Town breathes new life into DePina Landing

MARION — In 1953 John DePina, a Marion resident and immigrant from Cape Verde, donated a small riverfront property to the town of Marion to create a place where children could go swimming on the Sippican River.

On Thursday, Aug. 14, the children and grandchildren of John and Mary DePina, town officials and other community members gathered together to rededicate the property after the DePinas.

John DePina had been a land developer, at one time owning nearly 23 acres of land, which he divided into house lots that Dolly O’Neil, DePina’s youngest daughter, explained he “sold at bargain prices so that people of color could have a place to start off, start out in life.”

According to O’Neil, her father was a quiet man who didn’t fully realize what he was doing by essentially giving the land away at bargain prices.

“That’s why they called him Mr. Social Justice,” she said.

While DePina sold the land, he reserved the rededicated property as a public place for kids in the area, which eventually became known as DePina’s Landing. Over 70 years later, it has been rededicated to the DePina family.

Meg Steinberg, chair of the Marion Historical Commission, explained the idea to rededicate the land came about five years ago when the commission began documenting the history of the Cape Verdean community in Marion.

The research included information such as where Cape Verdeans lived and whether their homes were still intact. However, after presenting the information, there were people who felt that it “didn’t really tell the real story of the people and community itself,” Steinberg said.

Cosponsored by the Historical Commission and Historical Society, several story hours were then held at the Marion Council on Aging, where Cape Verdean residents could share their stories.

“We had a nice turnout of people who remember growing up here, some of whom still live here, some of whom had moved on, but started telling all kinds of stories about living here as kids,” Steinberg said.

This included stories of going down River Road, which at one time was home primarily to Cape Verdean residents, to go swimming at what is now DePina Landing.

Two years ago, members of the DePina family and the Cape Verdean community were invited back to DePina Landing for a gathering, with many of the same faces returning on Aug. 14 to celebrate the revitalization and rededication of the land.

Steinberg explained that over the years the property had gotten a little overgrown and “wasn’t really used very much,” making it a “prime opportunity” to bring it back to life.

O’Neil explained that over time the property had been used less often because many of the kids who swam there grew up and moved away from the area.

Additionally, when the Covid pandemic began, the town didn’t have the funds and ability to maintain the area’s beauty, according to O’Neil.

After two years of planning, a summer of on-site work, the installation of picnic tables and benches, and $5,000 from the Friends of Marion Recreation to make it all possible, DePina Landing has been restored.

Select Board Chair Randy Parker spoke at the rededication ceremony, stating, “It’s important for us to remind the younger generations how DePina Landing originated, and this rededication of DePina Landing is historical for that purpose.”

“I’m really excited about this,” O’Neil said. “Now it does mean something, and to see that a lot of the townspeople really care, you know, they really care.”

She stated that while her parents both died 15 years ago and that none of her parent’s friends are still alive, she can “feel their presence just like they’re here.”