The Lincoln Squirrel – News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

Library news

2025 Library Crawl
Wednesday, August 6 (all day)
It’s a scavenger hunt — visit as many area libraries as you can and take a picture of yourself with a designated item or two in each. Libraries will have handouts and giveaways — show your pictures to a librarian and receive a prize. All ages are welcome to participate in the self-guided crawl (start and end wherever you like). No registration required.

“All Together Now” friend and family puzzle tournament
Thursday, Aug. 14 from 6:00–8:00pm
The Lincoln Public Library Children’s Department invites teams of three to five players to complete a jigsaw puzzle in a fun, friendly tournament. Each team will be assigned a table with a 300-piece puzzle to be opened when the tournament begins (puzzles will be from the same manufacturer). The first team to finish their puzzle wins. Snacks and refreshments will be served. Prizes for all. Best for ages 5+ (younger children are welcome on family teams). Register here (limited to eight teams). Questions? Email dleopold@minlib.net.

August featured artist
The Library Art Gallery is exhibiting art by painter Bruno Wernli.

Book sale moves
The Friends of the Lincoln Library book sale has moved. Items for sale will now be located on shelves in the vestibule as you enter the building, with the cash box located on the wall to the right of the circulation desk.

Hours update
Effective Saturday, Aug. 2, the library will be closed on Saturdays and Sundays, with Saturday hours resuming on Saturday, Sept. 7.

Part of Bedford Road to see daytime closure again this week

Bedford Road will be again be closed from Monday through Friday, August 4–8 from 7:00am to 3:00pm between the five-way intersection to Canaan Drive to accommodate the water main project. 

Water Department Superintendent Richard Nolli last week answered questions about the project, which was originally supposed to have Bedford Road reduced to on lane at times rather than closed altogether. The work has been complicated by inaccurate records and balky valves.

“To prepare for this project, Water Department staff and consultants performed an extensive review of all existing maps, drawings, and notes to confirm the location of our distribution system lines. But due to historical inaccuracies in these records, and the overall age of the system, we are still occasionally required to make modifications during construction,” he said in an email to the Lincoln Squirrel.

“For example, some old valves are difficult to close and can cause delays when shutting down the system. In another instance, the contractor encountered a pipe that was previously thought to be disconnected but was still connected and pressurized, requiring additional time and effort to close. Events like this are not uncommon when working on old water systems.  Town staff, engineers, and the contractor worked together to address them quickly, so some delays caused longer work shifts than anticipated, but this hasn’t delayed the project overall.

“For the past three years, we have been electronically updating and adding photographic documentation for every portion of the distribution system to ensure our records are accurate and up to date for future work,” Nolli said.

The Bedford Road phase of the work will be completed in late August, and once it moves down Lincoln Road in the fall, one travel lane will remain open at all times, he said.

A Q&A about the water main project

An old water pipe almost completely clogged with minerals (2014 photograph). The existing mains under Lincoln Road are narrowed enough that booster pumps had to be installed as part of the Lincoln School project to achieve acceptable fire protection.

The Lincoln Squirrel emailed town officials with questions about the progress of the water main replacement project and what residents can expect going forward. Here are the answers (lightly edited) from Water Department Superintendent Richard Nolli.

Q. Were the daytime road closures in fact not planned at the outset? If so, what necessitated them?

A. Initially, we planned to keep one lane open to minimize disruption. However, as a result of preconstruction meetings with the contractor and Lincoln Police Department it was determined that full closures were necessary. The nature of the work, the equipment being used, and the proximity of traffic can create hazardous conditions for the construction crews, the officers responsible for traffic control, and the traveling public.

Q. How many more days of daytime closures can we expect, and when?

A. The Bedford Road phase of the work will be completed on or about last week of August.  We do not anticipate needing to fully close roadways once this phase is completed and the contractor moves on to the Lincoln Road phase of work.

