Wildwood Park or Havenville Hollow?

Mary LoPreste is a Havenville resident and she is proud that fact.

The interesting thing is she didn’t know she lived in Havenville until four years ago, though she spent more than 20 years residing there. You see, Havenville is an old and nearly forgotten name for the area of Burlington located in the area of Bedford Street and Francis Wyman road that was named after a large family who owned a lot of land in the area for many years during the nineteenth and early twentieth centures.

“The Haven family lived all around there and it was a kind of single-family community,” explained Mike Tredeau, Co-Chair of the Burlington Historical Commission. “Jonas Haven owned 42 acres of one section, 34 on another and 8 other parcels, a considerable amount of land. The Haven family has been there for at least 130 years.”

The family owned a once well-known shop that was in business for decades until closing in 1920 when it was converted into the Old West School, now a designated historical building.

Tredeau added that Havenville is still recognized on many maps, and in fact will come up on a Google Map search. Other old area names in town have not had the same staying power, and have mostly been lost.

Still, not all residents are aware of the history of their neighborhood. LoPreste said she only found out about the name Havenville when she met a neighbor while out in town and he commented that she was a “fellow Havenvillian.” She asked what he meant but he didn’t have a lot of details. However, her curiosity was piqued and she began to investigate.

“He did not know a lot about it, but I ran with it,” she said, adding that what started as a fun hobby soon became a deep interest in the history of her section of town.

To help preserve the memory of Havenville, LoPreste has started a campaign to have the park being built in the space where Wildwood School used to be, currently slated to be named , named Havenville Hollow.

“I think it’s an intriguing idea,” she said. “The different sections in town used to have distinct names, but most of those names have been lost over the years. This would help cement a historical connection with the past.”

She began contacting members of the Burlington Recreation Commission, which is overseeing the park project. At first, she said, she did not get a big response from its members, but she diligently kept up the effort. She contacted her neighbors and Town Meeting members to try and get them involved. The response, she said, has been very positive.

“Out of everybody I’ve talked to and emailed and tried to get involved, 95 percent of the people are for it,” she said. “A lot of people are interested in history. Most haven’t heard of the history and are intrigued by the idea. Most people find it intriguing and interesting because they have never heard of Havenville before.”

To her, naming the park Havenville Hollows makes more sense than Wildwood Park. The name is older than Wildwood and she said more rooted in the history of the community.

“I know some people had interest in continuing that name because school had been there for years,” she explained. “But why was the school named that? I found no mention of family name, no info as to why that name was given to it.”

LoPreste will be arguing for the name change at the upcoming Recreation Commission meeting at 7 p.m. in the Human Services Building at 61 Center St., next Monday, Feb. 14. She is asking that anyone who would support the name change contact members of the commission or attend the meeting to voice their support.

For more information on Havenville and LoPreste’s efforts to have the park named Havenville Hollow, check out her Web site http://havenville.blogspot.com.