oxford St. 15 9 16

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Divinity Ave Harvard University Kirkland St

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Kirkland St Neighborhood Tree Reference Guide trees and shrubs by street We wish to thank local naturalist Jean Rogers who walked this path with us in rain and sun, cold and heat, identifying trees. The specimens listed below were selected to give walkers a sense of the variety to be found in the Agassiz neighborhood. When we add another walking path next year, we hope to expand this list. If you know of any other trees of interest in the area, please contact us by phone at 617–349–6287 or online at www.agassiz.org.

REGION A REGION B 100 Oxford & corner of Crescent 86 Oxford & corner of Sacramento European Weeping Birch (Betula pendula) or (Next to the mail box) silver birch is a widespread birch often Pagoda Tree or Chinese scholartree multi-trunked. It is noted for its white (Styphnolobium japonicum) is native bark, which exfoliates in papery strips, to eastern Asia. The ornamental tree and its drooping or pendulous branches. has white flowers in late summer. 100 Oxford The distinctive fruits in long yellowish Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) is pods look like a short string of pearls. easily recognized by its star-shaped Fruit remaining on the tree in early leaves and dangling fruit, popularly spring attracts flocks of returning called a “gumball,” which contains cedar waxwings. numerous seeds covered by many 39 Sacramento prickly, woody armatures. Leaves are Little Leaf Linden (Tilia cordata) also called brilliant red in the fall and the “gum- small-leaved lime is native to Europe balls” add visual interest after the and western Asia. The flowers are highly leaves have fallen. fragrant and attractive to bees. Mature Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) or maidenhair trees are often shaped like inverted hearts. tree is a unique species with no close Bare winter branches often seem black. living relatives. From an early period in human history, the tree has been used for food and medicine. Look for angular branches and yellow leaves that come off the tree within a couple of days in autumn.

16 | agassiz neighborhood path REGION C REGION D Between 48 & 50 Sacramento 60 ½ Sacramento Scotch Pine (Pinus sylvestris), native Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) has to Europe and Asia, ranges as far north fragrant white flowers that appear in as the Arctic Circle. Its needles are May and June. In the colonial era, the twinned, twisted, and blunt-tipped. wood was used for fenceposts and It is a pleasant tree to view in winter construction timber that was in contact with its blue/green thick needles and with the ground. Look for small brown orange/brown bark reminiscent of pods that are about the size of string ripe pineapples. beans. Native to the Appalachians, this 53 Sacramento tree grows wild in disturbed places Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus) is the offering filtered light through its delicate tallest tree on the Eastern seaboard, many-parted leaves. and the only 5-needle pine native to the 61 Sacramento Northeast. To the Haudenosaunee Crimson King Norway Maple (Acer platenoides) Native Americans (Iroquois) this was has leaves that are purplish-green in known as the Tree of Peace. summer and turn brown, dark maroon 54 Sacramento or bronze in the fall. It should be Sycamore (Platanus occidentalus), known grown where surface roots are not a as plane trees in Europe, are valuable problem. The dense shade and for their timber and shade. Long-lived shallow root system compete with sycamores can reach 600 years. They lawn grasses and can make mowing have pale, mottled, exfoliating bark, under the tree difficult. ball-like fruit, and a broad, dense crown. The tree bark is in a constant state of “becoming” with no fewer than 3 layers visible at a time. Seeds are dispersed into the air in the winter months, melt through snow and are carried on melt- water to the rich soils of a riverbank.

17 REGION E 46 Carver (corner) 111 Hammond White Ash (Fraxinus) has colorful autumn (intersection with Carver, in yard) foliage and winged seeds that drop in Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum), also the fall. Its wood is strong and resistant called white maple, is native to to shock, so it is sought for handles, eastern North America and Canada. oars, and baseball bats. Former Mid- Its divided leaves turn yellow in autumn, westerners will be pleased to enjoy and its winged seeds provide many these trees that have been destroyed birds and small animals with food. Red by emerald ash borer insects in their buds swell in February, and flowers home states. arrive early. 28 Carver REGION F Norway Spruce (Picea abies) is the most Museum St widely cultivated species of spruce (Across from 89 Museum St) in North America and the largest in Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga Canadensis), the East. It has drooping twigs, long also Canadian hemlock, is native to cones, and branches that grow densely eastern North America. These long- forming an effective windbreak. Stop lived coniferous trees are important and listen for birds taking shelter in for construction timber and as a source these trees year-round. Look for deco- of tannic acid for tanning leather. In rative papery cones to bring inside and the city, stands of hemlocks cool the hot enjoy during the cold months. summer air as much as 5 degrees below 20 Carver the area outside them. They provide Red Maple (Acer rubrum) is also known food for chickadees and other birds and as swamp maple because it thrives in wet much needed screening from noise ground or soft maple because it is not and visual overstimulation. as hard as sugar maple. Its brilliant red and orange leaves signal the advent of autumn. The bark of young trees is smooth and gray. Squirrels nip at branches in late February, then come back later and lick sap icicles. Look closely to see if it’s true that some part of this tree is red year-round.

