Goddard Park: Polaris Missile
Auburn, Massachusetts
In 1926 Robert Goddard was considered crazy when he launched the world's first liquid-fueled rocket from his Aunt Effie's farm. By 1969, however, the year of Apollo XI and the moon landing, Goddard was a Space Age hero (and long dead). The Auburn Rotary Club felt that the Rocket Man deserved recognition on the landscape, so it built Goddard Park, which opened in 1970. Unable to afford a NASA rocket as a centerpiece, the Club instead settled for a Polaris Missile. Although visually satisfying, the missile is, awkwardly, a solid-fueled rocket.
The park is about 1.5 miles southwest of the spot where Goddard's launch actually took place. That spot wasn't available for a park because Aunt Effie's farm had been turned into a golf course (It does have a small monument).
Various embellishments have been added to the park over the years, including benches, a picnic table, and a "true size" replica of the 1926 rocket, which sticks out of a protective open-top plexiglass box. Goddard Park was empty during our visit except for a flock of geese, covering the lawn with their own version of spent fuel.