Katie Durand Memorial Park
Katie Durand Memorial Park is a small conservation park at the end of Carter Avenue, off Nashua Road in South Billerica, on the west bank of the Concord River a short way above Hill's Bridge. Its two parcels, about 1.45 acres in all, lie within the stretch of the Concord designated a National Wild and Scenic River. The park has a circular access drive with a small parking area and its own stormwater basins, a canoe and kayak landing on the river, picnic tables, interpretive signs about the river and its wildlife, and a memorial area with a pollinator garden. It is held by the Conservation Commission and named for Katherine "Katie" Durand, the commission's Conservation and Land Use Assistant, who died in 2018.
The land was for two centuries part of the farms of the Hill family on the west side of the river, the family for whom Lieutenant Joseph Hill's bridge was named in 1736. Lucy Hill, born in 1783, married Dr. Joseph Foster in 1806; as the widow Lucy H. Foster she owned the farm along the river and the Winning's Pond road, gave a right of way through her land when the Hill bridge road was reopened, and in 1853 sold Jane Dutton the lot beside the Winning Tavern. Her will, proved in 1869, left the rest of her real estate to her nephews Henry Benjamin Judkins and Edward Hill Judkins "as tenants in common for and during the term of their natural life," then to their children, and forbade cutting any wood "except such as may be necessary for the repairs of the fences, farm-houses or other buildings" for twenty years after her death. R. W. Baker's 1871 plan of the "Estate of Lucy H. Foster" shows a tract of 203.27 acres running from the Western Road (now Nashua Road) at the bridge north along the river to the land of John Cummings and west to Winning's Pond and the Triple Cove Road.
The Judkins heirs held the land until the 1920s. After a partition petition brought by Belva C. Judkins in the Middlesex Probate Court, Richard H. and Belva C. Judkins of Carlsbad, New Mexico, sold the whole 503.67 acres in Billerica and Carlisle to Philip F. Coleman of Arlington on August 9, 1926. Coleman passed it to Elsa V. Johnson of Melrose that October, and on July 11, 1927 she sold the 203.27-acre Foster tract to Richard C. Moran, who the same day conveyed it, with the adjoining Judkins lot and two wood lots, to the Rio Vista Company. George H. Wetherbee Jr., civil engineer, of Boston and Braintree, laid the tract out as "Rio Vista" on a plan dated June 4, 1928: hundreds of small lots on new streets, with Riverview Road along the river. The park is made of Lots 1 to 15 and 47 to 53 of Block 5, between Ivy and Pembroke Streets, and Lots 1 and 2 of Block 2 on the river bank.
Curtis J. Foster of Boston bought the corner lots at Riverview Road and Pembroke Street, Lots 1, 2 and 53, from the Rio Vista Company in July 1931, agreeing that no building would go up on them unless the company approved the plans, and in November he deeded them to his wife Savina; she gave them to their son Curtis M. Foster in 1942, and in 1943 he bought the adjoining Lots 3 to 10 and 52 from the Rio Vista Company. In June 1950 Curtis M. Foster sold the house lot, 29,956 square feet "with the buildings thereon," to Helen E. Zuk, and in 1950 and 1951 John and Helen Zuk added Lots 11 to 15 and 47 to 51 and the two river lots of Block 2. Those river lots had been taken by the town for unpaid taxes; in 1937 the town treasurer sold the town's title in them, with many other Rio Vista lots, to John F. Trainor for $23, and they passed from him to John D. Cooke of Wilmington in 1940 and to James Nuzzolo of Nashua Road in 1942, who sold them to the Zuks in August 1951. The Zuks kept the property until 1979, and it then passed through four private owners before Richard A. Nazzaro bought it in 1996. By then Riverview Road had become Carter Avenue and the house was No. 8.
In fiscal 2018 the Conservation Commission and its staff worked with the chief assessor and the town manager on buying 8 Carter Avenue and the abutting riverfront parcel to preserve and restore the floodplain and riverbank and to give the public access to the river. Article 31 of the Spring 2018 Town Meeting asked for $266,000 from Overlay Surplus for the purchase and $20,000 to demolish the house and make the lot safe, the parcels to be held by the Conservation Commission under Chapter 40, Section 8C "for preservation, restoration and recreation purposes." The Finance Committee recommended it 7 to 3 with one abstention and the Selectmen unanimously, and after much discussion the meeting carried it on May 8, 2018 by 131 votes to 40. Nazzaro's quitclaim deed to the town, for $266,000, was recorded on July 17, 2018. The house was taken down.
