Mary Cummings Park is a 210 acre (0.8498406 km²) public park

Park

A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...

 in Woburn

Woburn, Massachusetts

Woburn is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA. The population was 38,120 at the 2010 census. Woburn is located north of Boston, Massachusetts, and just south of the intersection of I-93 and I-95.- History :...

 and Burlington, Massachusetts

Burlington, Massachusetts

Burlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,498 at the 2010 census.- History :It is believed that Burlington takes its name from the English town of Bridlington, however this has never been confirmed....

 located at Babylon and Whispering Hills. The former farm and estate became a park managed by the City of Boston's Park Department in 1930. Mary Cummings left the land to the City under the condition that it be kept "forever open as a public pleasure ground". Since then it has been used for day camps including "Camp Joy", "Kamp for Kidz" and "Camp Wilderness" and as a public garden for school children called "Woburn Gardens". There are also several miles of trails which are open to the public. A radio controlled model airplane club operates their aircraft on one of the open fields which they maintain.

An Excerpt from the will of Mary Cummings:

Fourth, To the City of Boston, Massachusetts, I give and devise all the land together with the buildings thereon, in the City of Woburn and Town of Burlington, Massachusetts which was conveyed to me by Charles Fairchilds( by deed dated February 26, 1890, and recorded with Middlesex South District Deeds, Book 1967, Page 131, excepting so much thereof as shall have been conveyed by me in my lifetime or is herein otherwise specifically devised (the same being known as Babylon Hill), but in trust nevertheless for the following purposes and uses: To hold and keep the same forever open as a public pleasure ground, and to maintain and care for the same in a suitable manner in accordance with that purpose.

At 210 acre (0.8498406 km²), Mary Cummings Park is approximately the 12th largest public park in Greater Boston

Greater Boston

Greater Boston is the area of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts surrounding the city of Boston. Due to ambiguity in usage, the size of the area referred to can be anywhere between that of the metropolitan statistical area of Boston and that of the city's combined statistical area which includes...

 inside the rt 95/rt128 beltway.

Approximately 26 acres (105,218.4 m²) were seized by eminent domain

Eminent domain

Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...

 by the Federal Government during the Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

 for use as a nike missile site, which was subsequently bought by Northeastern University

Northeastern University, Boston

Northeastern University , is a private, secular, coeducational research university in Boston, Massachusetts. Northeastern has eight colleges and offers undergraduate majors in 65 departments...

for their Burlington Campus.

Controversy

A substantial "Care and Maintenance" trust fund was left to the City of Boston along with the land. In a complaint to the Attorney General in 2008 it was alleged that in recent years funds were diverted from that purpose and used to pay for lawyers and real estate agents to prepare the land for sale. It was also alleged that approximately $15 million of the trust fund is unaccounted for.

External links

• Friends of Mary Cummings Park
• City of Boston
• WREN (Woburn Residents Environmental Network)
• Burlington RC Flyers, a radio controlled model aircraft flying club
• Map View