Clement G Morgan Park

A few years ago, the water features in many of the public parks in Cambridge were torn out, during the winter, by someone, or a group, who were salvaging the brass to sell. The result was that many of the parks needed emergency maintenance.
Not kind on the city budget, I’m sure, but this park was the benefactor of a major overhaul along with the teeeeeeny tiny water playground for wee tots on the other side of Pine St.
The playground is great for a certain kind of kid. Primarily, a big one. It doesn’t have proper swings, it has this freaky thing that tosses you way up in the air really suddenly, which I love to play on, but I can imagine a small, not strong, child could be chucked off if not well attended.
The seesaw is a seesaw, I think seesaws look like a lot more fun than they really are, and this one is no exception. There is an excellent little climbing structure and a sort of crap merry-​go-​round thing, that doesn’t really turn very easily but is still fun to climb on. Little kids really need to go across the street, but I’ve seen middleschoolers having a great time there.
The green space is large and rolling, great for running about on with dogs, etc. The basketball courts are a summer destination spot for the whole neighborhood, and a great place to stop and watch the future stars of the Cambridge courts.
Now, the reality. There are at least three homeless shelters in the immediate area. There is not a lot of places for those folks to go when they get tossed out in the morning, and as everyone in Central Sq knows, they go wherever they can, and the parks are one of those places. Because this park is not in a highly visible spot from the square, there are frequently small clusters of older people who might or might not be drinking, and might or might not be rowdy.
The litter problem is high. While the city does clean the park at least weekly, the population does little to support it, and there is always a lot of garbage in the grass, and on the playground and basketball courts.
This is our closest playground, and we walk through it several times a week. I’m a fan, and I try to help to support the huge amount of work that was put into it last year, by picking up trash and putting it in the bins, when my kids are playing. I hope I’m not the only one.

Newly refurbished, this park has basketball courts, a playground, picnic tables and an excellent (if still growing in) lawn. Highly recommended, the rocks are excellent places to sit and read.

My hidden green! Its close proximity to Central has certainly made the lack of patio spots in the area less lamentable.
There’s a small grassy area, not big enough to be called a field but ample for playing tag, lobbing a ball or giving the dog a frolic. There’s a great court for hoops popular with neighborhood boys, and a sweet playplace for the youngsters. I dig the swings at gloaming myself.
What you don’t want to do here is plop down on an inviting looking bench and light up a fine joint or engage in a midnight tryst as these trees previously witnessed many exchanges in the dark that resulted in some serious violence, so the police patrol the area heavily.
But have no fear, I walk through at all times of day no more briskly than anywhere else. And its grass is just as inviting.

As parks go this offers what your looking for. A pretty solid grass space for tossing a football, frisbee, or baseball. I would agree with the prior review about the shooting and chaos. But I work for the Boys and Girls Club and we use this park daily when the weather is nice. So while it’s had it’s tough past the only way to change it’s perception is to use it. Just because your skin color may make you feel uncomfortable in that neighborhood doesen’t mean you should walk around this great little piece of green space.

Nice little park to have, especially for dogs and kids, in a rather parkless part of Cambridge. Unfortunately there’s’ a bit of, er, adolescent angst that finds its way here, and last summer there were at least three shootings either in the park (primarly around the basketball courts) or close by.
There is a certain price one pays for the conveniences of city living, but gunplay around kids is beneath pathetic. Kind of makes you wonder — if this is happening in Cambridge, one of the core centers of liberal enlightenment in this civilization — maybe we’re a little bit hosed…
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