Boston Globe
October 23, 2003

Letter: Balancing past with the present

We recently took visitors to Minuteman Park's historic Hartwell Tavern in Lexington. The interpreter's skill and enthusiasm put us back in that tumultuous spring of 1775. We half expected to see Paul Revere cantering up the dirt road from Boston! Instead, our guide was interrupted mid-sentence by the ear-splitting roar of a jet engine from nearby Hanscom Field. The spell was broken.

Noise pollution is just one of the ways that our historic legacy can be gradually eroded. The Hartwell Tavern, Battle Road, Old North Bridge, and the many other important sites in this area deserve great care and respect as we debate the future of Hanscom Field. History should be protected not only for its own sake, but also because it is one of our state's most important economic assets.

Visitors and locals alike come to this area to find some sense of the past, not to be assaulted by the present. However it evolves, Hanscom Field will need to find a better way of balancing the delicate equation between these two worlds.

Beth Nicholson
Brookline

This story ran on page A18 of the Boston Globe on 10/23/2003.
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