Once 'overgrown and neglected,' historic site in Weymouth transformed into park

WEYMOUTH − For the last few decades, Mayor Robert Hedlund said he'd often find himself sitting in traffic at the intersection of Washington and Middle streets and wonder why such a historic location in town looked like it did.

"It was unkempt, overgrown and neglected," Hedlund said.

The land at Washington and Middle streets is near what was a battleground for one of the final clashes between Weymouth’s early settlers and the Wampanoag Native American tribe during King Philip's War in 1676.

Nearly two centuries later, Weymouth in 1852 built its town house on the site, which is the town's geographic center. The building served as the town offices and the town's first high school until the town house was moved to East Weymouth around 1906.

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Now, thanks to work by the town's public works department and a donation from the Keohane family, the site has been transformed into a proper park as the town wraps up its 400th anniversary year.

"There's a lot of history on the site, so we wanted to get it cleaned up and dedicated," Hedlund said.

Heritage Park includes a 400-foot walkway to mark the town's 400th celebration. Officials worked with the Weymouth Historical Commission to create story boards that tell the town's history.

Some improvements started in 2019, when the public works department completed grading and landscaping. BETA Group Inc. provided engineering services at a reduced rate and EZ Disposal donated a flag and a flagpole.

The park incorporates historical markers that were already in place. A plaque was placed there in 1930 to commemorate the last attack on Weymouth by forces of King Philip on April 19, 1676.

A commemorative stone donated by J.F. Price Co. and Bates Brothers in 2015 reminds visitors that the location was the site of a town hall and Weymouth’s first high school from 1852 until 1906.

With hopes of getting the project done in 2022 during the town's anniversary, Hedlund said they put the project out to bid and were "floored" by the cost. So public works staff took the project on instead.

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"The DPW took this on with the highest level of enthusiasm and pride, and they did an awesome job," Hedlund said.

The focal point of the park is a new 6-foot, bronze statue of the town's most famous resident: Abigail Adams. Born in Weymouth in 1744, Adams was the wife of the country's second president, mother of the sixth and an outspoken pioneer for women’s rights.

She wed John Adams in her home on Norton Street, and she lived there while her husband led the country. The house, built in 1685, was moved several times, and is now preserved by the Abigail Adams Historical Society at 180 Norton St.

The statue of Adams, which faces the Washington and Middle streets intersection, was a gift to the town from the Keohane family, of the Keohane funeral homes. Dennis Keohane said his father commissioned a bronze statue of Adams by the artist Lloyd Lillie about 25 years ago that was first outside United First Parish Church in Quincy and was later moved to Merrymount Park.

"Mayor Hedlund joked that we could shift Abigail to Weymouth, and that planted a seed," Keohane said. "She's the town's most famous resident."

Keohane said he reached out to Lillie, who had kept the molds from the original statue. He worked with Lillie's daughter, Nina LeDoyt, to get the molds, which artist Victoria Guerina used to create the new statue. Lillie died in 2020, before the project was done.

Keohane said he originally proposed having the statue outside the Abigail Adams house, but Hedlund proposed Heritage Park.

"Once I saw it, it felt right, so here we are and here she is," Keohane said.

While the original statue also features John and Abigail Adams' son, John Quincy Adams, Abigail is alone in the Weymouth version. She's holding a quill and paper in reference to the letters she famously wrote to her husband while he was on diplomatic assignment in Europe.

The granite marker below the statue reads, "First Lady to our second President John Adams and one of the most respected and influential women in our great nation's early history." It also reads, "Remember the ladies," which Abigail Adams famously reminded her husband to do when considering matters of political and economic rights.

The project added a marker at the town's geographic center, plus a dedication marker that includes a quote from a letter John Adams wrote to Abigail Adams in 1800. It reads, "I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and all that shall here after inhabit it. May none but honest and wise people ever rule under this roof."

A formal dedication ceremony will take place in May 2023.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Weymouth's most overlooked historical site transformed into park