Q. What is the latest project schedule?

A. The Bedford Road phase will be completed on or about last week of August. Work on the Lincoln Road phase (Five Corners to Ballfield Road) will begin around late August and be completed on or about late October/early November.

The Water Department will solicit bids to extend the main from Ballfield Road to Codman Road in the winter, but this is contingent on MBTA and wetlands permitting. We anticipate awarding a contract in the spring so that work can begin in early summer [2026]. This phase of work is expected to be completed in 2027.

Q. Will there be daytime disruptions once school starts?

A. Work will be ongoing into early November, including in the area of Ballfield Road. One travel lane will remain open at all times. We are coordinating with school administration to minimize disruption during dropoff and pickup times. Traffic detail officers will be on site at all times to ensure the safety of students, parents, and school staff commuting to and from the campus.

Q. Is the project going to require more money than budgeted?

A. Funds for the project were provided through a combination of water revenues and state grants. With any significant construction project, there is always risk of unforeseen conditions and associated costs; however, thus far, none have been encountered. 

State budget includes funds for Lincoln food pantry, summer camp

The Massachusetts state budget approved earlier this month includes money for several projects in Lincoln and other neighboring towns.

According to a press release from the office of Rep. Carmine Gentile (D-13th Middlesex), whose district includes part of Lincoln, the $61 billion state budget for fiscal 2026 includes:

  • $150,000 for Lincoln to mitigate the costs of educating children of retired military families on Hanscom Air Force Base.
  • $45,000 for the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul food pantry in Lincoln,
  • $20,000 for the Lincoln Parks & Recreation Department’s summer camp program to provide financial assistance to

Other investments in the communities that comprise the 13th Middlesex District include:

  • $250,000 for planning the redevelopment of MCI Concord
  • $200,000 for window replacement at the Boys and Girls Clubs of MetroWest in Marlborough
  • $100,000 for rehabilitation of the Marlborough Women Veterans Park
  • $100,000 for the Sudbury Community Food Pantry.
  • $50,000 for Quiet Communities, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization in Concord which works to reduce harmful noise pollution.

The legislature’s final budget increases spending by $3.3 billion over fiscal 2025, with much of the increase attributed to MassHealth.

News acorns

Bedford Road to be closed during the day next week

Bedford Road will be closed Monday, July 28 through Friday Aug. 1 from 7:00am to 3:00pm to accommodate the water main project. Detours are as before:

  • Motorists traveling north on Lincoln Road towards the five-way intersection will be detoured onto Trapelo Road and Lexington Road if they aim to take Route 2 eastbound.
  • Those wishing to access North Lincoln or Route 2 westbound will be detoured onto Sandy Pond Road to Baker Bridge and Concord Road (Route 126) to Route 2.
  • Motorists who want to access Bedford Road south from Route 2 will be detoured Route 2 east onto Lexington Road and Trapelo Road to allow access through the five-way intersection.

Domestic violence services training coming up

The Domestic Violence Services Network, Inc. (DVSN) is offering a free volunteer advocate training program to help provide emotional support, risk assessment, and safety planning for victims of domestic violence in its 13 member communities. The 40-hour training is designed to familiarize volunteers with the many aspects of domestic violence and give them the skills necessary to provide confidential and appropriate services to DVSN’s clients. Once trained, DVSN’s volunteer advocates provide direct service over the phone, at the Concord District Court, and at Emerson Hospital to people affected by domestic violence.

The training will be held at the Lexington Police department from September 8–26 on Mondays and Wednesdays from 4:00–7:00pm and Fridays from 9:15am–3:30pm. For those who decide to activate as advocates, there is an additional 10 to 12 hours of supervised field training after completion of the classroom segment. For more information or to request an application, call 978-318-3421 or send an e-mail to training@dvsn.org. Applications are due no later than Friday, Aug. 29.

