Lawrence Heritage State Park - #10

Is it a park? Is it a museum? Is it the birthplace of Robert Frost (like the sign on Rt. 495 says)?

Tucker’s Rating – 1 wag (pets not allowed and there’s nothing there for them anyway!)
Our Rating – 2.5 wags. Although the thought of us wagging our tails at ANYTHING but a 5 is kind of ludicrous. We considered this park an interesting place, but not a "destination park", at least not in winter. Also, the lack of staff and lighting was a big drawback. We’d suggest it as a place to go for those with a particular interest in mill history, Lawrence history, or if you happen to be in the area and have an hour or so to discover some interesting local facts. It's definitely not a waste of time, but not a highlight either. Kids might be entertained by some of the exhibits and they do carry the MA DCR's Park Passports. The Park Passports are part of a program run by the Massachusetts Division of Conservation and Recreation, to promote children visiting state parks. Actually a really cool program we've seen, similar to one where kids earn patches for visiting firetowers in NH! While Lawrence Heritage State Park doesn't have its own stamp (since its not really geared towards children) the passports themselves are available and they do have a stamp that can be used to prove you've visited the park. This site also includes a visitor’s center, and carries announcements about local events, so it feels a little like a tourist information booth when you first walk in, but there are interesting things to see.

Accessibility - ADA Accessible including ramps and elevators. Lillian had no trouble getting in and around!

Fees - Free (even the parking if you hit it on a day that the small lot has a vacancy. It was totally empty the day we visited.) There is also street parking but we'd recommend the lot.

Two weeks in a row! We must be determined this year!
And to answer the first questions we posed, officially it’s a park, in reality it’s a museum, and no, Robert Frost was born in San Francisco in 1874. When his father passed away, he DID move with his family to Lawrence, MA around the age of 10. He graduated from Lawrence High School as valedictorian, and published his first poem in the school newspaper. His most famous poem, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening with it's last four lines, "The woods are lovely dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep-, And miles to go before I sleep" is one I can still hear echo in my head in my father’s voice. Amazing how sound is something we carry with us forever. I even found part of this poem in Frost’s own handwriting on the web . But this isn’t a blog about Robert Frost, or poetry even! It’s about parks and hiking and interesting stuff along the way! So here we go!

Let's do TWO parks!
We started off the day planning to see both Lawrence and Lowell's State Parks. Both were created around the business of the mills, so it seemed like a good combination. Unfortunately, as is usually the case with us, we got out of the house later than planned and couldn’t hit both in the afternoon. They are pretty close together, and located just off Rt. 495 (easy to find), but these parks are not open late in the day. To be honest, except for the fact that the front door was unlocked at the Lawrence facility, you could have convinced me that we’d walked into a building that was really closed for at least the day if not the season.

The Lawrence Heritage State Park is accessible to all, with ramps outside and elevators inside. A person Beth tells me was a park ranger (but who looked to me like just someone from the neighborhood), pointed out the ramps so we could help Lillian into the building. She turned them down, having already faced the icy parking lot and the icy walkway. She felt confident handling the 3 or 4 stairs up into the building. They were very clear and safe, and while the building itself is in among the old mill buildings, and a part of the city that one might think is mostly abandoned, we didn't feel that safety was an issue. The "park" itself is located in an old rooming house next to what appears to be the skeletal remains of another mill building, which has been cleaned up and beautified by a garden area with walks, benches and the roof opens up to the sky above. On the way back to our car after our visit, Beth even saw a hawk sitting on one of the rafters. No doubt taking a break from fishing in the canals nearby. The park building has been made over into an information- and image-filled archive of everything mill-related wrapped with the history of Lawrence in its heyday. What an amazing place it was before the mills started to shut down. We wandered and poked around, finding lots of dimly lit rooms. Thankfully it was a sunny day, so for the most part we could see displays, read signs, etc.

As you enter the building there is a large piece of equipment that we think was a safe. Both the size and design is incredible! The sign on the front says if you’re wondering what’s inside, ask the person at the front desk to open it…. Unfortunately, there was no one at the front desk… or anywhere in the building that we could see. Just off the first large room there is also a small video room where they show various films (including The Great Impostor, a film about a famous resident of Lawrence), and the feature on Sunday was about the Bread and Roses Strike. I would have loved to watch the video, but the sign said to ask for assistance at the front desk and again there wasn’t anyone AT the front desk. Hmmmmm......

