Peters Park (Boston) Informations

Peters Park is a small community park located in the South End neighborhood of Boston, MA. Its boundaries are Shawmut Avenue, Watham Street, Washington Street and East Berkley. The park provides roughly 5 acres (20,000 m2) of multiuse activity spaces, including a baseball field, basketball courts, a children's playground, lawns and an off-leash dog run. The park is open from 6:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m.

Along the East Berkley side of the park is a little league baseball field. More information about use of the field can be found at http://southendbaseball.com. Peter's Park also contains two full-sized basketball courts with an asphalt playing surface. The courts include bleachers for fans to watch. Next to the basketball courts is a tennis court and two handball courts.

Within Peter's Park is the Joe Wex Dog Recreation Space, Boston's first city-sanctioned off-leash dog park. The run is over 13,000 square feet (1,200 m2) and opened in November 2007. A separate smaller are in set aside for the use of small dogs (under 25 pounds).

Peter's Park has two areas set aside for art work. The first is a "Mural Wall" by the tennis court. The wall is occasionally refreshed local graffiti artists with permission from the city.

The Peters Park Art Wall was proclaimed a legal graffiti wall in 1986 under Mayor Raymond Flynn in order to decrease vandalism in the South End. For three decades, graffiti artists, community members, and inner-city youth have come to view the Peters Park Graffiti Art Wall as a safe outlet for creative and cultural expression. ALA (African Latino Alliance) Collective, Boston City Lights Performing Arts Center, and their network of artists and associates have played a significant role in creating a space where local graffiti writers and other visual artists can showcase their artwork at the Peters Park Graffiti Art Wall, resulting in community events, culturally relevant murals, and a rich history of inner-city youth learning mural painting techniques and life-building skills from progressive graffiti artists.

It became a grass roots affair for young adults to express neighborhood issues within the context of graffiti or street art, most often bringing along young kids in the neighborhood to show them how to create alongside them. Murals on the wall have depicted warnings about drug abuse, highlighted songs by Jazz legend Billie Holiday, illustrated the Askia Toure poem ‘From the Pyramids to the Projects’ and, most recently in 2007, a tribute to Hurricane Katrina rebuilding efforts called ‘Soul Revival.’ However, it also recently served as a bumping of heads between those residents who lived in the South End for many years and grew up understanding what the wall meant, and those who are newer to the neighborhood and quite innocently wanted to spruce up Peters Park – yet didn’t quite understand the major significance of the wall for those who have used it.

After some controversy, neighborhood organizations, local artists, and the City of Boston have come together with an inclusive plan through a recent Call for Artists "that's designed to bring local youth together with a professional artist, creating an opportunity for creative and cultural expression,” said Mayor Walsh. “Incorporating more public art into our neighborhoods brings vibrancy and value, and is an important part of our Boston Creates Cultural Plan. I look forward to seeing the proposals that are submitted for Peters Park.” The new mural is slated to be painted in May 2017 with plans for re-designing the wall every two years, bringing in new artists and going through the same process moving forward.

A second artistic project is the LandWave, a permanent landscape sculpture currently being constructed. The projected is expected to be completed in the Spring of 2010. More information can be found at LandWave.org.

Coordinates: 42°20′35.59″N 71°04′02.32″W / 42.3432194°N 71.0673111°W / 42.3432194; -71.0673111

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