The Dirt on Millennium Park

What do the Rose Kennedy Greenway in downtown Boston and Millennium Park in the West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston have in common? The answer is pretty dirty…

I’ve driven by Millennium Park 100 times without realizing what a great place it is to visit. This place is full of ball fields as well as nature paths, and it’s really for everyone. While wiking at Millennium Park, we saw runners, older ladies training their dogs, families on bikes, and teenagers playing ball… and lots of wike mamas, like us!

I literally discovered this place by looking at google maps. I saw a green area with paths, and lo and behold, it was actually not a cemetery! I met my friend and her daughter for an evening wike to explore it. And we’ve been back twice more since. I guess we like it!

Let’s take a detour to talk about adult female friendships. It’s not easy! If you’ve moved to a new area any time after college, you know exactly what I’m talking about. It can be really difficult to make new and genuine friendship as an adult, especially outside of work. That’s why I feel so much gratitude for this friendship. Sam and I actually met at the doctor’s office. We had both just discovered we were pregnant and hadn’t told anyone but our husbands. That’s something you can bond about! After you find something to bond about, you have to let yourself be vulnerable enough to exchange contact information-- and then actually meet up. After that, you have to like each other enough to keep meeting up! Sam and I met for many wikes while anticipating the arrival of our girls. There was so much to talk about, and getting outside for some exercise while chatting was great for both our growing bodies and our friendship. How surreal is it that we can continue to get together to walk with our girls, now?

If you manage to make one of these precious new friends as an adult—or even if you prefer to wike solo, Millennium Park is definitely worth a visit. The park has 6 miles of completely accessible and stroller-friendly paths made up mostly of concentric circles up the hill, which offers beautiful views from the top. There’s also a nature trail and a canoe launch for the Charles River. If you have little ones, you can visit the playground or picnic at one of the many picnic tables. Additionally, if you take the outer “Nature Study” path, you can veer over a bridge, and explore a larger network of trails. We stayed in Millennium Park and took the Nature Study path because of its sweeping and beautiful landscape full of wildflowers and colorful birds. I highly recommend it.

The park is well-maintained by Department of Conservation and Recreation, so you won’t see a piece of trash, which is ironic because it sits atop the old Gardner Street landfill. Dirt from the big dig was used to cover it up, and it opened as a park in 2000. There’s your answer; what do the Greenway and Millennium Park have in common? DIRT! You have to agree that dirt is pretty dirty! (What were you thinking..?!)

I find it awesome that you can wike the Rose Kennedy Greenway, which sits atop the tunnels of route 93 that were excavated during the big dig, and you can also wike Millennium Park where the excavated dirt ended up!

This leads me to wonder what other connections my favorite wiking areas share. What other dirt can I dig up?

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How have you made friendships as an adult? What do you think about wiking on a converted landfill? I’d love to hear your thoughts!