Friends of the North 40

Community Gardens are the Heart of the North 40

The Land hosted historic WWII Victory Gardens, see below.

The Weston Road Gardens are currently administered by the Wellesley Natural Resources Commission

A Look at the Weston Road Gardens,

produced by Wellesley Media

4C Garden Project - Sowing the Seeds of Community

In 2016, a $1,000 grant from The Fund For Wellesley enabled a group of Mandarin-speaking Wellesley residents to garden the 4C Plot at the Weston Road Community Gardens this summer.

The Natural Resources Commission worked with volunteers from the Wellesley Village Church, which leases the plot, Mandarin-speaking students from the Wellesley Youth Commission who helped with the farming, and the Wellesley Housing Authority and Wellesley Council on Aging who assisted with transportation, to make this project go.

The 4C Garden provides fresh vegetables for the Morton Circle residents, and any extra vegetables are donated to the Wellesley Food Pantry. What an amazing project!

Serving the Community

Continuing a long history of food donations, a number of gardeners recently donated rhubarb to the Women's Lunch Place in Boston.

From their FB page: Chef Sherry kept asking us if we knew where she could get some rhubarb and now we know why! The incredibly generous gardeners of Wellesley's Weston Road Community Gardens at the North 40 (under the purview of the Wellesley Natural Resorces Commission) came to our rescue, growing, cutting and delivering the rhubarb Sherry used to make this tart and tasty strawberry rhubarb pie!

The Land Hosted Historic WWII Victory Gardens

The advent of World War II elicited a patriotic response from Wellesley College, which granted requests from town residents to establish Victory Gardens on a portion of the Botany Department land, by then known as The Weston Road Laboratories. Fred Campbell, 91, of Weston was a private in the army in those days, and remembers riding by the Weston Road Victory Gardens. "With rationing, they helped to ease the national food shortage, freeing up goods for the troops," he says. The College even housed caretakers at 146 Weston Road, "to look out for the gardens," in exchange for rent. Text and photo from The Coveted North 40, Wellesley Weston Magazine, Winter 2014/2015

Purchase and Sale Agreement Between Wellesley College and Town of Wellesley

Article 6 Permitted Exceptions: Future Development Conditions

6.02 (e): The Buyer will commit to maintain, for a period of at least three (3) years after the Closing, a “community garden” at some location within the property, substantially similar in nature to that which currently exists along the Weston Road boundary. The existing garden area contains approximately two and one-half acres (excluding the access road) and contains approximately fifty (50) gardening plots used by town residents, plus an adjacent area of approximately one acre, containing approximately twenty (20) plots that are used solely by the Seller. During such time as the Buyer maintains the “community garden,” whether on the Property or elsewhere, Wellesley College students and staff shall have exclusive access to and use of at least 2 plots of a size substantially the same as the current plot size (approximately 25 feet by 40 feet each), subject to such reasonable regulations or conditions as are, from time to time, generally applicable to residents or other users, except that such Wellesley College use will not lapse without the written consent of the Seller, or be subject o any lottery or other user selection process that may, from time to time, be in effect.

Wellesley Historical Commission Report on Historical Assets in or Near the “North 40”

Wellesley Historical Commission Letter re: North 40 Assets
Addressed to Barbara Searle, Chair, Wellesley Board of Selectmen
2015-03-12 WHC North 40 Letter.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [71.6 KB]

News:

The North 40 was purchased in part with $10 million dollars of funding from the CPA. The Community Preservation Committee has proposed the acreage to be under deed restriction to the Select Board. Watch the discussion from the November 14 Select Board meeting starting at 1hour 26minutes.

The Wellesley Trails Committee submitted a Statement on Protecting the North 40 to Town Boards. Read it here:

Trails Committee Statement on Protecting[...]
Adobe Acrobat document [219.9 KB]

Ribbon Cutting at the Vernal Pool

The skies cleared for a beautiful ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the boardwalk at the North 40 Vernal Pool, which provides both access and protection to this important resource.

Selectman Jack Morgan and NRC Director Brandon Schmitt addressed the large crowd in attendance, and lead volunteer Bill Giezentanner had the honor of cutting the ribbon. The boardwalk was funded by the Community Preservation Act (CPA), and built with over 500 hours of volunteer labor.

See the video about the boardwalk here.