Group reading of Constitution on Sept. 17

The Lincoln Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, & Anti-Racism Committee (IDEA) is sponsoring a community read of the U.S. Constitution in celebration of National Constitution Day. All Lincoln and Hanscom residents, staff, and students in grades 5 and up may volunteer to read aloud a portion of the Constitution, including the amendments. The event takes place on Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 7:00pm in the Lincoln School auditorium, followed by a dessert reception. If you would like to be a reader (even if it’s just a paragraph!), contact Rob Stringer at urbanvineyard@gmail.com or Jennifer Glass at jglassselect@lincolntown.org by Friday, Sept. 12 at 5:00pm.

News acorns

Bedford Road to be closed for two days

Bedford Road between the five-way intersection and Canaan Drive will be closed from Wednesday, July 23 through Friday, July 25 from 7:00am–3:00pm to allow water main installation. Motorists traveling north on Lincoln Road towards the five-way intersection will be detoured onto Trapelo Road and Lexington Road if they aim to take Route 2 east. Those wishing to access North Lincoln or Route 2 westbound will be detoured onto Sandy Pond Road to Baker Bridge and Concord Road (Route 126) to Route 2. Motorists who want to access Bedford Road south from Route 2 will be detoured Route 2 east onto Lexington Road and Trapelo Road to allow access through the five-way intersection.

Learn how to research your ancestors

Genealogy has become much more popular with the ease of finding information on the Internet, but far from everything for your family history is online. In “Start, Organize, Research, and Write Your Family History” at the Lincoln Public Library on Monday, July 28 from 6:00-7:30pm, participants will start with forms that are common in genealogical research and explore research techniques, census reports, researching at repositories, internet research, organizing and writing in order to help you create a lasting family heirloom. This class will have something for both the beginning and experienced family researcher. Register here.

Swap shed seeks volunteers

The swap shed is seeking volunteers to help continue its success in reducing waste, and promoting reuse and recycling. Volunteers are needed to help residents place their items in the appropriate area, make sure items are acceptable, and help keep the swap shed clean, organized, and safe for all to enjoy. Shifts are available Wednesdays and Saturdays between 7:30am and 3:00pm for two hours or more. Volunteers can commit to once a week, twice a week, once a month, or whatever works with their schedule. Interested or have questions? Call Susan Donaldson at the DPW Office to sign up at 781-259-8999.

ZBA seeks a new member

The Town of Lincoln Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) is seeking a new member for an open seat on the Board.  The ZBA acts on a case-by-case basis on requests for zoning variances, special permits, and findings and appeals of decisions by the building inspector. The board (which has five regular members and three associate members) generally meets one evening a month. For information or an application, email elderp@lincolntown.org or call the Select Board office at 781-259-2601.

Sign up for youth travel soccer

Lincoln Youth Soccer is calling kids in grades 3-8 (especially rising third-grade girls), both passionate players and those who are new to the sport, to join the travel team for 2025-26. The Lincoln Youth Soccer Travel program offers local practices once a week and Saturday games in surrounding towns. Register today at www.lincolnsoccer.com.

Legal notice: Conservation Commission (5 Hawk Hill Rd.)

The Lincoln Conservation Commission (LCC) will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, July 30, 2025 at 7:30PM in accordance with the MA Wetlands Protection Act and the Town of Lincoln Wetlands Protection Bylaw. This is in response to the duly filed Notice of Intent by David Knoerr for house renovations, including a deck and patio, within the 100-ft Buffer Zone at 5 Hawk Hill Road (Parcel 182-19-0). Information on how to log onto the virtual public meeting will be included in the LCC Agenda posted on the town’s website at least 48 hours prior to the hearing. More information can be reviewed here.

Note that legal notices often must be posted twice by law. For previous legal notices and details on how to submit a legal notice to the Lincoln Squirrel, click here.

Police log for July 9–20 2025

July 9

Cambridge Turnpike westbound (7:41am) — The Fire Department assisted the Massachusetts State Police with a crash.

