House and Garden 
CHATHAM STATION 
roundings. It is merely mak¬ 
ing the best of a spoiled op¬ 
portunity. 
Beyond the Newton Cir¬ 
cuit the Wellesleys are the 
first places reached. At 
Wellesley Farms, which is the 
first of the three, the highway 
is about parallel to the rail¬ 
road, with the little station 
lying between. In the tract 
that separates highway and 
railroad there is a pond, and 
probably most railroad com¬ 
panies would promptly have 
filled it up. But once more a 
good landscape architect is 
glad to get not only hints, but 
all the help he can, from Nature; and when 
in this case she furnished so charming and un¬ 
usual a feature as a pond on station grounds, 
he availed himself of the opportunity. There 
is certainly a sensible and widely practicable 
suggestion in this action. He has protected 
the little sheet of water by a tangled wild 
border, and since it was not in quite the 
most convenient place he has swung the 
highway sharply around so that, while skirt¬ 
ing, it may not trespass upon the pond. 
The result? Wellesley Farms Station is 
unique, and to be remembered. It has the 
strongest sort of individuality, as almost 
every site in nature would have if it were 
given a chance. You can have no doubt 
that people grow actually to love it, and can 
BOSTON & ALBANY R.R. 
CANAAN STATION 
fancy little babies wheeled up and down 
there in their carriages—think of that, for 
a station on the main line of an important 
steam railroad ! In this connection it should 
be observed, that as one comes to the station, 
the tracks themselves are quite “planted out.” 
It is not the landscape architect’s business to 
advertise steel rails and cinders. He does 
better than that for his road. 
Next after Wellesley Farms is Wellesley 
Hills, and then comes Wellesley. There is 
at the latter place a condition that is ex¬ 
tremely unusual, and one wholly delightful 
to a preacher of civic art, for a town center 
has been created and then made dignified 
and beautiful, and the station—the town’s 
official entrance—is a detail of the center. 
To be sure, this detail has not 
been made so essential as it 
should be ; it is not worked 
into the composition quite as 
one would wish ; but the gen¬ 
eral effect is so very much 
better than usual and is so full 
of suggestiveness and inspira¬ 
tion that it well deserves study. 
On the left, as one ap¬ 
proaches Wellesley from Bos¬ 
ton, and as the train slows 
down for the station, a park is 
seen. On one side of it is a 
pretty public building; and at 
the other side, among the 
shrubs and trees, is the not 
less attractive station. The 
BOSTON & ALBANY R.R 
I8 5 
