Mattapan’s Mount Hope Cemetery extends along one side of Walk Hill Street, where residents can mourn the lives of dear ones passed. On the other side sits an oasis of green that offers the rebirth and protection of nature and wildlife in an urban environment. 

The Boston Nature Center (BNC) stands at the site of the Boston State Hospital, which dominated the landscape until 1981. While the Clark Cooper Community Garden that was utilized by hospital patients and families remains, the land beyond it has blossomed exponentially. 

The sanctuary is run by Erin Kelly, who was recently named to this role after Julie Brandlen retired. She is the regional director for Mass Audubon, New England’s largest nature-based conservation organization, protecting more than 38,000 acres of land.

“It was a dream come true. I’ve been here for 15 years, and I had been working closely with the regional director beforehand and had spent years working as a team to grow and expand this place,” Kelly said. “This is a very relatively new sanctuary compared to some of our others that are over 100 years old. This one is 20 years old.”

BNC is open to community members and home to 350 species of plants, 150 species of birds, 40 species of butterflies, and 52 preschool students. After turning into the property, visitors are welcomed by three brick buildings standing along a gravel road. These are where the preschoolers, ranging from ages three to six, learn year-round from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Beyond that site is BNC’s main building, which includes an additional preschool classroom. The children, however, spend most of their time outdoors where they explore and use the two-mile trail with their teachers and classmates. 

As regional director, Kelly is not just responsible for preschool students but for all events taking place at the center. 

The summer months will prove to be extremely busy for her. The sanctuary offers weekly camps that provide families with high-quality care that children both enjoy and learn from. 

“We have 100 kids here a day for ten weeks and we have another satellite camp in West Roxbury, which is another additional 72 campers. Our camp is such an important way for us to connect children to the outdoors, which they already love, and to provide them with science education during the summer to really combat learning loss,” Kelly said. 

Many current and former students attend the summer camps, where they are given the opportunity to escape the city and embrace nature, something Kelly understands from her own childhood. While she was growing up in Newark, New Jersey, all the green spaces Kelly knew were private, and she was constantly kicked out of them. Discovering BNC was one of the first times she was able to enjoy a green space within a city.  

“When I found this place, it was a little magical because you drive into the city and there’s traffic and you come in there are birds singing and kids playing and I was [thinking] this is what every city needs, what every community needs,” said Kelly. “A place where kids can feel safe, where adults can get those benefits of being in a tranquil place.” 

When summer ends and school is in session, BNC continues to work with elementary and middle school students through its 20-year partnership with Boston Public Schools. Their largest collaboration is a program called “Grown in STEM,” which integrates science lessons into the school curriculum and encourages teachers to take their students outside. 

Kelly said working with students is so important because “we are moving to a society that needs very environmentally literate populists to understand the critical issues that we’re facing. Specifically, climate change. And you need a population to understand what is in the news and what’s happening, and to care.”

Since BNC wants future generations to protect the environment, staff members work diligently to make their sanctuary inclusive to all. Kelly’s current agenda is to build accessibility and equity for people who are traditionally marginalized from the environment. 

One way she tries to ensure that all visitors feel safe and included at BNC is by continuing to operate a one-mile all-persons trail that is suitable for a number of different mobility devices. The site also offers audio support as well as visual aids, including signs in various languages.  

Even though there are abundant programs for school-aged children, adults and elders are encouraged to participate in the sanctuary’s fun. Specifically, Kelly hopes that adults in the community will tell her what kind of programs they want the sanctuary to offer.
“Our goal is to have a place for everyone starting at age 3 or earlier all the way to elder adults.”

Kelly plans on continuing to show the “different, amazing, unique, vibrant diversity we have here in Boston, whether that’s race and ethnicity or ability,” throughout her time as regional director, she said.