Cranston Herald Article – February 10
By EMMA BARTLETT
Two hundred eighth grade students from Park View Middle School and Hugh B. Bain Middle School will advance their education on ocean exploration this spring thanks to a $24,953 grant Mystic Aquarium received from the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ocean Exploration. The program’s curriculum will provide projects and local excursions for students.
Your support helps us to protect and conserve Stillhouse Cove Salt Marsh and Park, our local environmental treasure.
Each year we raise $10,000 to maintain, and improve Stillhouse Cove Salt Marsh and Park to keep it a sustainable, clean, beautiful, and safe waterfront.
Please give today.
Selected plants including “bee and polinator” friendly plants like this unique variety of hydrangia.
Protected the marsh and conservation area at Stillhouse by treating and removing invasive weeds and seedlings.
Improved gardens and the rotary with native plants and grasses that withstand drought and attract bees.
Maintained gardens with new plants and moving others to better locations.
Hosted two successful clean-ups that removed trash from around the cove.
Installed new “coir logs”to protect the salt marsh and park from erosion and storm damage. These “logs” were installed at the base of the slope in the salt march to help the cove stay stable and healthy.
The Edgewood Village invited Board President Barbara Rubine to tell their group about the history of Stillhouse Cove, Salt Marsh and Park. Here are her comments, The Short Story.
November 18, 2021
I want to thank Michael for his invitation to talk today about the history of Stillhouse Cove, I think. I say that because I have been so immersed in various aspects of this property for so long that, honestly, it is very challenging to focus on a short or quick study of this property that is historically accurate. I am going to do my best to keep you interested for the few minutes I have to generally outline how this property became a park, why it is so historically and environmentally important to the neighborhood, the City, the State of Rhode Island, and the country.
This park land that we are standing on was agricultural property that was part of the Brattle Farm. The property that comprises the park spans from Ocean Avenue to Strathmore Place, about one half mile of waterfront. The name “Stillhouse” came from a distillery that was owned by Joseph Rhodes and was located approximately where Trinity Church is situated today. The home and distillery owned by Joseph Rhodes no longer exists.
Coir logs perform an important function in the cove. Made to control erosion and protect the cove in the event of a significant storm, these “logs” help the cove stay stable and healthy.
And Ray and Wenley? Ray Mooney and Wenley Ferguson have been supporters of the EWPA for many years, adding expertise and helping out in many ways and lately heling in acquiring and installing coir logs in the cove.
This spring Ray saw logs posted on a social media site for a price substantially below what we have spent for similar items in the past. Given the Covid-19 situation and the difficulty of transporting them to Rhode Island, we passed on these items this spring. However, Ray noticed last week that they were still available. He drove to New Hampshire with his trailer and brought 15 logs back.
Wenley is lending her expertise in how these should be installed to gain the greatest benefit from them. She will advise the landscaping company that will be installing them.
The work of EWPA couldn’t happen without the assistance of such important friends of EWPA and we thank them for their generous and important efforts.
Thanks Ray and Wenley!!
Maintaining the park includes keeping a close eye on the plants that are doing well and the ones that need some help. It also means always improving.
Last year Winterberry were planted in the northern curve of the park. The berries feed the birds throughout early winter and add a nice look to the edge of the park. Several of the plants did quite well while a few seemed to struggle.
In an effort to give them a better location to thrive, we, led by Nick Cokonis, moved the winterberry to a location a with more sun and less competition for water. Where the Winterberry were removed, they were replaced by a variety of smooth hydrangea called ‘Invincibelle Ruby.’
“The pollinators love these Hydrangeas” said Nick Cokonis. He continued explaining that the variety of hydrangea chosen to replace the spots where the Winterberry were have reproductive organs and nectar available. Most commercial hydrangea are cultivated to lose the nectar and reproductive organs so they won’t produce nectar or pollen. In these commercial plants, the sterile flowers can be four times the size, making them thirstier.
The slow release of petroleum from asphalt dumped on the site years ago is the nasty gift that keeps on giving. While preparing beds, the crew took the time to remove as much of the tar that they could find.
On Saturday, October 2, 2021 Board Members from the EWPA worked in the early morning sun to remove invasive growth from the cove. This removal, done once per year, allows the naturally occurring growth room to thrive. The removal included a surprising number of young “pear” trees, that, according to understanding, are a variety that never actually produce pears!!
Saturday September 18, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Here are some photos from the event.
By DANIEL A. KITTREDGE (CRANSTON HERALD)
Read this story using the link below
Summer and science?
It might not be the combination most students have in mind when the school year ends. But for students in the STEM Advantage program, the two went hand-in-hand over the past several weeks.
“You’ve got to be precise with what you do. You’ve got to double check everything, triple check, test things out … One thing about learning is that you just have to do trial and error,” Andy Wu, an incoming 10th-grader at Cranston High School East, said while demonstrating a series of circuit experiments last week at Park View Middle School…
Read about this on Cranston Herald Online https://cranstononline.com/stories/summer-of-stem-through-six-week-program-students-focus-on-fighting-pollution-finding-potential,164328
The sculpture and historic marker at the corner of Narragansett Boulevard and Sefton Drive stand at the precise terminus of the former ‘Eddy Street – Edgewood’ streetcar line. The site commemorates the 1890s trolley routes that transformed Edgewood from farmland and recreation area into the neighborhood we know today.
After Filmmaker David A. Goldenberg witnessed the removal of the rails from the Boulevard in 2017, he retrieved some pieces and asked sculptor David Karoff to weld them into a monument. Then, using a myriad of archival sources, Goldenberg produced a documentary film: End of the Line: The Tracks That Shaped Our RI Streetcar Suburb. In the documentary, local voice-over artists recreated period descriptions of the routes that traversed our neighborhood, as well as accident reports, realty advertisements, and transport procedures. A link to the film is provided below.
It was critical to connect the project with the waterfront and public park in a site sensitive manner and the Edgewood Waterfront Preservation Association (EWPA) partnered with Goldenberg and Karoff on the promotion, siting, design, and landscaping of the “End of The Line” project and played a key role in completing it. As with all its preservation efforts, the EWPA also coordinated with the City of Cranston and local representatives. EWPA also provided the funding, with some help from donors, to complete the project. The site is located next to another EWPA project – the Stormwater Bioretention Area.
Mason Dennis Conte built the base and created the brick surround. Community members supported the project with materials and financial contributions.
The sculpture, made from rails from the former trolley line, is an interesting historical artifact that brings together art and history along a busy promenade within sight of historic Stillhouse Cove. This effort was consistent with EWPA’s mission to educate the community and to protect and preserve publicly-owned property within the waterfront area.
Please send your tax-deductible contributions to EWPA (Edgewood Waterfront Preservation Association) 1438 Narragansett Blvd. Cranston RI 02905 and mark checks “trolley memorial” or select the link below
In July with the help of a large number of volunteers led by Nick Cokonis, we planted Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum ‘Shenandoah’) and Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium ‘Standing Ovation’) grasses on the top of the banks.
Both grasses are prairie grasses that are recognized in the category of “warm season grasses” known for their long roots to control erosion and their drought tolerance. These were chosen to protect the embankment from erosion and for their color in the fall to add more interest to the park.
Save The Bay generously donated over 400 plugs of Switchgrass to our planting effort to help patch in spotty growth in existing Switchgrass stands and to control erosion. They are all native plants used where the soil is dry and nutrient deficient.
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