LYNNFIELD — First it was Pine Hill, and now Bow Ridge, site of the Kallenberg Quarry trail, is benefiting from local Boys Scouts of America sweat and stamina.
Troop 48 Scouts Erik Bell, Jonathan Biggar, CJ Gonzalez, Isaac Medford, Dan West, Lucas Williams, and Cub Scout Zachary Wehle focused early in the month on cleaning the ridge located off Ledge Road, Lynnbrook Road and Route 1.
The scouts unearthed old construction materials in a dump site near Kallenberg Quarry trail, a well-used walking and biking trail. Using saws and bolt cutters, they removed sections of chain-link fence, rusted car parts, a refrigerator, truck tires and other large-scale debris.
They hauled the trash to the trailhead, where town Public Works employees removed it for disposal.
For troop members, the cleanup represented their first chance to undertake a project since coronavirus’s March onset. Kallenberg Quarry trail’s popularity made the project a strong cleanup candidate, along with the trail’s historic significance.
Bow Ridge marks the highest point in Lynnfield with visibility on a clear day to the Boston skyline and Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire. Kallenberg Quarry, formally the Robin Rock Granite Company, provided the granite blocks used to build Boston’s U.S. Customs House.
Granite from the quarry can be seen throughout Lynnfield in such places as Forest Hill Cemetery, Tapley’s Tomb and Lynnfield Common.
The trail also marks one of the many entrances to Lynn Woods, which is popular with area hikers and mountain bikers trail names as “Awesome Sauce,” “Chicken Soup” and “Wicked Hard Trail.”
Troop 48’s cleanup comes on the heels of scout Michael Madden and his family’s spring Pine Hill cleanup effort.
Madden, a high school runner, surveyed the 9.5-acre Pine Hill open space area and identified a running path that could be staked out and require minimum tree clearing. Madden’s sister, Lucy, originated the path project on her way to securing a Girl Scouts of America Gold Award.
She developed and researched a town-wide open space survey as part of the work required to update Lynnfield’s 2018 Open Space and Recreation Plan.
Realizing high school runners lacked off-road running terrain and only train on pavement, Madden mapped out a Pine Hill running route and worked with town Public Works employees and parents Bruce and Erin and brother, Jack, to stake out the trail.
Paul Martindale, Lynnfield Conservation Commission chairman, credited town Planning and Conservation Director Emilie Cademartori with embracing Madden’s plan.
Pine Hill shares Bow Ridge/Kallenberg Quarry trail’s rich local history. In 1929, the 9.5 acre parcel belonged to Mirabeau Fresh Air Camp, Inc. It was deeded to the town in 1960, and at its March 1966 town meeting, the town turned over the parcel’s custody and control to the Conservation Commission.
