Overlook Park Reopens Nov. 12 on the Hill Where Burlington Once Tracked the Sky
October 29, 2026
October 29, 2026
In 1964 Burlington bought the hill at 1 Edgemere Avenue for $3,700. Sixty years later, Town Meeting approved $2.3 million to rebuild it. The difference between those two numbers reflects more than inflation. For most of its history the hill was a place where work got done. On Nov. 12 it reopens as a place built for spending an afternoon.
The Burlington Parks & Recreation Department has scheduled the grand opening of the renovated Overlook Park for Thursday, Nov. 12, according to Burlington Access TV's event listing. On Oct. 21, BCAT reported that the work was nearly finished. Most of the design choices make more sense once you know what the hill was used for before.
You'll often hear Overlook Park called the old Nike missile site. A Burlington Buzz report from September 2024 used that description. The hill was part of Burlington's Nike operation, but it handled radar and launch control, and the missiles were stored somewhere else.
Burlington Retro's history of the site dates Burlington's Nike Ajax operation to 1955 through 1961. It places the missiles about a mile west on South Bedford Street, where Northeastern University's campus now sits, with the old storage slots hidden under grass islands in that parking lot. The Edgemere Avenue hill in Winnmere held the "integrated fire control" operation, meaning the radar that tracked aircraft and the controls that could launch missiles from the other hill. Ed Thelen's inventory of Nike sites lists Burlington as B-84 in the Boston defense area.
The site sits high above Mountain Road and Glen Avenue, and on some days the overlook gives a view all the way to Boston, according to the Daily Times Chronicle.
Some of the Army's buildings are still in use. According to Burlington Retro, the enlisted men's quarters, which housed up to 50 soldiers at a time, are now used by the Burlington Players. That building is the Park Playhouse.
After the Army left and the town bought the land, the hill went back to work. The Daily Times Chronicle reported that the site held a Recreation Department garage along with the playhouse. Parks & Recreation used the land mainly for maintenance and equipment storage until most of that work moved to 10 Great Meadow. Today the department keeps only some off-season equipment there.
Even the recreation pieces were left over from earlier uses. Burlington Retro notes that the Army's vehicle parking area became a basketball court with "Nike site" spray-painted on the backboards. Burlington Buzz reported in January 2026 that the old basketball court, the old playground and the leftover cement slabs were all removed once construction began.
The Planning Board set a clear goal for the rebuild. According to the Daily Times Chronicle, the site plan aimed to make the park a "jewel" for a neighborhood that lacks access to high-quality outdoor recreation.
The project was designed by Weston & Sampson. Early on, Parks & Recreation Director Brendan Egan decided it needed a professional construction manager, and the town hired the same firm for that job. That added cost, and the budget was already tight.
To keep the project at $2.3 million, the department dropped several of the extras that make a park comfortable to sit in. Burlington Buzz reported that granite curbs became Cape Cod berm, plantings were reduced, and benches, bike racks, signage and a shade structure were all removed.
Most of that money came back through a different project. Burlington had approved funds for walkway and bandstand work on the Town Common, and state money then arrived to cover that work. The department asked to move $250,000 of the Common money to Overlook Park, and Burlington Buzz's Town Meeting summary lists Article 8 as passed. Here is how the department planned to split it:
| Use of the $250,000 | Amount |
|---|---|
| Restoring curbing and other cut amenities | $140,000 |
| Contingency for unforeseen costs | $62,000 |
| Construction management | $48,000 |
Any money the project doesn't use goes back to the town, and Egan told the Ways and Means Committee that the scope had not changed from the original accessibility-focused plan. Visitors will see the effect in small places, such as the edge of a path or whether there's a bench where they want to rest.
For decades, almost everything on this hill existed to support work happening somewhere else, whether that was a missile battery a mile away or ballfields around town that needed mowers. The new site plan is organized around people who walk up the hill and stay. The Daily Times Chronicle's summary of the approved plan includes:
The hill is steep, which made accessibility the hardest part of the work. In January, Burlington Buzz reported that crews were building stone retaining walls along the accessible trail and had widened the driveway at the top of the hill. BCAT's event listing describes the finished playground, trails and site circulation as fully accessible. Burlington already has an accessible treehouse at Simonds Park, which opened in late 2022, and Overlook Park now gives the other side of town an accessible play area too.
The park also connects to nearby conservation land. Assistant Director of Parks & Recreation Kelly Lehman described that link to Burlington Buzz:
"We love the connection to Little Brook conservation area so while people are there enjoying the park it also backs up to 30 acres of conservation land if they wanted to do some hiking or more exploring."
Sources give different sizes for that land. The Daily Times Chronicle reported 27 acres, and the town's 2011 Open Space and Recreation Plan lists Little Brook Conservation Area at 36 acres. All of the figures describe a good amount of woods right next to a playground. The town's Conservation Areas page is the place to start before you head down the trails.
The rink lawn is part of the design. For winter skating plans, check with Burlington Parks & Recreation as the weather gets colder.
The construction also affected the Burlington Players, the theater group that has used the former Army barracks for years. In a Sept. 1, 2026 update, the Players said the Overlook Park work forced them to change how and where they present this season. They opened the season with The Amish Project at the Mosesian Center for the Arts in Watertown and canceled their fall education classes.
Their November show will also be off the hill. According to the Players' ticket page, Love, Loss, and What I Wore runs Nov. 6 through 21. The Nov. 6 and 7 performances are at Quannapowitt Players, and the Nov. 13 to 15 and 20 to 21 performances are at Colonial Chorus, both in Reading. The group says it expects to be back in its building later this year. If that happens, the hill would have the playhouse open alongside the playground, the paved loop and the event lawn for the first time.
I follow projects like Overlook Park because they change how a part of Burlington works from day to day. If you live near Edgemere Avenue or are thinking about the Winnmere side of town, I can tell you what the new park means for the streets around it. Kip LeBaron is glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.
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