The commission then asked the Community Preservation Committee to pay for a park. The May 2020 Town Meeting appropriated $75,000 of Community Preservation funds for the planning, design and permitting of the Katie Durand Memorial Park, and the town meetings of 2021 added $100,000. The commission's Order of Conditions for the work was recorded in May 2022, the town's Engineering Division and Department of Public Works built the park in 2023 and 2024, and the Sudbury, Assabet and Concord Wild and Scenic River Stewardship Council paid for its interpretive sign. The town's annual report for 2024 recorded that construction was complete; the Parks and Tree Division has mowed and kept the park since 2022.
Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| 1869 | Will | Lucy H. Foster of Billerica, widow | Her nephews Henry Benjamin Judkins and Edward Hill Judkins | Will of the widow Lucy H. Foster (born Hill): her river farm to her Judkins nephews for life, then to their children | Probate #32117 |
Middlesex probate case 32117 (1869). Will of Lucy H. Foster of Billerica, widow. Gives her wearing apparel and $50 to her "beloved sister Elizabeth H. Judkins"; a devise to her nephew Edward Hill Judkins "his heirs and assigns"; and "all the rest and residue of my real estate of every name and nature" to her nephews Henry Benjamin Judkins and Edward Hill Judkins "as tenants in common for and during the term of their natural life," at the death of either one undivided half to his child or children, otherwise to the surviving brother for life. "No wood shall be cut from the said real estate, except such as may be necessary for the repairs of the fences, farm-houses or other buildings on the said premises, or for consumption as fuel," and none sold except "cut and corded on the same" at private sale, until twenty years after her death. Witnesses Benjamin F. Adams, Francis G. Adams, Sarah L. Flanders. Her estate was surveyed by R. W. Baker in 1871 (Plan Book 32 Plan 52): 238.8, 203.27 and 61.6 acres along the Triple Cove and Western Roads.
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| August 9, 1926 | Quitclaim Deed | Richard H. Judkins and Belva C. Judkins, husband and wife, of Carlsbad, New Mexico | Philip F. Coleman of Arlington | The Judkins heirs sell the 503.67-acre Foster estate, Billerica and Carlisle, to Philip F. Coleman | 739/560 |
Signed and recorded August 9, 1926, "for consideration paid." "A certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon, situated in Billerica and Carlisle, Massachusetts, containing 503.67 acres," by metes and bounds from the northerly side of the Triple Cove Road, by land of C. S. Brown and S. N. Wood, the Western Road, West Street, the Carlisle line, Page's Brook and the Concord River, the land of John Cummings and "land formerly of Benjamin L. Judkins, deceased," Baldwin, Flanders and Jones, and "crossing Winning's Pond 749.5 feet"; also the 31.08-acre "Wood Lot" by Bailey's land and the river, a 20-acre wood lot, and the 3.27-acre "Peter Hill" lot. Lot 1 on Plan Book 32 Plan 52, Lots 2 and 4 on Plan Book 32 Plan 55; for Lot 3 "see deed of Parker to Judkins, Billerica Copies, Book 14, Page 426." With riparian rights. "For my title see Middlesex Probate Records, Belva C. Judkins, Petitioner for Partition #157121." Melvin G. Rogers discharged Belva C. Judkins's mortgages (728/47, 733/456) the same day, and Coleman mortgaged the land to the Liberty Trust Company for $55,000.
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| November 4, 1926 | Quitclaim Deed | Philip F. Coleman of Arlington (Anna S. Coleman releasing dower) | Elsa V. Johnson of Melrose | Coleman passes the Foster estate to Elsa V. Johnson of Melrose | 742/498 |
Signed October 5, 1926, recorded November 4, 1926, "for consideration paid." The same 503.67 acres "with the buildings thereon, situated in Billerica and Carlisle," the Wood Lot, the 20-acre wood lot and the "Peter Hill" lot, described as in Book 739 Page 560, with all riparian rights, "subject to a first mortgage of $55,000 held by the Liberty Trust Co." "For title see deed from Richard H. Judkins and Belva C. Judkins, dated August 9, 1926 and recorded with Middlesex North District Deeds, Book 739, Page 560."
