Weymouth Opens Osprey Overlook Park, Third Back River Trail Segment

WEYMOUTH — October 17, 2017 — Weymouth dedicated Osprey Overlook Park on Tuesday, completing the third segment of the town's Back River Trail Master Plan. Mayor Robert L. Hedlund presided over the ribbon cutting at the former landfill site on Wharf Street in North Weymouth, which was capped in 2000 and converted into a three-quarter-mile ADA-accessible loop trail connecting to Great Esker Park. The $405,000 project drew on $248,000 in Community Preservation funds and a $157,000 Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund grant secured by Administrative Services Coordinator Nick Buhlens, who called Osprey Overlook "my first capital project to ever receive funding from the state." Linda DiAngelo of the Back River Watershed Association noted that the opening brings to ten the number of public parks surrounding Weymouth Back River, which has held Area of Critical Environmental Concern status since 1982. Principal Planner Eric Schneider dedicated a memorial bench at the overlook to the late Barbara Lang, a North Weymouth kayaker and community volunteer. Hedlund also confirmed the town is now working with the MBTA to begin cleanup of the adjacent Durante property, where a kayak launch is envisioned as part of a future trail extension.