The report concerning the Appeals Court decision in the Estabrook Woods road case (The Bridge, October 25) was disappointingly one-sided and unfair to the landowners. Unfortunately, the article provided no context explaining the circumstances that preceded the litigation. In fact, the current landowners, unlike some prior owners, not only welcomed walkers onto the road and adjacent woods but also provided year-round parking spaces for the occasional visitors. Unfortunately, with the advent of social media, various internet sites started promoting hiking and dog walking in the Estabrook Woods to a wide audience beyond Concord. As a result, the number of people coming to the woods increased enormously.
The landowners had been working with the town to address the problems of safety, overcrowding, and some visitors’ aggressive behavior towards the landowners when the town precipitously filed its lawsuit against the landowners, stigmatizing them as “defendants” for simply trying to protect the quiet enjoyment of their land for themselves and others.
Ellen Emerson
Bruce Kohler
Monument Street