South Great Road (10:36am) — A motorist reported that the railroad gates were malfunctioning. Keolis was notified and reported that a train that stopped further down the line may be the reason for the malfunctions.

Lincoln Road (11:26am) — A second report of the previously mentioned issue with the railroad gates. Keolis was on scene addressing the situation.

Lincoln Road (11:59am) — Several loose rounds of ammunition were turned in and marked for destruction.

Food Project field, Concord Road (1:03pm) — A motorist reported a suspicious item near the railroad bridge. The item belonged to workers in the area.

Winter Street (1:04pm) — An officer served paperwork to a person.

July 10

North Commons (10:47pm) — An officer responded to an ongoing incident.

July 11

Farrar Road (6:29am) — An officer helped a person rejoin their family member who was out for a walk.

Fox Run Road (8:33am) — An officer checked on a suspicious vehicle. The vehicle’s owner was working for a nearby landscaper.

Forester Road (8:38pm) — An officer checked the area for a person who was soliciting without a permit but was unable to locate them.

Winter Street (9:54pm) — A caller reported seeing a suspicious motor vehicle. The vehicle belonged to an Amazon delivery driver.

July 12

Baker Bridge Road (8:55am) — An officer found a disabled motor vehicle on the side of the road. The officer was able to make contact with the operator and the vehicle was removed a short time later.

July 13

Twisted Tree Café (7:41pm) — An officer helped a persont with a disabled motor vehicle.

July 14

Acorn Lane (9:34am) — A caller spoke with an officer regarding a past incident.

Cambridge Turnpike eastbound (10:25am) — An officer assisted a motorist that had pulled off the roadway with directions.

Birchwood Lane (4:48pm) — An officer checked on a vehicle with a shattered window. It appeared that nothing appeared to have been removed from the vehicle.

Horses Crossing (6:00pm) — An officer assisted a person with a civil matter.

Tower Road (11:22pm) — The Lincoln and Concord Fire Departments assisted a resident with a strange odor coming from inside the house.

July 15

Concord Road (1:02pm) — Police and fire personnel responded to a crash after a vehicle crossed the double yellow line and struck another vehicle. Both operators were transported to the hospital. The operator that crossed into the path of the other vehicle was cited for a marked lanes violation.

South Great Road (3:20pm) — An officer helped two motorists after a minor crash. There were no reported injuries and both vehicles were driven from the scene.

Silver Birch Lane (3:54pm) — An officer helped a person obtain a police report.

Sudbury Lane, Weston (6:54pm) — Weston police requested assistance with a motor vehicle crash.

The Commons of Lincoln (8:55pm) — A caller reported that their vehicle was apparently struck while they were inside the building. An officer took a report.

July 16

Beaver Pond Road (8:06am) — A caller spoke with an officer regarding an animal complaint.

Library Lane (1:33pm) — A large tree branch came down on two vehicles parked in front of the lot.

Bedford Road (4:22pm) — A vehicle failed to come to a complete stop at the Route 2A intersection. There were minor injuries reported. The operator that failed to stop was cited.

July 17

Bedford Road (8:24am) — A landscaper unearthed a suspicious item. The Massachusetts State Police Bomb Squad was called to assist with a controlled detonation of the item.

Bypass Road (3:05pm) — An 18-wheeler struck a light pole, taking down the pole and wires. The area remained closed to traffic until the wires and pole could be removed.

Trout Brook Rd, Wayland (10:27pm) — Officers assisted Wayland police with a mutual aid request.

July 18

Cambridge Turnpike eastbound (12:47am) — An officer assisted Massachusetts State Police with a motor vehicle crash involving a deer.

Joyce Rd, Wayland (10:13pm) — Officers assisted the Wayland Police with a mutual aid request.

July 19

Farrar Road (3:02am) — Officers located a vehicle’s car alarm sounding by the Wayland town line.

