Community Corner
Olmsted Historic District Sign Back Where it Belongs
The damaged and missing sign was recovered a month ago. Town facilities coordinator Richard Baldacci rebuilt and installed it, returning the marker to its old place at the corner of Walker and Paradise Roads.
Richard Baldacci is getting to be an old hand at replacing Olmsted signs.
He went to work on his second Olmsted Historic District sign and installed it last Thursday at the corner of Walker and Paradise Roads.
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The sign had been hit, then vanished, about a month ago. It was later recovered in the woods and Recreation Director Danielle Strauss hauled it to the garage by Town Hall.
Baldacci rebuilt the sign in Azec vinyl but used the origial metal portion of the sign with a map of the district on it.
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He dug holes for the posts and back-filled with crushed stone donated by the town mechanic, Billy Mpelkas.
The old wooden signs were prone to rotting, and the new signs, built of vinyl, should last a lifetime, with little maintenance, Baldacci said.
There are three Olmsted signs in town. They welcome visitors to the Olmsted Historic District.
Another one is posted on the Town Hall lawn near the corner of Burrill Street and Monument Avenue.
The signs mark the subdivision laid out on the former Mudge Estate by Frederick Law Olmsted, said Swampscott historian Lou Gallo.
Olmsted also laid out The Emerald Necklace in Boston and Central Park in NYC.
Swampscott's Olmsted Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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