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By Stephen Press
Hometown Weekly Staff
There is no shortage of idyllic scenery at Medfield’s Rocky Woods, a reservation administered by The Trustees of Reservations. The quiet shore of Chickering Lake may well be one of the town’s ultimate outdoor locales. It is an unspoiled portrait of perfection that one cannot fathom being improved upon.
For a moment, though, Kira LaFosse-Baker, Engagement Site Manager at Rocky Woods, invites you to imagine just that.
“It’ll be really nice,” she says as Mike Francis and Eli Roshina grade the land behind her. “A picturesque, beautiful winter day of skating, and a fire. And you’ve still got the beautiful pond, and the cabin where you can get some hot cocoa.”
Medfielders, take notice: ice skating is returning to Rocky Woods, bringing back a town tradition that had lain dormant for years.
“Since I started with the Trustees,” mentions LaFosse-Baker, “I’ve been hearing from everybody who comes to Rocky Woods: ‘Oh, the skating! You’ve got to bring the skating back! We loved the skating!’ I’ve seen the beautiful pictures - some of these awesome vintage photos of people out on the pond. And I said ‘I’m going to do it. I’m going to bring skating back. I want to make the people of Medfield happy!’”
Framed by the doorway of the Chickering Cabin Visitor’s Center, Eli Roshina measures the slope of the land that will house Rocky Woods’ outdoor ice rink. Photo by Stephen Press
“We are bringing skating back, and we’re going to try to guarantee it a little bit better than the pond can produce,” says LaFosse-Baker. “The pond, if it freezes, that’s wonderful. But it would need to freeze pretty far down for us to feel really confident about peoples’ safety … We figure, let’s take the risky element out, and we’ll build a rink. So, we’re building a backyard rink.”
The rink itself, though, just scratches the surface. LaFosse-Baker and her colleagues at the Trustees have big plans for this little corner of town. Directly abutting the footprint of the future rink, a cabin - now renamed the Chickering Cabin Visitor’s Center - is in the process of being updated with a new bathroom, among other improvements. The hope, LaFosse-Baker explains, is to transform it into a space reminiscent of a ski lodge, where visitors can warm up and socialize as they watch their neighbors skating nearby.
“We’ll have all the hot cocoa and concessions and things like that,” she says. “I’ve just been talking to our livestock manager about offering some of our meat for sausages and hamburgers. It’ll be some of our farms’ meat for grilling. It’s going to be awesome. Really hoping it’s a great winter - we really need Mother Nature to cooperate now.”
To say the least, the shore of Chickering Lake stands to be a popular destination once the temperatures drop below freezing, attracting folks of all ages to enjoy the resurrection of a Medfield tradition. For now, though, there are only LaFosse-Baker and her Trustees colleagues, methodically putting their plan into action in the bright light of a breezy November morning.
“These are my big dreams,” enthuses LaFosse-Baker as she watches Francis and Roshina complete their first steps on the road to transforming this corner of Rocky Woods into a winter wonderland. “It should be a lot of fun.”
