Case Estates pitched with day in the park
WESTON -- Call it a vision of what could be.
More than 400 people visited the 62-acre tract of land known as the Case Estates last Saturday for an event meant to show what makes the mix of meadow, woodland, wetland, and historic homes worth preserving at a cost of $22.5 million.
At one end of the yard in back of the red schoolhouse at 135 Wellesley St. was a group of young people clustered excitedly around an antique apple cider press. At the other, a group of now gray-haired ``Hillcrest Boys " -- alumni of an agricultural school once run on the site -- sang the Hillcrest Song in front of the barn where they had once tended horses and washed the vegetables raised at the farm.
Children, still in their uniforms from a morning soccer game, chased one another around a field, dodging a couple strolling hand in hand toward the woods behind them. Babies in strollers reached out to flowers planted along a path, and the merry sound s of a nearby sack race rang in the crisp fall air.
``It was inspirational, seeing the whole community come together like this and enjoying such simple things," said Priscilla Hindmarsh , one of the organizers. ``So many people said, `When we own this, can we do this every year?' "
But that can't happen unless voters agree to raise their taxes to help pay to buy the property. Selectmen have placed the question on the Nov. 7 ballot. If approved, a Special Town Meeting the next day will vote on the purchase. Harvard University has said it would sell the town the land if it can match the offer of a private developer. The purchase would likely involve a mix of money borrowed through a debt exclusion override, Community Preservation Act funds, and donations.
Last week's festivities also featured a talk by six of the Hillcrest Boys, now in their 70s and 80s. Marian Roby Case , who bequeathed the land to Harvard, ran a combination model farm and agricultural school during the summers, from 1909 to 1943. After they finished discussing the guiding hand of ``Miss Case" and how the farm shaped their lives, a few of them roamed the grounds and chatted with visitors.
Tom Williams returned to the barn where he tended horses as a teenager, wondering if this might be the last time he would see it. He pointed out the old wooden stalls that had been home to horses called Hitler and Mussolini, nicknames the boys chose in the midst of World War II. One can imagine that the aristocratic -- and pacifist -- Miss Case would not have been amused.
Two more Case-related events are scheduled before the Nov. 7 vote. Former Case Estates director Patrick Willoughby will lead a walk through the historic Hillcrest Corridor, which runs across the property; sponsored by the Weston Forest and Trail Association, it starts at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Field School parking lot. Selectmen will host a forum at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Town Hall to answer questions about the land purchase. Stephanie V. Siek can be reached via e-mail at ssiek@globe.com. 
