The Victorian Garden on Shattuck Street in Lowell beckons visitors with a sunlit gateway. Sun photo by Tory German. Cover design by Stephen Mellus.
Urban Hideaways
Lowell's parks offer an oasis amid the city's bustle
By KATHLEEN DEELY
Sun Staff
LOWELL If the closest you've gotten to nature in the past few months is the office fern, it's time to get outside.
Even in a busy work week, there is always time to grab a few stolen moments at a secluded spot in the sunshine. Now that summer is here, there is no excuse.
Just a short walk from downtown Lowell are several serene parks, gardens, and waterside lawns the perfect places to escape the workaday stresses, have lunch or crack that summer novel.
Shattuck Street may seem an unlikely venue for a Victorian garden to blossom, but tucked away off the cobblestone street lurks a hidden oasis.
You can tell by their knowing contented looks, those who have discovered the Victorian Garden, a stone's throw from the Mack Building, hope it doesn't catch on. Behind its iron gates, which were shuttered all winter long, is a lush garden that flowers from April to September and a chart to tell you what is thriving when.
Lowell Heritage State Park has worked to model the garden once the home of the Lowell Card Co. after a late 1800s Victorian garden, with rhododendrons, day lilies and other plant life from the era.
Covered under a canopy of trees, the garden has several benches and a few patches of grass where you can relax and transport yourself from Lowell to the English countryside. The trolley cars rumbling by on Dutton Street may lull you to sleep, so be sure to set your watch if you are pressed for time. Local artists have caught on to the Victorian Garden and on Friday nights in June, they hold an "Arts in the Park" event with wine, cheese and music.
A few steps away, a small half-moon shaped park on Arcand Drive called Liberty Tree Garden awaits. A gift from the Lowell Garden Club, the spot is a small slice of beauty in the city's hub. Although it's close to traffic lights on Merrimack Street and across from the Lowell Police station, it's possible to take a respite on a marble bench or clear your head under the shade of a tree.
In June, azaleas bloom, and birds swoop into the quaint ivory bird bath. While the grounds are inviting, it can be challenging to block out the clatter from the street, but chances are you will be alone here, as many a passerby rarely tests the gated entrance, believing it's part of the adjacent Cobblestones Restaurant.
Make sure you pack a lunch or a snack, though, because the delicious smells wafting from Cobblestones' kitchen will get your stomach grumbling.
Gardens are great alternatives to the country when you are stuck in the city, but there are moments on a sultry summer day when you want, or rather need, to see water. On these days, Lowell's Riverwalk is the place to stroll.
Among the many vistas along this mile-long path on the Merrimack River, the park behind the Tsongas Arena is as good as any to while away a few hours. Known simply as the North Lawn, the sweeping lawn affords a nice view of the Merrimack River and with its many park benches, it's a good spot for a business meeting or lunch date.
Glancing north down the river, the nearby Lawrence Manufacturing Co. factory sits as a quiet remembrance of Lowell's past. Harkening back to the days when the city's mills hummed with activity, its brick chimney stack towering overhead will set your mind back to simpler times.
If further solitude is what you seek, there is a quiet enclave within the North Lawn where you can listen to water streaming from the Western Canal into the Merrimack. This sunken park, steps down from the Riverwalk, has three canal race ways that once serviced the former Tremont Mills. The race ways are now boarded up and outfitted with park benches, providing a quiet place to collect your thoughts as the water rushes by. This is as good a place as any to delve into Ulysses.
But if inspiration is what you are looking for, follow the train tracks from the Boott Cotton Mills over Bridge Street to Kerouac Park. Here next to the Eastern Canal is a tribute to Lowell's favorite literary son, Jack Kerouac, who grew up in nearby Pawtucketville. Among the willow trees, excerpts from Kerouac's novels, heavy with Lowell references, are inscribed on marble sculptures scattered throughout the park.
On The Road, The Town and the City, and Dr. Sax, are just a few of his works that tell about his father who was a printer in Lowell and of his late-night treks around the canals of the city. Drinking in his words with the sun, you can see the city through the eyes of the bohemian Kerouac.
To get in touch with your inner Buddhist, there is a circular stone seat surrounded with four marble slabs that invites quiet contemplation. From this vantage point, you can block out the honking horns from Bridge Street and work on your summer tan. When viewed from on high, this part of the park was designed to look like a cross to signify Kerouac's Christianity and a mandela to represent his Buddhist beliefs.
One of the city's most stately parks is less than a 10-minute walk from Merrimack Street. On the corner of Nesmith and Andover streets, Kittredge Park feels like a real city park and this flowering spot is as tranquil as they come.
Gas-lit lanterns dot the walkway that cuts diagonally through the park's center. It's a good place for a leisurely stroll and to stop and smell the pink and purple roses that bloom at its entrance. Flower lovers will delight in the many marigold beds, pansies and rhododendron bushes planted along the park's rim. There is also a decorative gazebo you can walk through that evokes the grounds on the Von Trapps' Austrian estate.
Known to nearby denizens, this well-maintained park is a perfect reward if you make the journey up East Merrimack Street.
Finding such pristine green spaces between city blocks sets Lowell apart. So if you are reading this hunched over your computer with a sandwich, it's time to shut down and get out.
Take a closer look at Lowell's hidden places this summer. They are free and right under your nose.
All rights to republication of special dispatches herein are reserved.
This story ran in The Lowell Sun, Stepping Out Magazine on 6/13/02.