What will you find?
The building holds memorabilia on the mills (their rise and fall), the collapse of the Pemberton Mill in 1860 (we were happy to see that it was rebuilt and is still just down the street), the Bread and Roses strike of 1912, and the immigrant population as well as commercial memorabilia from various manufacturing companies in Lawrence including New Balance Shoes, signage from restaurants, letters written by George Washington (I’m thinking this is a case of "George Washington slept here." Why else would they have letters written by him?), school photos of Robert Frost and his wife, and more. It’s a place you could wander in for quite some time if you're into reading display signs and pouring over collages, photos, and memorabilia. There are lighted displays but none of the lights worked and it wasn’t until I’d made my second pass by an area on the second floor that I read the sign stating that they were conserving electricity by keeping all non-essential lights off, so "Please check with the front desk if there is something you’d like to see…" Again, no one at the front desk! You’d think they’d take those signs down when they know no one will be at the front desk. I didn’t bother to GO to the front desk until we were getting ready to leave because I knew no one was there. It wasn't until I stopped there on the way out to pick up various brochures and sign the guest book that I saw the bell and the sign saying to ring it for assistance. aaargh! And how long, pray tell, would it take for that person who is obviously hovering somewhere close enough to hear the bell, take to get back to their post???… now I’m thinking if there was a ranger somewhere in that building (and Beth says the guy who told us about the ramp came in after us and went downstairs) then that ranger is sitting SOMEWHERE in that building…. My suggestion... SIT BEHIND THE DESK! Rather than sitting somewhere else waiting for a bell to ring. I mean REALLY, are they watching TV somewhere? Doing piecework? Handling correspondence? Sitting is sitting, isn't it? Either that, or put motion detectors on the lights so that when you enter the room, lights and buttons are activated. If the room is vacant for say 10 minutes, the power goes out. We did see the bulk of the displays but not all…. And we were wishing we’d been able to view them without having to squint or hope the sun would come out from behind a cloud. If it were a cloudy day I think we really wouldn't have bothered going upstairs at all.

Anything else?
They’ve also got miniature reproductions of the famous mill clock tower (acting as a time capsule to be opened in 2053!), various mill buildings, and life-size statues in a mill room setting. This is a nice museum/park, but unless you’re watching one of the movies available, I think an hour tops is what you’d need, that and a flashlight!

So at the end of our hour, we headed out to explore the immediate area and were amazed at how far and wide the mills spread out. They cover acres of the city! I'd definitely recommend driving around a bit near the canal to get a good feel for how far and wide the mills stretched. Its no wonder that with the loss of both the cotton and woolen industries, Lawrence was hit with a terrible crash from which they are still trying to rebuild. Some of the renovation is very impressive, and you'll find some cute restaurants and shops scattered through the mills as well as some gorgeous stonework in a few. The Immigrant Archive is just down the block from this building and I’m certain would be great for anyone interested in more New England history past and current.

What else is in the area?
As mentioned, this area of Lawrence is still under development. There are a lot of abandoned mill buildings, but more that have been refitted for various businesses including restaurants, manufacturing, doctor’s offices, etc. I'd highly recommend Salvatore's if you're looking for a restaurant with great food, reasonable prices and a beautiful deck that overlooks the Merrimack River. Some of the buildings have also been developed into loft and studio style residences, and if you like antiques you can find Canal Street Antique Center and a few other interior decorating type of businesses in the area, with some great deals on all kinds of things both old and new! At Canal Street we were offered a beautiful solid cherry Asian-style sideboard marked from $895, down to $495 and the owner told us to “make an offer” because he HAD to get rid of it! We did very well by resisting temptation but if you’re looking for furniture, glass, tea cups, lamps, you name it, you’ll find it!

On the way home we tried to stop at our favorite Bradford restaurant, Joseph’s Trattoria/Bakery/Cafe, but they were closed for a company holiday party (in late January I guess they cover lots of holidays). If you’re looking for a yummy bakery or home made pasta, brick oven pizza and fire roasted meats and seafood, this is the place to stop! We’ll make it back there next time we’re out this way most definitely. Instead, we headed to The Loop, which is the redesigned Methuen Mall, looking happy, busy and much more popular than the indoor mall it had been. We poked around in Borders Books, had coffee and vanilla bean scones and headed back home. Altogether a nice relaxing and interesting day for a winter Sunday.