On February 25, at the request of the Mass DCR and the Architectural Heritage Foundation, thirteen members of the Hingham-based Student Conservation Association Historic Preservation crew arrived at the Speedway for a winter clean-up. The 2019 cohort is less than a month into their AmeriCorps-sponsored service; thus, the Speedway was one of their first preservation projects. Battling wind speeds of 25-30 mph, with gusts up to 60 mph, they cleared piles of dead leaves from the courtyard, ash and charred wood from the site’s burned section, and several decades-worth of unused objects from the buildings. By noon, they had filled a 30-yard dumpster with debris: broken window frames, rickety office furniture, moldy stuffed animals, even an unusable boat. The interns, whose interests range from ecology to ancient Roman archaeology, were intrigued by the site’s conservation history and enjoyed exploring the old MDC police station. As they surveyed the complex, with its boarded windows and weathered shingles, one crew member expressed what AHF and the Brighton community have long felt: “I can’t wait to see what this place becomes.”
