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| The Newsletter of the High Street Hill Association | December 2009 |
Join your neighbors
Christmas Eve
Caroling on the Green
led by
Cornelia McMurtrie
December 24 at 5:45PM
Please bring family and friends
and a wind-protected candle
A few weeks ago Town Meeting voted 194 to 24 in favor of Warrant Article 5 for funding of the restoration of the Carlton Street Footbridge and in doing so reaffirmed Brookline's support for the Muddy River Restoration Project which promises enhanced flood controls and improved park quality. Town Meeting also passed a nonbinding resolution guiding officials to work towards handicap-accessible ramps as part of the restoration.
This success was due to the hard work of concerned Town Meeting Members and organizations such as the Brookline GreenSpace Alliance and the Muddy River Management Maintenance and Oversight Committee as well as responsible citizens that took time to write or call their Town Meeting Members.
There is still a lot of work ahead to ensure that Brookline gets a grant to cover most of the restoration cost but in the meantime a big "Thanks!" to all who helped take this step in the right direction.
At our last HSHA board meeting we voted to join Brookline 2010, a yearlong initiative presented by Climate Change Action Brookline and the Selectmen's Climate Action Committee of the Town of Brookline to raise awareness about the importance of reducing the carbon footprint of our community. As participants, we pledge to green our events and to take action to promote CO2 reduction (Stay tuned for a Saturday Seminar on Energy Savings for Historic Homes that we're planning for March).
In 2008 Brookline produced about 600,000 tons of carbon dioxide, 80% of which came from our homes.
Join the Brookline 2010 kickoff at 3-5PM Sunday, January 10 at the NEW Brookline Access TV Headquarters (BATV) in the Brookline High School Unified Arts Building.
Our neighborhood and circle of friends has experienced many losses of late. As we celebrate the holidays with family and friends, let us also remember those whose lives added grace to our community.
Corliss Knapp Engle, a resident of 26 Edgehill Road on Pill Hill for over forty years, died on Thanksgiving Day. Corliss was active in the High Street Hill Association, the Emery Bag, served for thirty years on the Brookline Tree Planting Committee, and was an active member of the Chestnut Hill Garden Club and the Arnold Arboretum. She was a distinguished horticulturist and the recipient of numerous awards from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the Garden Club of America and many other organizations nationwide. She will be remembered for her dedication and devotion to our neighborhood, the parks and open spaces in Brookline, and for her unfailing willingness to support those whose work benefited our community. Her gift of time and her considerable organizational talents will long be remembered, as will her glorious garden on Edgehill Road. Our condolences to her husband Ralph and her family.
Joan Weiss, a 19 Edgehill Road resident for many years, died on November 8. She was a psychiatric social worker and founder of Midlife Options for Women, an organization that helped many midlife women decide the course of their future lives. She was also an active and devoted member of the First Parish Unitarian Church and for years headed its Caring Committee. Joan was widely known for her elegant taste, her love of ladylike (but competitive!) tennis, and her always warm and gracious manner. More substantively, Joan's character was demonstrated in her sensitivity to needs she saw around her. Even as she battled her final illness Joan took on the role of guardian for an elderly neighbor, assuring she was comfortable and well cared for. Our condolences to Joan's husband Bob and their children.
This winter when you have some unexpected quiet time, perhaps when the snow is blowing, the roads
are icy and you're stuck indoors, grab a mug of hot tea and your laptop and take a short excursion
just down the road by way of the HSHA website to the Old Burying Ground. You may have walked past
the old knobby cemetery on the corner of Chestnut and Walnut Streets and you may even have spent
Inscription on wall at corner of Walnut and Chestnut Streets
some time wondering at the mysterious inscriptions on the gravestones but I guarantee you haven't
uncovered a fraction of the history, stories and photos that are buried on our site. Put together
by neighbor, cemetery enthusiast and HSHA webmaster Tom Elwertowski, the site offers an
impressive chronicle of the lives of those buried there as well as high resolution photos of their
gravestones and inscriptions. There's even info about the methods currently being used to
preserve the stones. In addition to learning about Brookline's Revolutionary and Civil War
veterans you can also find out where some of our street names came from.
Go to www.cemetery.highstreethill.org
We've had a great response to our annual dues appeal last spring. According to Blake Cady, our HSHA Treasurer, 111 paid the $15 annual dues with about 50% making an extra donation ranging from $5 to $85, making a grand total of $2825. A special thanks to all who contributed to support the HSHA and its activities. Not sure if you're paid up? Drop Blake a line at 617-566-1629 or .
The Highlight is printed several times a year and is distributed on foot or by bicycle by HSHA Board members and their usually willing family members. If you have a comment or contribution contact the editor, Rob Daves, at 617-566-7334 or robdaves@rcn.com.