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Newton Park and Conservation Lands
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22
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Mary Hunnewell Fyffe Footbridge |
LOCATION: Newton Lower Falls and Wellesley
Park on Washington St. in front of Gregorian Rugs. Enter a pathway (indicated by a stone marker) next to the Gregorian parking lot.
Other maps and aerial
photos: Newton Assessor Bing
SIZE: several acres
LONGEST WALK : 0.1 miles (bridge is part of Wellesley's Charles River Path and the 16-mile Charles River Link Trail)
ACQUIRED: 1984
ADMINISTERED BY: DCR
FEATURES:
Dramatic views of Charles River rapids
contrast with peaceful, green riverbanks. Visitors can walk on a
long, recently rebuilt Victorian-style bridge just above the fast
flowing spillway, the falls, the millway, and the Cordingly Dam Fish Passage. Grassy sloping shorelines
and old mill buildings, now retrofitted for offices and residences,
maintain the feel of a significant site of early industry along
the Charles.
The nearby Pillar House, formerly inside the cloverleaf intersection at Route 128 and Washington Street, was built by the papermill owner. The house was sold by the Massachusetts Highway Department and moved from its site in 2004.
HISTORY:
| before 1906 |
A wooden footbridge built across the Charles. |
| 1909 |
Footbridge rebuilt
in Victorian design. |
| 1983 |
Rebuilt to replicate
the 1909 bridge. Dedicated to Mary Hunnewell Fyffe of Wellesley,
advocate of the Charles River. Acquired by MDC from joint ownership
by Newton and Wellesley. |
MORE INFORMATION:
The recent history of the footbridge is recounted in the book, Walks in Wellesley.
Discover Historic Newton Lower Falls brochure
The bridge in 1906
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