One of the joys of exploring is discovering something new. Whether you’re a visitor to Boston, a resident, or a commuter heading into town for work, it’s wonderful to find a corner of the city that you didn’t know existed and that surprises you.

And that’s exactly what you’ll find at Harbor Way in the Seaport. 

Harbor Way is a brand-new ribbon of a park running through the center of the Seaport. Not only does it feel like an unexpected oasis of greenery against the Seaport’s sky-high buildings, but it exhibits an open, community appeal that invites you to slow down and savor its natural settings. 

Over the next few years, the pedestrian promenade Harbor Way will be extended to lead people from the upper heights of Summer Street down through the center of the Seaport to the existing green spaces of Seaport Common and the Fan Pier Green.

But recently the first phase near Seaport Boulevard, called The Rocks at Harbor Way, opened to foot traffic. It provides a completely different take on the traditional broad streets and big buildings feel of the Seaport. A take that starts with a wide-open green lawn and rocks. Big, big rocks — like the kind deposited by glacial processes from eons ago. 

“The rocks themselves are a series of large boulders that evoke a sense of the glacial erratics deposited throughout New England,” says Lisa Tziona Switkin, senior principal at James Corner Field Operations in New York City, an international landscape architecture design firm that focuses on the intersection of nature and cities. “Harbor Way was inspired by New England’s coastal geology, as well as its pebble beaches and wooden boardwalks. Its design and materiality is an intentional way to connect people with the waterfront, and to create more intimacy and sense of place.”

In fact, visiting the Rocks at Harbor Way is a great way to take a break. The central green lawn and nearby boardwalk is surrounded by native coniferous and deciduous trees, coastal grasses, and, of course, the huge rocks — which are great for sitting or scrambling over. All of these features and spaces are designed to connect people and nature. 

In addition to spaces for year-round events and future plans for an ice skating rink and swings along the boardwalk, the Rocks at Harbor Way currently includes a 22-foot-long concrete community table for informal gatherings, picnics, or sipping cups of coffee or tea surrounded by singing trees.

Yes, Harbor Way has musical trees. 

“Using PlantWave technology we translate plant biorhythms into music,” says Joe Patitucci, CEO of Data Garden, makers of PlantWave. “When people visit The Rocks at Harbor Way they’re going to experience Singing Trees. There are four different trees, three sassafras and one maple, that are playing flutes, bells, chimes, and even controlling vocal samples. It’s a wonderful ambient orchestra that’s all played by trees.”

The unusual music is achieved via specialized electrodes that measure micro-fluctuations in the amount of water between two points in the tree as it’s photosynthesizing. The resulting graph of those measurements is translated into pitch messages which are then routed to digital instruments that have been specially designed for the plants to play. 

Harbor Way visitors can hear music played by the individual trees at four kiosks around the park. In addition, there will be weekly extended performances combining all the trees. 

“While people go to parks to feel relaxed and refreshed, it’s rare that they think about trees being an active part of their experience,” Patitucci says. “But at Harbor Way, the Singing Trees really highlight the fact that trees can be a very active influence in our environment. It’s an experience that can take a person out of the busyness of their day and connect them more deeply to nature. And it’s really unique because it’s the only installation of its kind open to the public in the entire world.”

The Singing Trees are a perfect example of how the new Harbor Way park is surprising and charming visitors. Although it is right in the middle of a busy urban neighborhood, the new Harbor Way is a completely different Seaport experience for anyone who lives or works in the area, or visitors that want to stop by.  WS Development, the private developer of the Seaport, maintained the area as a very public-oriented space. 

“[They] wanted Harbor Way to feel like a public park and a special place where people could hang out and where different neighborhoods might blend,” says Paula Scher, principal at Pentagram, an international design consultancy, and designer of the identity and wayfinding for the High Line in New York City. She also brought her expertise to the Harbor Way. “I thought it was a very public-spirited project in a way that typical real estate development usually is not.”

An important aspect of her design approach for Harbor Way’s identity and signage was to focus ways to open the park to everyone. From tall metal signs that are essentially arrows guiding visitors on their way to angled stainless steel and bamboo wayfinders inlaid into the boardwalk, visitors will find it easy to connect with all the opportunities at Harbor Way.

“Harbor Way isn’t meant to be exclusive,” Scher says. “It’s very important that the signage and park’s identity make it feel like a place where people are happy to walk and discover things or just hang out in the neighborhood.”