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| July 13, 1927 | Deed | Elsa V. Johnson of Randolph, unmarried, by Philip F. Coleman, attorney in fact | Richard C. Moran of Boston | Elsa V. Johnson sells the 203.27-acre Foster tract by the river to Richard C. Moran | 752/53 |
Signed July 11, 1927, recorded July 13, 1927 (pages 53-54), "for consideration paid," with quitclaim covenants, under her power of attorney to Philip F. Coleman of June 10, 1927, recorded just before it. The tract "on the Westerly side of the Concord River and the Easterly side of the Western Road" shown as 203.27 acres on the plan of the Estate of Lucy H. Foster (Plan Book 32 Plan 52): northeasterly by the river to John Cummings, by Cummings, Baldwin, Flanders and Jones, "thence northwesterly across Winnings Pond 749.5 feet," to the Triple Cove Road, by land of Johnson and Moran, and southerly by the Western Road "as now laid out by the County Commissioners" to the beginning on the river; also the 3.27-acre "Peter Hill" lot and the 31.08-acre "Wood Lot" (Plan Book 32 Plan 55). "Being part of the same premises described in a deed from Philip F. Coleman to me dated October 5, 1926, recorded with Middlesex North District Deeds, Book 742, Page 498."
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| July 13, 1927 | Quitclaim Deed | Richard C. Moran | Rio Vista Co., a Massachusetts corporation | Richard C. Moran sells the Foster tract to the Rio Vista Company, which lays out Rio Vista in 1928 | 752/55 |
Signed July 11, 1927, recorded July 13, 1927 (grantee index), "for consideration paid." "Two adjoining parcels of land shown as a parcel containing 203.27 acres and parcel marked B. J. Judkins on Plan entitled Plan of the Estate of Lucy F. [H.] Foster, Billerica, Mass., dated 1871, by R. W. Baker, C. E." (Plan Book 32 Plan 52), beginning "at the most Southerly corner of the granted premises on the Westerly side of the Concord River and the Easterly side of the Western Road," with the "Peter Hill" lot of 3.27 acres and the "Wood Lot" of 31.08 acres on the Judkins plan of 1883 (Plan Book 32 Plan 55). "For title, see deed from Elsa V. Johnson recorded herewith." Subject to a mortgage to Philip F. Coleman for $12,000. The Rio Vista Company mortgaged the land to the Highland Trust Company of Somerville and laid it out as Rio Vista (Plan Book 52 Plan 58, June 4, 1928).
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| July 25, 1931 | Quitclaim Deed | Rio Vista Co., a Massachusetts corporation of Boston, by Alton W. Eldredge, Treasurer | Curtis J. Foster of Boston | The Rio Vista Company sells Lots 1, 2 and 53 of Block 5, at Riverview Road and Pembroke Street, to Curtis J. Foster | 804/75 |
Signed July 24, 1931, recorded July 25, 1931, "for consideration paid." "The land in Billerica, being lots numbered one (1) two (2) and fifty three (53) in Block numbered five (5) as shown on a plan of Rio Vista, Billerica, Massachusetts, Geo. H. Wetherbee Jr. C. E. dated June 4, 1928" (Plan Book 52 Plan 58). "The grantee by the acceptance of this deed agrees that no building is to be erected upon the premises except the plans and specifications therefor are approved by the Grantor." Subject to taxes of April 1, 1931. "For Vote see Book 754 Page 561."
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| November 14, 1931 | Quitclaim Deed | Curtis J. Foster of Boston | Savina Foster, his wife, of Boston | Curtis J. Foster deeds Rio Vista Lots 1, 2 and 53, Block 5, at Riverview Road and Pembroke Street to his wife Savina | 808/516 |
Signed November 10, 1931, recorded November 14, 1931, "for consideration paid." "The land with the buildings thereon in Billerica, being lots numbered one (1), two (2) and fifty-three (53) in Block numbered five (5)" on the plan of Rio Vista (Plan Book 52 Plan 58): southerly by Riverview Road 40 feet, by the curve at the corner of Pembroke Street, westerly by Pembroke Street 115 feet, northerly by Lot 52 100 feet, easterly by Lot 9 25 feet, southerly again by Lots 4 and 3 50 feet and easterly again by Lot 3 100 feet, 7,478 square feet. Subject to restrictions of record and to the 1931 taxes. No title reference.