18 | agassiz neighborhood path REGION F (continued) 68 Francis (corner Francis & Irving) 63 Francis (running along fence) Yew (Taxus), once associated with Dawn Redwood, a deciduous conifer, churchyards, bears red fleshy cones that was thought to be extinct until a 1944 look like berries. The leaf underside discovery of a small grove in China. is yellowish-green. Yew grows wild at When the needles are shed in the fall, Fresh Pond and other areas where the bark is eye-catching. birds eat the seed and leave their waste while they get their next meal. Look 65 Francis across the street from this tree to see a Red Pine (Pinus resinosa), sometimes yew cultivar grown as a hedge. erroneously called Norway pine, is native to North America. Given the 133 Irving River Birch right soil conditions, it can live (Betula nigra) is readily almost 400 years. Usually tall, straight, identifiable by its peeling bark. The and quick growing, red pines were wood is sometimes used in children’s planted after the hurricane of 1938 toys. Prince Maximilian, the short- to help revegetate the landscape. lived Emperor of Mexico, called this The bark of the lower trunk is red the most beautiful of American trees. and patchy. American Elm (Ulmus Americana) is the Massachusetts state tree and a favorite nesting place for Baltimore orioles at Fresh Pond. Vase-shaped elms were once widespread in the US, but since 1950 millions have died due to a parasitic fungus, Dutch elm disease. Papery seeds germinate readily upon landing — a great growing opportunity for a parent and child with a pot.

19 REGION G 5 Bryant Copper Beech (Fagus sylvatica cuprea) (Thistall tree looms over the concrete with its smooth gray bark is visually building.) White Mulberry (Morus alba) is interesting even through the winter native to northern China. It was months. The distinctive foliage ranging introduced into America for silkworm from copper to rich purple is caused culture in early colonial times and by high levels of anthocyanin in the naturalized and hybridized with the leaves which mask the green color of native red mulberry. Look for beautiful chlorophyll. Seeds, called beechnuts, gold bark on its upper branches. are triangular and are an important Unfamiliar city folk are uneasy about food source for birds. It is said that the messy walking dropped fruit creates. Abraham Lincoln liked to read under (Look towards the upper part of the hill to the shade of a copper beech at his the right of the white mulberry.) home in Illinois. White Fir (Abies concolor) is native to REGION H the mountains of western North Divinity School America. Its symmetrical form and (This group of 13 trees runs parallel to low-sweeping branches make it pop- Museum St) Honey Locust (Gleditsia ular both as an ornamental and as a triacanthos) is a fast-growing, relatively Christmas tree. Take a moment to feel short-lived (120 years) tree prone to its flat and friendly (not prickly) needles. losing large branches in windstorms. 4 Gorham Despite its name, the tree is not a (Climb the steps towards Northwest source of honey. The sweet pulp of Building and look across the street.) the legume was once used as food Plum (Prunus) is a stone fruit tree by Native Americans and can be found in America, China, and Europe. fermented to make beer. Fruit trees have been cultivated in Massachusetts since 1629. Look for pink flowers and purple leaves.

20 | agassiz neighborhood path REGION I REGION J Northwest Building (rear of building) 33 Oxford (Bordering the left side of the path up the (Behind the stone “Harvard School of steps) Fragrant Sumac (Rhus aromatica) Engineering & Applied Science” marker) is native to North America. Its small Pin Oak (Quercus palustris) tolerates the red fruit was used by Native Americans many stresses of an urban environment to make a tart drink. This low-growing and has become a favored street tree. shrub releases its wonderful fragrance In summer the leaves are a shiny dark when leaves are crushed. Fall leaves are a green; in autumn the leaves turn russet, cheery red. red, or bronze. Its acorns are fingernail- (Bordering the left side of the path up sized and striped. The only oak in our the steps) Sweet Fern (Comptonia) is native area shaped like a pyramid, there isn’t a to eastern North America. Despite its time of year this tree isn’t beautiful. name, it is a shrub, not a fern. Comp- (To the left of the Pin Oak) tonia peregrina was used both as incense European Beech (Fagus sylvatica) is noted and as poison by many Native for its wide-spreading short trunk and American tribes. Break a leaf to smell overall large size. The dark green leaves the gold-colored resin inside. turn a rich russet brown in fall. In the (Grouped in an “island” at top of steps on 19th century, the beechnuts were pressed right) Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) to make oil for cooking and for lamps. is one of the largest trees on the east REGION K coast. In spring the flowers are large, 60 Oxford brilliant, and numerous. Look for leaves Red Bud (Cercis Canadensis), native to shaped like a side view of a tulip and North America, generally has a short, exquisite flowers and seedpods often twisting trunk, spreading branches, that give this tree its name. and dark bark. The showy flowers range from light to dark magenta and appear in clusters on bare stems and sometimes on the trunk itself from March to May, before leaves appear.

21 Somerville Ave

To Porter Square Train Station Reference Map Roseland St.

Beacon St

MassachusettsAvenue Forest St.

Exeter Pk

Prentiss St. Prentiss St. Somerville

Garfield St. Eustis St. 4 Beacon St

Crescent St. 25 End A 26 27 5 Sacramento St 1 Begin D 3 B C Carver St.E 2

Wendell St Wendell St 24 Oxford St. F Hammond St

Beacon St Mellen St Hammond St Museum St 23 K 22 Francis Ave 6 13 I Lesley University 11 Irving St

21 14 Everett St G 12 Bryant St 19

MassachusettsAvenue 10

7 20 8 18 J Oxford St. 15 9 16

17

Divinity Ave Harvard University Kirkland St

To Harvard Square Train Station

Kirkland St

Key Agassiz Neighborhood Path Agassiz Tree Path Dead End (Walk down and back) Dead End 1 Points of Interest Marker A Tree Region Marker