Future realities

Folks in Chestnut Hill Community Association meetings often talk about Chestnut Hill being a walking community. These comments are usually in the context of a presentation to a Physical Division committee of plans by a property owner to build a driveway for a house that once depended on on-street parking.

When I think of Chestnut Hill as a walking community, I remember my childhood, when my brother and sisters and I would walk to the train, home from school, to and from homes of friends, and of course to Germantown Avenue and various after-school activities.

But one of my fondest memories is from my early childhood, when I would be taken on walks to the large field at the corner of McCallum Street and Mermaid Lane. At that time, a tractor lane through the field was lined with violets and an owl lived in the large tree in the middle of the field. Sometimes crops were grown in the field. (It should be noted that this field is now posted, meaning no trespassing.)

To reach the field, we walked along Telner Street. As the years went by, houses, each individually designed and built on a sizable lot, sprouted on Telner Street and on the edge of the field on Mermaid Lane.

In this 21st century world, where huge executive homes are built in once rural areas and taxes on vacant land threaten to rise, I was pleased to hear about Quita Woodward Horan¹s plans for the field. To put an easement on a portion of it and developing another part is the best way to save a piece of open space while at the same time meeting the realities of present day economics. This way, one of the best attributes of Chestnut Hill will be saved as it faces the future.

Katie Worrall