Gates Block Garden

June 20, 2026 by DickH Posted in Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Gates Block Garden

By Leo Racicot

Every year, I can hardly wait to shake off the ice and snow of winter and head down to Gates Block Garden on Market Street to see what the soil has yielded. Gates Block Garden is an enchanting aerie located at 307 Market Street, sandwiched between Mochinut Bakery and Cafe and The Arts League of Lowell Gallery (ALL). I stumbled upon the garden one Spring Day not knowing it was there and was amazed, as I am to this day, by the ever-changing variety of flora and fauna the caretakers manage to plant. No week is ever the same in this little piece of stretch of heaven. In fact, no day is ever the same, given whichever daily slant of light is infusing the place, depending on the weather. I’ve spent hours in its company, enjoying my own company with a book and especially with a camera raised to snap photos of the many different flowers, bulbed wonders, climbing ivies I find. No summer is the same as the previous summer. I liken the space to a kaleidoscope with its ever-revolving colors, each turn of the cylinder revealing something that wasn’t there a moment ago, In fact, at times, the garden has showcased large shards of mirror that catch the day’s sun and through which I’ve aimed my lens, capturing the reflection of the shops opposite, the cars driving by. The location is ideal as a starting point for a walking tour; the Whistler Museum & Whistler Park are a stone’s throw away, as is North Common Village with its own pretty garden plots. I also point my camera at these. They put me in mind of quaint old English villages such as the ones you find in Miss Marple mysteries. Lowell National Park’s Headquarters isn’t far in the other direction. I never get tired of stopping in there for its free recordings of Jack Kerouac reading his work. Just put on a headset and listen to your heart’s content to literary history.

The appearance a couple of years ago of gigantic murals hovering above Block Garden are breathtaking though I sometimes think they’re too big and dwarf the wonders below. I do like them and always like taking as many photos of them as I can.

Nobody for years seemed to know about this garden. I knew it as a place I could go any time of day and unwind. There are times I’ve been so bowled over by what I saw there, the different configurations, a tiny group of bluebells hiding in a corner, a sculpture, a single rose that I literally took a picture of everything, one-by-one. I’d get swept away by these moments of joy and not want to leave. Of special note was finding my friend, Lowell artist and poet, Stephan Anstey’s poem inscribed on a cinder block in one corner, a lovely free verse that perfectly summing up the city of Lowell in a line or two.

Hidden urban gardens have always delighted me. When you’re walking along taking in what is maybe too much city, too much red brick, too little view of the sky, there’s a quality of surprise when out-of-nowhere, you spy a pocket of sudden color that roots you to the spot. Instantly the tenor of your day is changed. You literally find yourself again…

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