South Great Road (7:13am) — An officer responded for a one-car crash. The operator was subsequently located and cited for leaving the scene of a crash.

Twin Pond Lane (1:16pm) — A caller reported a suspicious vehicle in the area. The occupants were visiting a neighbor.

Old Bedford Road (2:22pm) — A caller reported seeing someone walking on Old Bedford Road by Virginia Road. The individual was then observed getting onto a bus.

Weston Road (4:09pm) — A caller reported a large turtle in the roadway. An officer responded but was unable to locate the turtle.

Lincoln Road (7:56pm) — An officer performed a well-being check on a person walking by Drumlin Farm.

Lincoln Road (8:04pm) — An officer helped a resident check inside their residence.

July 20

Birchwood Lane (6:19pm) — The Fire Department responded to a residence to check on a small oven fire that had previously been extinguished.

Community center work starts this week

Aerial renderings of the community center. See a slide show of interior images here.

After years of studying, planning, discussion, and Town Meeting votes, the community center project expects to break ground on Friday, July 18.

The final hurdle for getting the project underway was when voters in June approved using $2.33 million from the town’s stabilization fund to cover a budget shortfall that became apparent when all the construction bids were over budget. Voters OK’d a $24.02 million budget for the project at the March 2024 Annual Town Meeting (see all Lincoln Squirrel community center stories here.)

According to statement released on July 17 by Community Center Building Committee (CCBC), the first phase of construction will last through the summer and will include installation of erosion controls and fencing to ensure environmental protection and site safety, and abatement and demolition of the existing Hartwell pods.
 
All asbestos abatement work is being performed by a licensed asbestos contractor in full accordance with EPA Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act, MassDEP, and Department of Labor Standards asbestos regulations, the CCBC said. A detailed letter from the contractor outlines their specific procedures and safety protocols. The town is also developing a construction mitigation plan with our contractor that includes dust control protocols throughout the entire project.

Vehicular traffic patterns on campus will remain largely unchanged throughout this phase, with the exception of a modification to the entrance and exit of the Hartwell parking lot. These maps show vehicular, pedestrian and bicycle access to the area:

  • Ballfield Road access map — provides a broad view of the entire campus and general access routes
  • Hartwell Building access map — offers specific information about access to the Hartwell main building, which houses:
    • Lincoln Public Schools administrative offices
    • Magic Garden Preschool
    • Parks and Recreation Offices
    • LEAP administrative offices (program spaces are housed in the Lincoln School for the coming school year.)

The CCBC will share regular updates on construction progress, upcoming milestones, and any changes that may affect community access or activities. Join their email list and learn more at lincolncommunitycenter.com. Anyone with questions or concerns about the project, is encouraged to reach out to the committee at CCBCCommunicationsCommittee@gmail.com.

Service on Saturday for Mary Spindler, 1939–2025

Mary Spindler

A celebration of her life will be held at St. Anne’s in-the-Fields Episcopal Church in Lincoln on Saturday, July 19 at 2:30pm for Mary Allen Griffing Spindler, who died on July 11 with her two children, David and Henry, by her side.

Mary was a thoroughly invested resident of Lincoln starting in 1968. In 1986, she was part of the successful effort to revert what was then called Sandy Pond, where Thoreau first had a cabin, to its earlier name of Flints Pond. She was a member of the Lincoln Historic District Commission and was active in the Lincoln Historical Society, serving as its president for a time. Instead of “historic” or “historical,” in conversation with family or close friends she insisted on using “hysteric” or “hysterical.” As a member of the commission, she was sometimes in the minority, writing dissenting opinions on the side of preservation.

Mary never stopped learning. When her son Henry was majoring in chemistry in college, she pulled out her own college chemistry textbooks and tried to get up to speed. Books, NPR, magazines, and newspapers were her source materials, the latter two of which she would clip to create voluminous piles (known in the family as “rubble stacks”) for the further edification of her sons.

