The former Gale Fountain.
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Gale Park Neighbors is seeking volunteers to help clean Gale Park, at the junction of Kenoza Avenue, Mill Street and Saltonstall Road, Saturday, May 6, from 8 a.m. to noon.
Volunteers are asked to bring rakes, shovels and wheelbarrows if they have them. Leaf bags and tarps will be supplied. Volunteers will be assisted by the city Highway Department and a crew from the Essex County Sheriff’s Department.
The focus is on the triangle at the tip of the park, where organizers are planning a rock garden. A landscape designer has volunteered to help plan the garden.
Gale Park Neighbors organized 19 years ago to care for the three-quarters-of-an-acre park, originally the site of the home of Capt. Samuel Ayer, who was killed in an Indian attack in 1708. It later became the site of the first children’s home in the city, given by John E. Gale, one-time president of Haverhill National Bank. It has been known as Gale Park since 1891.
Kathy Fitts, Kristine Sheehan and Betsey Natale are chairwomen and Joan Cranton is treasurer of the neighborhood group.
Those interested in volunteering may call Cranton at 978-372-8050.
The fountain in the photo was known as the Carleton Fountain, not the Gale Fountain. It’s been rusting away beside Kenoza Lake for the past 100+ years.