Honorable Robert L. Cawley (once called Spring St. Bridge) Bridge & Havey Beach

As you continue into the park, be sure to go to the river’s edge and look under the arches of the bridge (now called the Cawley Bridge) to see the original stones from 1916.

Then walkers should continue up the path to street level and turn left to look over the bridge at the Charles River. Havey Beach was located at the far end of the park across the river.  

 The Honorable Robert L. Cawley Bridge (renamed in 2006 in honor of Cawley for all his years in both houses of Massachusetts General Court), was built in 1861. The bridge, which first became known as the Spring Street, is situated on the boundary between West Roxbury in Boston and the town of Dedham, a heavily-traveled trade route since the early-eighteenth century.

This bridge is a stone bridge with 5 arches and is one of only two bridges with more than 4 arches as identified in the Massachusetts Department of Public Works database. (Library of Congress) 

When the bridge was renovated in 1916 the stones were covered up. In 2001, another renovation temporarily exposed the stones before they were once again covered, except for under the arches where the original stones can still be seen. 

Canoeing and swimming had become a favorite pastimes at the turn of the 19^th century and canoe houses were built all around the river near the bridge. Crowds would gather on the bridge and the riverbanks to watch and listen to the young men and women in their canoes playing their gramophones.

Look for a brick building, that sits approximately where the bathhouses used to be to the right on VFW Parkway, that would mark the end of the beach.

Havey Beach was in West Roxbury, but it was very much part of Riverdale history. Many residents still remember swimming at the beach.

A newspaper article from July 1935 announced the opening of the new bathhouses. The MDC laid out the beach and dredged out tons of mud and replaced it with sand. The beach extended several hundred yards along the river. The beach was closed in the late 50’s because the river had become so polluted and many residents at the time feared they would get polio from the dirty water.  

Since then, great efforts have been made to clean up the river and there has been interest in reopening the Havey Beach area for community boating. Information on the history of the Charles River and its clean up can be found at online at the Charles River Watershed Association’s website, www.crwa.org