Headers Haven Playground To Be Rebuilt

The Recreation and Parks Commission is preparing to tear down Abbot Hall and the Powder House.

Not THE Abbot Hall and THE Powder House, but wooden replicas of the historic buildings that have been part of the Headers Haven playground in Gerry Park on Stramski Way since the 1980s.

The commission plans to replace the deteriorating wooden play equipment with plastic equipment that will require less maintenance and pose less risk to the children who use it. Funds for the reconstruction of the new playground are being raised by the Marblehead Family Fund.

The Marblehead Family Fund, founded in 1998, raises funds to improve Marblehead's playgrounds, parks and open spaces. The fund has raised more than $100,000 and rebuilt six community playgrounds. The estimated cost of replacing the equipment at Headers Haven is about $60,000, about half of which is being contributed by the Harold B. and Elizabeth L. Shattuck Memorial Fund.

Commission member Derek Norcross said there are exposed nails in the wooden structures. "It's dangerous," he said.

Fellow member Linda Collins agreed that the structures have deteriorated, but said, "I don't think it is that bad." She urged the commission to delay tearing down the structures until the new equipment was ready to be installed so that the playground would not be out of use for an extended period of time.

Collins said a similar playground has been better maintained with the application of oils to preserve the wooden structures better.

Summer camp counselors Mallory Powers, Catie Brown and Alexandra Digiammarino, who use the playground as a base of their activities, said that there are exposed nails in the equipment. With plastic equipment, "the children will get fewer splinters," Brown said.

But Powers said she will miss the wooden structures. "I like the wooden playgrounds," she said.

In addition to the large Abbot Hall and Powder House structures, the children play on wooden replicas of ships and boats. Collins said she expects the new playground will have a nautical theme.

Parks Superintendent Brendan Egan told the commission he is trying to find ways to incorporate some of the old structures into the new design. One possible use would be to turn parts of the wooden structures into flowers planters, he said.

Commission Chairman Chip Osborne told the commission members that in the future when private donations pay for parks and recreation equipment and facilities, they should have their own endowments for maintenance. The commission or the town is now paying for maintenance, he said.

Egan said the Family Fund directors he has met with were receptive to the idea of raising funds for playground maintenance. Family Fund board members include Tinabeth Burton, Hether Danforth, Kristin Goedkoop, Lisa Hoguet, Kristen Lamb, Kim Malary, Cate Mann and Lydia Smyers.

To donate to the project, mail checks to the Marblehead Family Fund at P.O. Box 502, Marblehead MA 01945.

Other business

In other business, the commission voted to allow the Marblehead Conservancy to cut back vegetation that is encroaching on trails behind Seaside Park.

Conservancy official Don Morgan outlined plans for work during the fall and winter that included cutting invasive-plant species adjacent to the two main trails, the Seaside Cliffs Trail behind the grandstand and the Crow Fly Trail near the tennis courts, and trim vegetation along the sides of the Crow Fly Trail and where needed along the Seaside Cliffs. The plan is "to make the trails more comfortable and tick proof," Morgan said.

The Parks Commission is also soliciting bids for work at Crocker Park to modernize the restrooms and rebuild the gangway at the pier head. The restrooms will be made handicapped accessible.

The pier head project will be bid out for the third time. The first time it was bid, the proposals came in too high for the budget. The second time it was bid, the commission received no responses. The commission hopes the work can be completed by the end of October.