Elizabeth Lowell Park is a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

venue in the village of

Cotuit, Massachusetts Cotuit ( ) is one of the villages of the Town of Barnstable on Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. Located on a peninsula on the south side of Barnstable about midway between Falmouth and Hyannis, Cotuit is bounded by t ...

, home to the

Cotuit Kettleers The Cotuit Kettleers are a collegiate summer baseball team based in the village of Cotuit, Massachusetts, which is in the southwest corner of the town of Barnstable. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the lea ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

(CCBL). The former Elizabeth Lowell High School was located just to the west of the field. Lowell Park is one of three CCBL ballparks that does not have lights. Members of the

Lowell family The Lowell family is one of the Boston Brahmin families of New England, known for both intellectual and commercial achievements. The family had emigrated to Boston from England in 1639, led by the patriarch Percival Lowle (1571–1665). The surn ...

originally donated a parcel of land and school building to the town of Barnstable in 1906. The school remained in use into the 1920s, but was demolished a decade later.

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

president

A. Lawrence Lowell Abbott Lawrence Lowell (December 13, 1856 – January 6, 1943) was an American educator and legal scholar. He was President of Harvard University from 1909 to 1933. With an "aristocratic sense of mission and self-certainty," Lowell cut a large f ...

maintained a home in Cotuit, and his presence attracted enough other members of the Harvard community that the village was often referred to as "Summer Harvard". The school building razed, the parcel remained in use as a ballpark, and has been managed and maintained by the Cotuit Athletic Association since the advent of the Kettleers in the late 1940s. A sizeable 2007 grant from the Yawkey Foundation and a subsequent multi-phase improvement project allowed for significant upgrades to Lowell Park. In 2015, surrounding lands were purchased in an effort to maintain the ballpark's character by preventing the possibility of future adjacent development. The campaign to "Keep Lowell Park Green" was publicly supported by 1967 Kettleers pitcher and later

United States Ambassador to the United Nations The United States ambassador to the United Nations is the leader of the U.S. delegation, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. The position is formally known as the permanent representative of the United States of America to the United Nations ...

Bill Richardson William Blaine Richardson III (born November 15, 1947) is an American politician, author, and diplomat who served as the 30th governor of New Mexico from 2003 to 2011. He was also the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Energy Secretary ...

, and the newly-acquired acreage allowed for the establishment of a half-mile interpretive nature trail at the park in 2021. Lowell Park has been described as "a scene right out of a

Norman Rockwell Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of Culture of the United States, the country's culture. Roc ...

painting," and "a shining, secluded throwback to the golden age of baseball." Nestled within a wooded area just one quarter mile from Cotuit Bay, the setting has been the subject of a two-page aerial photo spread in ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'', and has drawn comparisons to the Iowa baseball diamond portrayed in the Hollywood film ''

Field of Dreams ''Field of Dreams'' is a 1989 American sports fantasy drama film written and directed by Phil Alden Robinson, based on Canadian novelist W. P. Kinsella's 1982 novel '' Shoeless Joe''. The film stars Kevin Costner as a farmer who builds a ...

'' for the similar way it appears to have been carved out of the surrounding natural elements. Lowell Park has seen the Kettleers claim a CCBL-high 17 championships, and has been the summertime home of dozens of future major leaguers such as

Will Clark William Nuschler Clark Jr. (born March 13, 1964) is an American professional baseball first baseman who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1986 through 2000. He played for the San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, an ...

Joe Girardi Joseph Elliott Girardi (born October 14, 1964) is an American former professional baseball player and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). Girardi played the catcher position for the Chicago Cubs, Colorado Rockies, New York Yankees, and St. ...

, and

Chase Utley Chase Cameron Utley (born December 17, 1978), nicknamed "The Man" and "Silver Fox", is an American former professional baseball second baseman who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 16 seasons, primarily for the Philadelphia Phillies. He ...

References

External links

Lowell Park official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowell Park 1947 establishments in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Barnstable, Massachusetts Cape Cod Baseball League ballparks Sports venues completed in 1947 Tourist attractions in Barnstable County, Massachusetts

See also

References

External links