Newton Residents Organize Historical Walk Through Upper Falls

NEWTON, MA — Two Newton residents have organized a local history walk through Upper Falls, which will take place on Saturday, May 7 from 1 to 3 p.m.

Jay Werb and his wife Ellen Katz came up with the idea as the city started to come out of the COVID-19 era, wanting to share Upper Falls in an informal way that would be fun and interesting. They recruited a group of neighbors as volunteers to cover interesting spots and sketched a walking loop covering various parts of the village, generally from Pettee Square to Hemlock Gorge and back again.

"The result is a self-guided, self-paced walk through Newton Upper Falls, narrated by over a dozen different voices as you stroll from place to place,” Werb said in an email. "Each volunteer will be at a fixed location, with a short script (usually written by the volunteer) to tell people a little bit about what they are looking at.”

The route covers a time period from 10,000 B.C. to 2522, featuring some ancient geologic history from the past and a stop about an alien invasion in the future. Werb recommends stopping at Bettina's Bakery, previously a hotel, for one of her Signature Conchas and at the pop-up market for Depot Spice that Newton Upper Falls residents sprinkle on everything.

Last month, organizers walked the loop with a group of people from Belmont as a pre-test of the concept. Feedback from the walk’s first participants was incredibly positive, said Werb.

Because the walk is a loop, participants can start anywhere. The Antique Mall at Chestnut and Elliot Streets is on the route and has plenty of parking. For a historical narrative, it is best to start in Pettee Square, at the intersection of Oak and Chestnut Streets, where there is on-street parking.