State to hold forum on new state park in Springfield

The Vermont Department of Parks and Recreation will hold a community forum later this month to gauge public interest for its plans for a new state park at Muckross, the longtime home of the late Sen. Edgar May, D-Windsor.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20151112/NEWS02/151119871

Published November 12, 2015 in the Rutland Herald State to hold forum on new state park in Springfield By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD — The Vermont Department of Parks and Recreation will hold a community forum later this month to gauge public interest for its plans for a new state park at Muckross, the longtime home of the late Sen. Edgar May, D-Windsor. May, who died in 2012, left his 210-acre Springfield home to a private foundation, which in turn is donating the home to the state of Vermont for use as a park. Ethan Phelps, the regional parks manager, told the Springfield Select Board Monday night that a meeting would be held Nov. 23 in Springfield, although the location has yet to be set. The overall use of the property, which borders the Black River south of the village area, would be “dispersed recreation,” including hiking and biking, as well as a summer camp component for area children. The property also includes a 10-acre pond. “We want people to hear our ideas, our conceptual plans,” he said. Tentative names for the park could include Muckross Park or Black River State Park, he said. Muckross Park, which includes several Adirondack-style houses and cottages, was named after a castle in Ireland, Phelps said. The state has to follow a naming protocol, he said. Muckross Park was built in 1905 by W.D. Woolson, a machine tool executive in Springfield’s dominant industry at the time. Phelps told the board that the final property transfer from the Louise Breason May Foundation to the state hasn’t taken place yet to give May’s family more time to sort through and remove his belongings from his home of more than 50 years. May had an extensive career both in Vermont and outside the state, serving as the first deputy domestic director of the Peace Corps during the Johnson administration, winning a Pulitzer Prize in journalism, and the chief operating officer of the Special Olympics. He also served his adopted hometown as both state representative and Windsor County senator. He and his sister, former Gov. Madeleine May Kunin, D-Vt., and their mother, fled their native Switzerland in 1940 as the Nazis gained power. Phelps said that the property had been surveyed and that May’s two nephews, Peter Kunin and Adam Kunin, the two main trustees of the Breason May Foundation, were preparing to transfer the property along with an undisclosed amount of cash to help pay for the infrastructure repairs. The foundation is named for May’s first wife, a native of Springfield who died in a tragic car accident in Springfield. Phelps said that work on the Muckross property would start next spring, with rebuilding the access road a top priority. He said work had been done to fix erosion from a storm in August, he said. The state will also install a gate and lock box this fall, to keep out trespassers. Both the fire department and police department will have access to the lock box, he said.