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| February 4, 1937 | Release Deed (tax title) | Town of Billerica, by Lawrence E. Desmond, Treasurer | John F. Trainor of Billerica | The town sells its tax title in Rio Vista lots, including the river lots of Block 2, to John F. Trainor for $23 | 895/372 |
Signed January 23, 1937, recorded February 4, 1937. Under the affidavit of Henry F. Long, Commissioner of Corporations and Taxation (Book 888 Page 1, December 1936), that the land was worth less than the taxes, and General Laws chapter 60, sections 79 and 80, the treasurer "made a sale of the land" and for $23 released to John F. Trainor "all the right, title, and interest which the said Town of Billerica acquired by or under deeds made to it, or by a taking made in its behalf" by its collectors of taxes, in a list of lots that includes many Rio Vista lots on Plan Book 52 Plan 58 (Lots 1 to 8 of Block 2 among them, as Trainor's 1940 deed shows), a Mary A. Moulton lot (Plan Book 46 Plan 7), Rivermere lots (Plan Book 61 Plan 16) and 49 acres conveyed by Arthur M. Warren to Theodore Pletsch in 1928.
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| June 3, 1941 | Quitclaim Deed | John F. Trainor of North Billerica (Susan Trainor releasing dower) | John D. Cooke of Wilmington | John F. Trainor sells Rio Vista lots, Block 2 among them, to John D. Cooke of Wilmington | 961/371 |
Signed November 29, 1940, recorded June 3, 1941, "for consideration paid." "All my right, title and interest" in lots of land in Billerica on the plan of "Rio Vista" (Plan Book 52 Plan 58), among them Lots 1 to 8, 12 and 14 to 31 of Block 2. "For my title see deed to me dated January 29 [23], 1937, and recorded with said Middlesex North District Registry of Deeds, Book 895, Page 372."
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| July 27, 1942 | Quitclaim Deed | John D. Cooke of Wilmington (Margaret R. Cooke releasing dower) | James Nuzzolo of Nashua Road, Billerica | John D. Cooke sells the two river lots of Block 2 to James Nuzzolo of Nashua Road | 980/401 |
Signed June 30, 1942, acknowledged July 7, recorded July 27, 1942, "for consideration paid." "Two (2) certain lots of land located in said Billerica, and further described as being lots numbered one (1) and two (2) Block 2, on plan of land known as Rio Vista" (Plan Book 52 Plan 58). "For my title see deed to me dated November 29, 1940, and recorded with the Middlesex North District Registry of Deeds, Book 961, Page 371."
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| November 21, 1942 | Quitclaim Deed | Savina Foster of Boston, widow of Curtis J. Foster | Curtis M. Foster of Boston, her son | The widow Savina Foster gives the Riverview Road house lots to her son Curtis M. Foster | 986/136 |
Signed November 18, 1942, recorded November 21, 1942. "No money consideration for this deed." The same Lots 1, 2 and 53 in Block 5 on the Rio Vista plan, with the buildings, 7,478 square feet. "For my title see deed from Curtis J. Foster dated November 10, 1931 and recorded in said Deeds, Book 808, Page 516."
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| October 28, 1943 | Quitclaim Deed | Rio Vista Co., a Massachusetts corporation of Boston, by Alton W. Eldredge, Treasurer | Curtis M. Foster of Boston | The Rio Vista Company sells Curtis M. Foster Lots 3 to 10 and 52 of Block 5, next to his house lots | 999/511 |
Signed August 17, 1943, recorded October 28, 1943, "for consideration paid" (55 cents in stamps). "Lots three (3) to ten (10) inclusive and lot fifty-two (52) in Block five (5) as shown on a plan of Rio Vista, Billerica, Massachusetts, George H. Wetherbee, Jr., C. E. dated June 4, 1928" (Plan Book 52 Plan 58), "together with the streets and ways as shown on said plan abutting said lots, to the middle line thereof," with rights of way and the right to use the streets for pipes, conduits, poles and wires. "No building is to be erected upon the premises prior to 1945 except the plans and specifications therefor are approved by the grantor." Subject to unpaid taxes through 1943, which the grantor agreed to discharge.
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| 1950 | Deed | Curtis M. Foster of Boston | Helen E. Zuk | Curtis M. Foster sells the house lot, Lots 1 to 10, 52 and 53 of Block 5, 29,956 square feet, to Helen E. Zuk | 1143/427 |
Signed June 16, 1950 (as recited in Book 2381 Page 486). "A certain parcel of land" in Billerica with the buildings, Lots 1 to 10 inclusive and Lots 52 and 53 in Block 5 on the Rio Vista plan of June 4, 1928 (Plan Book 52 Plan 58): "Northerly by Lot 51 and Lot 11 in Block 5 on said plan two hundred (200) feet; Easterly by Ivy Street one hundred forty (140) feet," by the curve at Ivy Street and Riverview Road, "Southerly by said Riverview Road one hundred eighty (180) feet," by the curve at Pembroke Street, and westerly by Pembroke Street 140 feet, "29,956 square feet of land." Subject to restrictions of record and the 1950 taxes. "Being the same premises conveyed to me by deed of Savina Foster dated November 18, 1942, recorded with Middlesex North District Deeds Book 986, Page 136; and by deed of Rio Vista Company to me dated ... 1943, recorded with Middlesex North District Deeds Book 999 [Page 511]."
