Who will minister to the Minister’s Path?

by Heidi Gómez · Friday, July 10, 2026

Tree roots poke through the macadam of the Minister’s Path, creating an obstacle course for those with mobility challenges. From left: Gloria Macario, Jen Baranowski, AJ Sullivan (in wheelchair), Shavon Bourgault, Jaclynn Fortunato, Sammy Gillard (in wheelchair), and Sammy Barrett. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)

Along the stone wall of the Center Cemetery is a shady path that provides a convenient cut-through between Bromfield and the Common. Marred by cracks and tree roots that aggressively protrude from below the asphalt, even the sure-footed should take care walking on it. Wheelchair users need to do a bit of off-roading. This is the Minister’s Path.

Like much in Harvard, the original minister’s walk is old. It was part of the estate of Harvard’s first Congregational minister, the Rev. John Seccomb, who was ordained in 1733. Once an impressive elm-lined walkway, the modern asphalted version came centuries later, although no one interviewed by this reporter could provide an exact year. From the early use by Seccomb and succeeding ministers, this path is now used by many in the town, including students from Bromfield High School, who use it to get to the General Store. Some of these students are in Samantha Barrett’s Life Skills class and three are wheelchair users.

Barrett, a special education teacher, said that her students would like to enjoy the same opportunities that their peers have, such as socializing at the General Store. Going there also provides them the chance to practice the life skills they are learning, such as how to place a food or coffee order. Five adults usually accompany the students to best ensure their safety as they navigate “the general mess of the path,” Barrett said. The path is impassable for them when it rains or snows. The only alternative would be to use Massachusetts Avenue but, with the absence of sidewalks, that is a less safe choice.

Cracks, bumps, and a slope

This reporter met three of Barrett’s students on the first day of their extended school year program, Sammy Gillard (recent graduate), Gloria Macario (grade 6), and AJ Sullivan (grade 10). Part of the day’s activities included a trip on the Minister’s Path. Gillard and Sullivan are manual wheelchair users and were pushed by one of the five educators in the group. Another adult assisted in guiding each wheelchair or in raising the branches of a thorny bush to clear the path. A good deal of strength and effort were needed to push the chair up a steep slope toward one end of the path. Great care was taken to prevent falls going down to return to the school. Wheelchair users were jostled going over cracks and bumps, the impact jarring the body.

In a telephone interview, mother of Sammy, Jenny Gillard, mentioned that her daughter is attending a transition program at Bromfield that teaches young adults skills to live, work, and participate in the community. Sammy will continue to need access along the path to the community center from school even outside of the school term. While recognizing that Harvard is a small, historic town, Gillard said. “As far as the community areas go, like the center of town, the schools, the pond, I think it’s really important that those areas are accessible so that all members of the community have access to them.”

A question of ownership

People have called attention to the poor condition of this path over the years, as revealed in a review of recordings of the meetings of the Commission on Disabilities. On April 18, 2023, then Co-Chair Davida Bagatelle reported an initial inquiry into ownership of the path and options to improve accessibility. Other reports from residents trickled in. The last one on record was on Oct. 1, 2025. Commission on Disabilities member Amy Nutt, was contacted by parents of children using wheelchairs, who said that the poor condition of the path and a general lack of safe access hampered their children’s participation in town events.

During these meetings, ownership of the path was a recurring question, with meeting participants reporting that conflicting information about ownership had been given by a previous town administrator, a past Department of Public Works director, and, Bagatelle said, “someone” from the Congregational Church. Also, discussions were held about the need to survey the land to officially determine ownership, sources of funding for this survey, and the roles of the Commission on Disabilities and Select Board in this endeavor. Changing personnel in town government and local boards has necessitated reviews of prior conversations and has delayed quicker action. No progress had been made in identifying ownership or acquiring funds for a land survey in the two and a half years since the initial inquiry.

In a Zoom interview, Commission on Disabilities Co-Chairs Bagatelle and Toni Spacciapoli explained that the role of the commission is to advise the town and boards and to make suggestions. However, nothing in the bylaws or charter gave them “power to dictate what the town does.” The commission does not have an operating budget and therefore cannot fund initiatives such as a land survey. The commission can conduct research on which they base their recommendations.

It is through this research that a breakthrough occurred in the fall of 2025. Spacciapoli located a Plan of Land or plot plan made in March 1989 and prepared for the Harvard Board of Selectmen. Comparing the plot plan with the town’s Geographic Information System revealed that most of the Minister’s Path falls on town-owned property. A small portion near Still River Road is privately owned.

The earlier question of ownership impacted the implementation in Harvard of a key ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) requirement for municipalities—the development of a self-evaluation and transition plan to assess, then remediate, barriers within communities to the participation of people with disabilities. Harvard’s plan was created in 2022 and prepared by hired consultants, Michael Kennedy and James Mazik. The Minister’s Path was not included in the list of town-owned properties and therefore was excluded from the plan.

At the Nov. 12, 2025, Commission on Disabilities meeting, following the revelation of the plot plan, Eric Ward, then Select Board liaison to the commission, was tasked with taking the recommendation to the Select Board to consider the Minister’s Path as town-owned and to re-engage the consultants to amend the plan. Ward has since been replaced as liaison by Ahmet Corapcioglu.

In a telephone interview, Corapcioglu said he needed “to understand what [the consultants] can contribute” and ascertain the costs for the additional services. He said the town budget currently did not have “any earmarked budget line items for such studies.” The funding sources can only be determined when the cost is known. A subsequent email from Corapcioglu said that he would send Mazik photographs of the most challenging sections and Mazik would then assess the path using those and satellite imagery. After gathering all the information, Corapcioglu will present the data to the Select Board to decide on next steps. He acknowledged that the Minister’s Path has been on the agenda for a long time and said: “I would like to see a way that we could make this path accessible for the town. This is something good for the town, for the community. Folks need this to be accessible.”

Next steps

Town Administrator Dawn Dunbar became familiar with the path in her role as ADA coordinator around September 2025. More recently, she and DPW Director Eric Ryder have talked about making the path accessible. As noted, part of the path is on private property and the town cannot work on property it does not own. She also noted possible concerns regarding easement and liability. As an alternative to remediating the current Minister’s Path, they discussed rerouting it through the cemetery and General Store patio, all of which are town owned.

When asked about a possible timeline, Dunbar said that exploratory work could be done over the summer. She and Ryder would first need to present the plan to the Select Board in order to get their permission to obtain a quote from a contractor. However, funding deadlines and Town Meeting have already passed, so it would need to be considered in the next cycle, at the earliest. And they would not be able to put out a bid for any work until approved at Town Meeting next spring.

Barrett’s Life Skills students Ruby Haag, AJ Sullivan, and Sammy Gillard presented their final civics class project toward the end of last school year, a local action involving something they wanted to improve in their community. They chose the Minister’s Path, saying, “The path is too bumpy!” They called attention to its inaccessibility, something that directly impacts them. They wrote: