Dispatch From Upper Falls - Losing a Piece of Our History

I've been working with three Newton North sophomores over the last few months.  They are putting together an ingenious web site to capture the living memories of Upper Falls residents called the Upper Falls Live History Map.  The web site was directly inspired by my neighbor Bruce Marcy.

Bruce is a tireless gardener.  His front yard is a fascinating creation of flowers, running water, a pond with fish, figurines, a bench, etc.   His side yard is full of fruit trees and his backyard is a small farm's worth of vegetables and flowers.  One day he talked to me about software for managing and keeping track of his gardening.   He said his ideal software would be an interactive map of the entire property so that he could click on any spot and bring up what was planted there, when it was planted, and all the details of how it's been tended.

Bruce is also the deepest well of local history in the neighborhood.  His family has been here for generations.  Between his own memories and those passed down from his family, Bruce knows more about the details of every house and property in the neighborhood than anybody I've come across.

The Live History Map project is modeled after Bruce's ideal garden software and is intended to capture the memories of Bruce and all the other residents of the neighborhood, particularly the old timers who have been here the longest.

Giving all that, it was a huge shock to hear that Bruce will be moving to North Carolina this coming month.  He's a bit torn about the move.  He's looking forward to spending time with his son and grandkids in Charlotte.  He's excited about his new house that was chosen to be the perfect blanks canvas for his new garden.  All that aside though, it's difficult to tear himself away from Upper Falls after all these years.

We're going to miss Bruce deeply.  He's the friendliest, most irascible, interesting, cantankerous, charming. and knowledgeable guy in the neighborhood.  If there's one person around here that embodies all that I love about this quirky neighborhood, it would be Bruce.

Though he'll be leaving soon, he definitely won't be cutting his ties with "the Falls".  He's looking forward to the launch of the Upper Falls Live History Map  in June and says that he'll be able to contribute to it from North Carolina.

From all of us in the neighborhood Bruce - thank you.  Thanks for letting all of us use your yard as the shortcut to the bus stop every morning.  Thanks for all the local history that you've passed on in so many impromptu conversations.  Thanks for creating that magical front yard that delights all of our kids and many of us adults.  Thanks for being a great neighbor.

We wish you well in your new home and we hope the people of Charlotte appreciate what they're getting as much as we know what we're losing.