Around Town

Watertown Group Hosting Life Friendly Garden Tour

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Courtesy of Friends of Bees

The following information was provided by the Watertown Friends of Bees:

Mark your calendar! The 25th annual Life-Friendly Garden Tour is a few weeks away on Sunday Sept. 10 from 1 until 5 p.m.

Gardeners across Watertown will be opening up their gardens to guests, showcasing their wonderful chemical-free and life-friendly gardens. If you want to learn more about gardening to support bees, butterflies, birds, and/or healthy humans, check out the event page for more info. This event is hosted by Friends of Bees, which frequently collaborates with our Watertown Pollinator Pathways team.

Around Town

Preschool Story Time at Gore Place’s New Barn

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The following information was provided by Gore Place:

On Wednesday, September 6th, from 10 am to 11 am, join our Family Educator at Gore Place, the historic estate in Waltham and Watertown, for story time in the new threshing barn. Preschoolers will learn about vegetables and how they grow through stories and movement. They will then do some harvesting of their own (weather dependent). The Watertown Public Library Bookmobile will be on site for children to browse and check out books after the program. Park in the parking lot and make your way to the barn for check-in.

Around Town

Charles River in Watertown to be Treated for Invasive Plant Species

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MassDCR announced that a stretch of the Charles River in Watertown will be treated for invasive aquatic plant species this week. See the announcement below. On Thursday, August 24, 2023, the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) will conduct invasive aquatic species control work in the Charles River from approximately the Newton Yacht Club in the City of Newton to the Arsenal Street Bridge in the City of Boston. The Charles River will remain open to the public, however, DCR encourages those on the river that day to avoid the treatment area and the treatment vessels. If left unmanaged, invasive aquatic species will outcompete native plant species and inhibit water flow and recreational access. Alternative local state parks include the downstream portions of the Charles River Reservation in the City of Boston, Mystic River Reservation in the City of Medford, Beaver Brook Reservation in the Town of Belmont and Middlesex Fells Reservation in the Town of Stoneham.  

WHERE:  Charles River from the Newton Yacht in the City of Newton to the Arsenal Street Bridge in the City of Boston 

WHEN: Thursday, August 24, 2023 

Around Town

Prospective Young Scientists Get a Look at a Real Lab at Watertown’s Kymera Therapeutics

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Students in the summer program run by MassBioEd and the LEAH Project got to look around the labs at Kymera Therapeutics in Watertown (Courtesy of Kymera)

A group of aspiring young scientists got a glimpse inside a Watertown company that does cutting-edge biopharmaceutical research. The high school age students recently visited Kymera Therapeutics’ offices and labs at Arsenal Yards as part of a field trip organized by MassBioEd’s Summer Program. MassBioEd partners with the LEAH project and LabCentral to offer a lab-based summer internship program to rising high school juniors and seniors. They spend four days a week learning about biotechnology tools and improving their technical skills at LabCentral in Cambridge. One day each week, they visit life science companies and organizations to see how the skills and tools are used.

Around Town

DCR Announces Arsenal Street Lane Closures Beginning This Week

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A lane will be closed on the east end of Arsenal Street, the Mass. Department of Conservation and Recreation announced. The DCR sent out the following announcement:

Beginning on Monday, August 21, 2023, and continuing through Friday, September 8, 2023, the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) will close the right lane of Arsenal Street (westbound) from Greenough Boulevard to Greenough Boulevard in the Town of Watertown to accommodate curbing and guardrail installation work. Traffic patterns will be clearly marked, and a police detail will be on site.  

WHERE: Arsenal Street (westbound) from Greenough Boulevard to Greenough Boulevard in the Town of Watertown 

WHEN: Monday, August 21, 2023 – Friday, September 8, 2023 

Around Town

Our History: The Origins of the Name Watertown’s Elementary Schools

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Dr. Alfred Hosmer (1832-1891) and Dr. Hiram Hosmer (1798-1862) Photographs courtesy of the Watertown Free Public Library

The following story is part of a series on local history provided by the Historical Society of Watertown. It was written by Historical Society of Watertown board member Bob Bloomberg. Bob is also on the board of the Watertown Historic District Commission. He is a genealogist (his contact information is on our website) and has written several book reviews and newspaper articles. He wrote this article for our July 2020 newsletter “The Town Crier.”

Pop quiz: What do Hiram and Alfred Hosmer, P. Sarsfield Cunniff, and James Russell Lowell have in common?

Around Town

Hockey Tryouts for Small Saves in This Week’s Cartoon

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James DeMarco grew up in Watertown and became a goaltender at age 5. It’s his life’s passion to stand between the pipes and keep the puck out of the net. Combining this with the love of cartooning Small Saves emerged in 1991 and took on a life of his own. “To play goal – then come home and draw Small Saves — is my ideal definition of a good day.”