Visited Monday, July 26, at 9:30am. 5 kids there at first, more than 20 when we left an hour later. Almost totally in the shade!
The basics
0.52 acre park on Central Street between Pembroke and Willoughby. Residential parking. No restrooms or snack suppliers. Closest bet would be at Highland and Central (Dunkin’ Donuts, convenience stores). Metal structures on woodchip and sand surfaces, as well as concrete court space.
The fun stuff
Tot Lot
- See Saw
Two slides (one straight, plastic; one double width, metal)
Crawl tube
Steering wheels
Steps, ladders and fireman’s pole
Benches
Lot for older kids
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Two plastic slides (one straight, one spiral)
Clatter bridge
Climbing – steps, ladders, metal chain ladder, monkey bars and hoops, acrobat bars
Steering wheels
Benches
Four swings (2 bucket)
Picnic tables
Basketball court
Trains and trucks nearby
Before visiting this playground we managed to catch a glimpse of the train traveling into Boston which was a bonus for my daughter. There were trains at 9:25am, 9:55am and 10:25am. The next bonus for us was the shade. Aside from the basketball court, the playground was pretty much totally in the shade thanks to the mature trees on four sides. Another added extra for this park was the occasional appearance of tractor-trailer trucks at Rogers Foam Corp. across the street (maybe 3 in the hour we were there). And there is some historical significance here since this is the first of Somerville’s community-built parks.
The gate locks with a chain, and it felt quite safe to hang out here while my daughter roamed from the Tot Lot, to the bigger play structures, swings, basketball court and back again. The Tot Lot crawl tube was fun, but there is a bit of a drop to the ground so supervision was required. Same with the fireman’s pole as there was no way she could stretch to reach it herself.
The swings are set on a sand surface so the first thing she did was to take her shoes off…but since it took me literally less than 30 seconds to find some glass, they had to be but back on again quickly. There was also some evidence of alcohol, cigars and cigarettes near one of the picnic tables at the back but to be honest she would never have gone near that side of the park herself, and I wouldn’t have either in my less observant pre-blog days. We’ve been to this park a few times this year and I don’t remember ever noticing this sort of litter before.
Exploring Somerville Parks 