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| August 10, 1951 | Quitclaim Deed | James Nuzzolo of Nashua Road, Billerica, unmarried | John Zuk and Helen Zuk, husband and wife, of Billerica, as tenants by the entirety | James Nuzzolo sells the river lots, Lots 1 and 2 of Block 2, to John and Helen Zuk | 1175/25 |
Signed and acknowledged August 4, 1951, recorded August 10, 1951, "for consideration paid." "Two (2) certain lots of land, and further described as being lots numbered one (1) and two (2), Block 2, on plan of land known as Rio Vista" (Plan Book 52 Plan 58), the lots on the river bank east of Riverview Road. "Being the same premises conveyed to me by deed dated June 30, 1942, and recorded with the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds, Book 980, Page 401."
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| July 17, 2018 | Quitclaim Deed | Richard A. Nazzaro of Billerica | Town of Billerica, acting by and through its Conservation Commission | Richard A. Nazzaro sells 8 Carter Avenue and the river lots to the town, Conservation Commission, for $266,000 | 32246/267 |
Recorded July 17, 2018, for $266,000, with quitclaim covenants: "the land in Billerica ... with the buildings thereon located on Riverview Road (now known as 8 Carter Avenue)," Lots 1 to 10, 52 and 53, 11 to 15 and 47 to 51 in Block 5 and Lots 1 and 2 in Block 2 on the plan of Rio Vista, George E. [H.] Witherbee Jr., C.E., June 4, 1928 (Plan Book 52 Plan 58). With the Town's acceptance of the deed attached; no deed stamps due. Voted under Article 31 of the Spring 2018 Town Meeting (May 8, 2018, 131 to 40): $266,000 for 8 Carter Avenue (Map 85, Parcel 57-1) and the riverfront parcel (Map 85, Parcel 150-0), and $20,000 to demolish the house, to be held by the Conservation Commission under G.L. c. 40, s. 8C. Grantor's title: Scott D. Greenwald, June 21, 1996 (Book 8086 Page 290, $134,902), who had it from Richard F. and Theresa A. Carey (formerly Mahoney) in 1990 (5345/60, $145,000); they from Claire V. Kenney in 1986 (3479/47 and 3479/50, $90,000); she from Anne V. Goulston in 1981 (2484/147, $24,000); she from John and Helen E. Zuk in 1979 (2381/486, $18,500), who had assembled the three parcels in 1950 and 1951.
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| May 13, 2022 | Order of Conditions | Billerica Conservation Commission (applicant: Town of Billerica, Engineering Division) | Town of Billerica | Order of Conditions for building the park, 2022 | 37060/172 |
Recorded May 13, 2022, 38 pages. Wetlands Protection Act Order of Conditions issued by the Billerica Conservation Commission for the Katie Durand Memorial Park at 8 Carter Avenue (the registry index lists the Conservation and Engineering Departments as parties and refers to the town's deed, Book 32246 Page 267). Known here from the registry's index entry and its cross-reference to the 2018 deed; the 38-page order itself was not transcribed.
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted; Probate # is a Middlesex probate case, Ctf a Land Court certificate of title.
References
- Community Preservation Coalition: Katie Durand Memorial Park / Carter Ave., Billerica, FY2021 project (2020)
- Community Preservation Coalition: Katie Durand Memorial Park / Carter Ave., Billerica, project approved 2021
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883): Mrs. Joseph Foster gives a right of way through her land for the Hill bridge road
- Town of Billerica FY18 Annual Report: Conservation Commission on acquiring 8 Carter Avenue; Spring 2018 Town Meeting, Article 31 (May 8, 2018)
- Town of Billerica FY20 Annual Report: CPC application and May 2020 Town Meeting, $75,000 for the Katie Durand Memorial Park
- Town of Billerica FY22 Annual Report: CPA project status and Conservation Commission report on the park design
- Town of Billerica FY23 Annual Report: construction of the Katie Durand Memorial Park; interpretive sign grant
- Town of Billerica 2025 Annual Report: Parks and Tree Division maintains the Katie Durand Memorial Park