An evening stroll

The small dog and I continued our mission of visiting every street in Liberty Heights tonight, working on the section between the curve of St. James and Nottingham. We traveled down (in somewhat chronological order) Ansara, Ramah, Alpha and Porter. This is the view from the end of Porter Street:



It looks out over a very busy intersection -- the on and off ramps to I-291, St. James and Page Boulevard.

From there, we moved on to Border, and then finished up Wilson and Middle. On Middle, there rests the Marconi Club.



As far as I can tell, this is a club a little like the Elks, where members meet occasionally and parties can rent out the space for get togethers. The fence around it makes it look a little like a top secret compound in my opinion. To learn about the club, click here.

The small dog and I also finish up Griffin, strolled up McBride, then Parallel, and down Nottingham to Carew. Nottingham is done!

At the corner of Nottingham and Carew is MBC Realtors. Best of City Guide for Springfield rated the office number 1 for work in duplexes and number 1 for office space.



As we wandered back up Carew toward home, I stopped to take a picture of some permanent dog graffiti in the sidewalk across from Liberty Elementary. I call this piece "Fido Was Here":



Since there was a little light left by the time we got back toward home, we wandered along Upland and then Victoria before calling it an evening.

I've been plotting...I think I'm going to stay on the east side of Carew Street for a while. Just stay on this side all the way down to Chestnut. It really is a big project; I need to keep it manageable.

28 down, 195 to go

The first trek into Liberty Heights

With the first full weekend in March came some lovely early spring weather -- 65 degrees on Saturday, 55 on Sunday. Finally! It seemed the perfect opportunity to take my very active dog for a walk, get some exercise and sunshine for myself and start officially exploring my neighborhood.

I started with a route my feet know well. I've done it before dozens of times with my small dog because it's through a relatively quiet neighborhood, with not a lot of traffic and that's nice when there's no sidewalks.

We started down our street and then turned southeast onto Merrimac. This is a strictly residential street that gets quite a bit of traffic, as it serves as a shortcut to get from St. James to Carew. At one end is a bridge spanning I-291, and at the other, Van Sickle Middle School. Kael and I did not cross the bridge, however, as we turned west onto Nottingham. And from there, Kael and I began our zigzagging.

Off Nottingham, I turned right onto Savoy. Savoy Avenue is home to two important things (at least, in regards to this blog): the first business I've come across and one of my favorite trees in the city. This is the business:



and this is the tree:



I can't really see inquiring into the business more than just passing it by because I think a daycare is pretty self-explanatory and I don't have any children. And the tree? It's a giant, proud oak that doesn't care it has a giant tree tumor at its base.

There are several small dead-end streets jutting off Savoy (Savoy Place, Cabot Street, Wales Court, Ward Court, Coyne Court) that I did not walk down because, honestly, I thought it might creep out anyone who lived on those streets who happened to look out the window and see me walk up their street and then just as quickly walk back down their street.

At the end of Savoy, we turned left onto Carew, and then left again to head down Drexel Street, which was entirely residential. I also took a peek at Fairfax Place -- just homes. At the end of Drexel, I turned right onto Nottingham and then right again onto Eddy. Halfway down Eddy is what I like to "Comedian Corner." Observe:



Get it? Eddie Griffin? I'm a dork.

Once I was done with Eddy, I turned left onto Carew and then left onto Laurence. Here's where it gets a little funky: I turned right off Laurence onto Griffin, left onto Middle Street, right onto Ellen Street, and then left back onto Nottingham and back toward Merrimac. I crossed Merrimac and followed Lehigh Street up to Cuff, and Cuff up to St. James; left onto St. James and then left, back onto good ol' Melville. It was quite the adventure, and I think it was a good start to my journey.

15 streets down, 208 to go