Stairway to High Rock

LYNN – Nearly 200 people officially opened a new avenue in the city Tuesday when they climbed the staircase that runs from Essex Street to High Rock Tower.”This is a beautiful place,” Community Development Director James Marsh told the group that included city officials, neighborhood leaders, parents and more than 100 children. “The installation of the stairs and the related landscaping is about rehabilitating and opening up yet another city gem to everyone.”Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy and a group from Girls Inc. took a rest stop on the second landing to unveil a new sign heralding High Rock Tower Park. It was here Kennedy also issued a challenge aimed directly at the kids.”I want you all to count the stairs and the first one who comes to me with the right amount can be the first one to go into the observatory,” she said.Kennedy called the 190-plus stairs the icing on the cake that is the High Rock Tower.”Those stairs are there and will be there forever so you can come up and view the beautiful hill and see all that Lynn has to offer,” she told the crowd.Paid for through a $500,000 state grant with a $220,000 matching Community Development Bloc grant, Marsh said the wide, low granite steps didn’t cost the city a penny.”This work is the continuation of the High Rock Master Plan that the city began to implement in 1986,” he said. “High Rock is such a wonderful resource and until the installation of the stairs you could really only get to it by car. Thanks to this PARC (Parkland Acquisition and Renovation for Communities) grant the park, the observatory and the tower will be utilized much more often by downtown residents, Girls Inc. kids and the general public.”Yazlei Cruz came from Girls Inc. to join the trek. She said she liked the stairs because it made it easier to climb the steep hill from Essex Street to High Rock.”It’s not hard,” she said. “I’m used to it because I used to run up the hill. Now I can use the stairs.”Four-year-old Adeyna Min waited patiently at the foot of the stairs before joining the swell of people heading up the steep and winding stairs.”I already climbed these stairs four times today,” Min said. “It’s kind of hard but it’s good exercise.”After climbing the first 130 steps that leads to a path of crushed stone which leads to a second staircase Min stretched out her arms and said, “I feel great.”Her mother, Laura Min, shook her head and said, “I need more cardio.”Climbers enjoyed cider and donuts at the top outside the doors of High Rock Tower where Kennedy urged everyone to continue their hike upward by climbing to the top of High Rock Tower where they could “see from the top, what the city of Lynn looks like.”Adeyna Min scrambled up the steps of the tower but Laura Min said Adeyna was a little disappointed when she reached the top because despite the castle-like appearance of the Victorian age structure, “there was no princess.””But then she told me that it was okay because she has seen a lot of princesses in the movies,” Laura Min said with a laugh.Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].