When her sons were young, she built for them from scratch a full-sized carpentry workbench and a child-sized faux sink and stove kitchenette. She kept the kitchenette for her grandchildren to use, along with a comprehensive collection of artifacts from her own past and those of her family members.

She was quick to express gratitude in speech and writing. Most of the postage stamps that she used were for thank-you notes, birthday wishes, and anniversary commemorations. She was modest to the point of not mentioning her accomplishments, making this obituary difficult to write with the accuracy that she would demand, even for her sons. Her husband had to tell her sons about her efforts to rename Sandy Pond, because she did not mention this episode to them. She liked to joke with her husband that plaques and monuments had been erected to commemorate places that he had visited, even as a child.

Mary Allen Griffing was born on July 24, 1939, in Harrisonburg, Va., to M. Scudder Griffing, originally of Shelter Island, N.Y., and A. Mildred (Allen) Griffing, originally of Somerset, Ky. At the time, her family was living in Luray, Va.; soon after, the family moved to Richmond.

While the family lived in Virginia, her father was employed by the National Park Service. In the mid-1950s, the family moved to Shelter Island, where nearly all of her father’s siblings lived. There she started high school before attending Friends Academy in Locust Valley, N.Y., with tuition assistance from a family friend. She majored in American Studies at Stanford University (a “junior university,” as she sometimes called it). She felt fortunate to benefit from classes with the novelist Wallace Stegner, and other professors whose names and classes she long remembered. She played on the women’s basketball team, which was not recognized as a legitimate varsity team until many years later, when she was honored with a varsity letter.  Alongside her coursework, she held a job as a tour guide and pulled out bits of her spiel when the family visited the campus decades later. She graduated in 1961. The following year, she graduated with a master’s degree in education from Harvard.

Mary met James W. Spindler of Middletown, Ohio in 1957, and they were married in Shelter Island in 1964. He died in 2019 after living for many years with Parkinson’s disease, and she was an extraordinarily diligent and indefatigable caregiver for him in his later years. She is also predeceased by her sister, Barbara Wagner, who lived much of her adult life in Darien, Conn. In addition to her two sons, she leaves behind five grandchildren.

She worked as an elementary school teacher at Hanscom Air Force Base before getting married, and tutored reading at the Carroll School in Lincoln for much of the 1990s and the early 2000s. As an elementary school teacher, one of her favorite classroom teaching techniques was to have her students listen to music and draw what came to mind. She worked at the Lincoln Library in the latter part of the 1980s and the early 1990s.

Mary loved music. She was active in the St. Anne’s in-the-Fields Episcopal Church choir for decades, serving for a time on its committee to hire an organist. She played the piano avidly. She organized activities for her children and others, including a concert band conducted by Ken Keyes and a soccer team coached by John Walker. To the delight of her sons, she did all that was humanly possible to have her family’s cocker spaniel, Kabuki, give birth to three litters of AKC-approved puppies, one of which grew up to be Jacqueline du Pré.

In her young adulthood, she had always wanted to live in an old house. She realized this ambition in 1974, when she and her family moved into a house built at various times during the nineteenth century. She derived joy from researching its history from oral and written sources and in working in the gardens, fields, and woods around it. Her father had studied landscape architecture in college; from him she learned a vast set of plants names and the sense for which trees to cut down. She actively participated in the clearing of field-encroaching trees and bushes through her late 60s, and hauled firewood for her wood stove into her 80s. She moved to Carleton-Willard Village in Bedford in 2023.

A celebration of her life will be held at St. Anne’s in-the-Fields Episcopal Church in Lincoln on Saturday, July 19, 2025, at 2:30pm. A reception will follow.

Donations in her memory may be made to St. Anne’s in-the-Fields Episcopal Church’s Music Fund or P.O. Box 6, Lincoln MA 01773; or the Lincoln Historical Society, P.O. Box 6084, Lincoln, MA 01773.