Abolition Row Park
New Bedford, Massachusetts
The Parks Issue of Landscape Architect & Specifier News saw many firms submit their projects for feature consideration. This project was not chosen for a Feature in the issue, but we at LandscapeArchitect.com thought the project deserved to be showcased online . . .
Massachusetts's Abolition Row Park has a story to tell, one that centers on the lives of many known and unknown travelers of the Underground Railroad, formerly enslaved people who sought liberty and self-determination in New Bedford. The park is located in what is still a diverse, multi-cultural community that serves as the gateway to the newly minted "Abolition Row Historic District." The park is literally built on ashes of two former homes, and it is surrounded by significant historic buildings, including two Quaker meeting houses and the house museum of abolitionist couple Nathan and Polly Johnson. African American entrepreneurs, the Johnsons were property owners and hosts to freedom seekers travelling through New Bedford. A wealthy whaling capital at the time, New Bedford was a popular sea destination along the "underground railroad" for many fugitives, including the young Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, who donned the name Frederick Douglass while at the Johnson's home and went on to become one of the greatest orators and abolitionists of the era.
Abolition Row Park has two primary areas: "the plaza" for larger gatherings and a variety of uses and "the gallery" - a quieter outdoor room for rotating educational displays. The plaza is surrounded by cherry trees that welcome visitors with their future mature canopies and blossoms. The plaza features a dramatic paving design of crisscrossing paths, what the designers call "the many paths to freedom." The paving design includes a tribute to the North Star and celestial navigation by using small paving lights to form constellations that shine at night and help guide the way. One of the park's standout elements is a statue by Richard Blake of Frederick Douglass as a pensive young man, before he emerged as the civil rights lion that he became.
Across the plaza from the statue is a gazebo, a shaded platform for music and community programs. Adjacent to the gazebo is the gallery, an intimate space with the water wall, interpretative signs, and Ghanaian adinkra symbols in honor of the ancestral heritage of many enslaved people. The gallery is dramatically lit at night, a refuge that includes the words of Nathan Johnson on the water wall, "Freedom for All Mankind."
The park designers consciously balanced the built environment with stormwater infiltration and access to living gardens, pollinators, and native plants. This co-commitment to an urban refuge - combating urban heat sink with elevating African American history and heroes - demonstrates how urban parks can contribute to social and environmental justice. From early community meetings, it was clear that this park was not to be a place for engaging in history exclusively; it was a place to inspire the future, to engage young minds to explore, to play, and to respect the power of community, individual integrity, and free speech. This park would not exist without the collaborative efforts of the City of New Bedford and the tireless leadership of the New Bedford Historical Society raising grants and donations that helped purchase the land, commission a significant sculpture by Richard Blake, and support the work of the talented design team, landscape architect Heather Heimarck, PLA, and garden designer Barbara Conolly.
Mary Rapoza, City of New Bedford Department of Parks, Beaches and Recreation
Lee Blake, New Bedford Historical Society
Heather Heimarck, HighMark Land Design Landscape Architecture
Barbara Conolly, Gardens by Barbara Conolly
Richard Blake, Sculptor
Ryan Wambach, JAM Corporation-Landscape Construction
Tom Barbosa, Carpenter
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