Who is Community Heritage Maps?

Peter Kastner

After a 30 year career in Health Care Management I returned to my early interest in urban history and city planning by establishing Community Heritage Maps. I graduated from Boston University 1968 with a degree in history (senior paper on the Legal Impact of the Great Fire of 1666) and started a short teaching career at the Charles Hayen School.

While teaching I developed a course outline on "History as Therapy" - which was directed toward integrating history with family biography and helping students explore their physical world. I used local maps of Boston as a teaching tool.

At the age of 29 I got an MBA at Boston University, Health Care ,and spent almost the next 30 years managing acute and long term facilities with a lot of time managing mental health programs - including a couple of years attempting to manage an academic psychiatry department and research foundation. I spent the last several years conducting special projects.

In 2002 I left the world of health care to follow up on my earlier interest in urban history by starting Community Heritage Maps . I believe that more than ever in order for our lives to having meaning it is important that we know how about the history of our homes and immediate neighborhood. I had for a long time been aware of the wonderful city atlas maps that were printed many years ago and felt that I could satisfy peoples desire to connect with their communities by providing faithful replicas of these beautiful maps. Hence I left the health care world and started this project to provide access to a complete collection of ward maps of towns in New England and the mid Atlantic states.

Outside of my work I am active in open space conservation , having served as a past president of The Newton Conservators Inc. and the Friends of Nahanton Park. I am also an alternate Commissioner on the City of Newton's Park and Recreation Commission and City Of Newton's Mayor's Advisory Comprehensive Planning Committee. For a couple of years I was also a Director of the Newton School Foundation.

I have been married for over 25 years we have to sons. Our older son spent a year in City year and is now the Director of Major Gifts for an educational scholarship program in New York City. Our younger son has graduated with a degree in Chinese. He spend two years in China, including playing in a jazz band, while doing his undergraduate work and is now teaching english at a private university in China. My wife is an RN at a Adult Day Program and helps support my enterprise

Peter Kastner