Hyde Park Neponset River Access Group Wins $5,000 Grant
April 2025 —
The Hyde Park Neponset River Access Committee (HPNRAC) is pleased to announce it recently received a $5,000 grant from the Inaugural Henry Lee Fund for Boston Parks Grant Program run by The Friends of the Boston Public Garden.
The Henry Lee Fund for Boston Parks aims to affect communities in need by providing small grants to enhance public green spaces throughout Boston. These grants support the care of trees and turf, sculpture maintenance, and special projects in neighborhood parks where the needs are clear, but the resources are limited. This fund embodies Lee’s commitment to equity in the quality of Boston’s public green spaces.
This grant will help cover design, permitting, and documentation costs for an elevated natural climbing structure at Doyle Park in Hyde Park—a one-acre riverfront space just above the Tileston and Hollingsworth Dam on the Neponset River.
In a letter to HPNRAC and NepRWA (the grant’s fiscal sponsor), the Friends wrote:
“We recognize your long-standing commitment to the care of this unique greenspace, and the remarkable habitat restoration the Committee has undertaken alongside DCR to increase trail and river access, create play facilities and gathering areas for the Hyde Park community. Implementing this project would reflect your organization’s care and investments, and lift up the community around it.”
For over a decade, community members and HPNRAC members have worked to improve conditions and increase river access in the park space. This Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR)-managed playground had fallen into disrepair and was surrounded by a chain link fence that walled off the community access to the only public riverfront space along Hyde Park’s three-mile stretch of the Neponset.
The climbing sculpture, designed by renowned sculptor Mitch Ryerson, will be a focal point of the redesigned park, once DCR completes construction of the redesign.
Ryerson’s nature-inspired design will likely include:
- Three platforms connected by two bridges
- Entry points with transfer platforms for accessibility
- Cambia timbers that are non-toxic, rot-resistant, stained, and treated
The new Doyle Park design includes:
- Native trees and plantings
- Benches and picnic tables
- A stage and chess table
- A Neponset River overlook and trail downstream to the Shops at Riverwood
The HPNRAC is also advocating for a trail extension upstream to West Street, which would unlock five acres of public land and help complete the Neponset Greenway vision—connecting neighborhoods to the river through parks, overlooks, and trails developed in partnership with local communities and state agencies.
Questions? Contact NepRWA Greenways Coordinator, Suzanne Hinton, at hinton@neponset.org
What is the Hyde Park Neponset River Access Committee (HPNRAC)?
HPNRAC is a coalition committed to making the Neponset River and surrounding green space safer and more accessible for Hyde Park residents.
Members include:
- East River Neighborhood Association
- Hyde Park Central River Neighborhood Association
- Neponset River Watershed Association (NepRWA)
- Southwest Boston Community Development Corporation
- City Life/Vida Urbana
With support from the Lawrence and Lillian Solomon Foundation, the Committee builds community resilience, works together on crafting nature-based solutions, and gathers to reimagine a public waterfront where all can rest, play, gather, and heal in community.
