Gardner Field in West Acton center is now home to a new Little Free Library. Installed in mid-December, it is full of books and ready for the neighborhood to stop by and browse.
The playground at Gardner Field was completed and dedicated last summer, but there were details still undone. This fall a two-foot-high stone wall was installed alongside the Mass Ave. sidewalk, and a wood stockade fence was installed on the east side. New amenities include benches, bike racks, picnic table, bollards, and trash and recycling receptacles.
A dramatic metal archway, created by Matt Dunn of Bear Bones Sculpture, is now located at the entrance of the playground supported by a pair of two-foot square granite columns. The sidewalk is freshly paved and leads to a set of wide concrete steps leading down to the playground structures. In the spring a water fountain will be added, as well as a metal railing for the stairs.
The Little Free Library was provided by Paul Swydan, owner of the Silver Unicorn Bookstore, using a design created by Graham Gallert, a former employee of Thoughtforms in West Acton. I had the enjoyable task of building the library in my woodworking shop. Made of cedar vertical siding, a galvanized metal roof, plywood bookshelves, and a cedar framed door with Plexiglass panes, the library is meant to require little to no maintenance.
Before Graham moved to Maine, he had built several other libraries using the same design, including one at NARA park, one opposite Gardner Field in front of the Acton Villageworks, and another at Russell’s Convenience (now closed) in Stow. Paul has contributed books to these libraries over the years and as the sign says: “Take a book, leave a book,” resulting in the local community members stocking the shelves.
A note about Little Free Libraries: Todd Bol built the first Little Free Library in 2009 in Hudson, Wisconsin. His initial goal was 2509 libraries, one more than the number that Andrew Carnegie founded. The goal was reached in 2012, the same year that the Little Free Library organization was incorporated as a non-profit. As of 2022 there were more than 150,000 Little Free Libraries worldwide.
The best part of the libraries is, as stated in their website: “Little Free Library book-sharing boxes are open seven days a week, 24 hours a day and are freely accessible to all, removing barriers to book access.”
Jeff Brown is business beat reporter for the Acton Exchange. The Little Free Library Brown built at Gardner Field is the second one he has built for Paul Swydan; the first one is just outside the entrance of the Sudbury Co-op School.