The Blairhaven Committee, appointed by Duxbury’s Board of Selectmen, put out a request for proposals to raze all of the buildings on the historic Blairhaven property in hopes of converting it into a public park by summer. Purchased by the town with $3 million in Community Preservation Act funds at the 2011 Town Meeting, the property is finally ready to begin its transformation.

Plans are underway to remove the buildings on the five-acre property, tear up the existing asphalt and install a 12-car parking lot at the top of the boundary along Crescent Street, where the grade of the land is flat. According to Conservation Administrator Joe Grady, the lot will eventually hold 22 cars, and the waterfront property, which fronts Kingston Bay, will be landscaped to invite picnickers and sunbathers. Tucked within the northeast corner of the lot, far away from the sumac trees that line the sandy border between the water and the lawn, is a makeshift chapel with benches and a hulking oak-ring altar, all sheltered by a grove of warm cedar.

“I can envision company theater groups here,” said Grady. “And local kids doing poetry readings.”

While Grady concedes he was taken aback by the level of opposition and mistrust some felt at the purchase of Blairhaven, he hopes that once it’s available for all to use, it will become as important to the community as Shipyard Lane is now.

“There aren’t a lot of available spaces in town,” said Grady. “I use Shipyard as a comparison quite a bit. It’s a nice gathering spot. People push kids in strollers, walk their dogs, go for a walk themselves, they meet new neighbors. It helps to develop good community.”

Though the 80 deep-water moorings available off of Blairhaven and its oceanfront access points are sure to make it a popular spot, it’s the massive cedar overlooking the Bay that’s likely to draw romantics from all along the South Shore. That tree is fabled to be the Alden Tree, where John Alden proposed to Priscilla. Sadly, its base is mostly rotted through and Department of Public Works Director Peter Buttkus, an internationally certified arborist, can’t guarantee it will stay.

“It’s on borrowed time,” said Buttkus. “It could be, but we haven’t gotten in there and done a site appraisal yet and won’t until the Board of Selectmen comes back with their recommendations.”

Grady hopes to get moving sooner. He wants to welcome people to park before too long.

“I would hope this summer,” said Grady. “I don’t know 100 percent, but I’d hope to get the parking lot in and open it for public use.”

Editor’s note: One of the recommendations of the Blairhaven Committee is to rename the park. We want to hear from you. What do you propose the new name be? Send your suggestions to editor@duxburyclipper.com and we’ll publish them.