tHE bODY iN pLACE

The top of Peter’s Hill, which is located across the street from the last stop of the orange line at Forest hill, is the most southern portion of the Arnold Arboretum. The Arboretum is itself an amazing place with over 4,000 different species of wooden plants, another word for trees, it is a horticultural research facility for Harvard university. It is owned by the city of Boston however under the agreement that Mr. Sargent, the first curator of the Arboretum, made with the city, the city will own the Arboretum but will lease the park to Harvard for 1,000 years with an option for renewal for another 1,000. So, in other words the park is not going any where I think they still have something like 850 years left. Not a stupid move, assuming the city of Boston never disappears.

Once you get to the top of the hill before you see the view there is an entrance that lets you know that you are about to enter the viewing area. Just two granite stones turned upright about three feet high define the entrance to the spot. This gives an indication of a new space. Once you pass through the entrance there is a small open space that is usually consumed by dogs jumping on top of each other with so much excitement that they can’t seem to control themselves and their owners standing, watching over their dogs like they were watching their children, mingling amongst themselves. Then as you move to the very top of the hill, you see the view and the grouping of stones for sitting and looking at the view.

At the top there is a spectacular view of the city of Boston, and 5 groups of granite stones that are scattered around the top of the hill. Or, as I learned after talking to Matt the groundskeeper, this area is referred to the as “the moon” by the staff because of how hard it is to get something to grow here due to the hardness of the soil. The arrangement of the stones clearly suggests the function of the area. You can see from the picture there is always one large stone in the group; it could sit two maybe three people. There are also two smaller stones along side the bigger one, sometimes both on one side and sometimes one on each side. The groups are clustered in an arrangement that suggests interaction. They are placed close to each other in a half circle but are open to the view, probably four to five people could sit in each group but I have never seen more then two. Knowing that the space is designed to hold many more people but there is just one or two people there, is a comforting sensation because, your not sitting out by yourself, but you have room to spread out. The stones are about three steps high but I have seen some people just sit on the ground and use them for back support. I have only seen this twice and both times, they were couples that stayed longer then I did. Three groups of these stones are in what I would consider the open, so you can see them clearly once you get to the top. There are two other groups of stones off to the side but are not completely hidden, you can see them through the trees but they are off to the left side, away from the direction of the view so you would have to seek them out.