Jamaica Pond

Kettle hole

The Jamaica Pond is a kettle hole and part of the Emerald Necklace park system in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States. It is located in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood, close to the border with Brookline. In Jamaica Pond of the Muddy River, which flows later in the Charles River rises.

The lake has an area of ​​about 68 acres ( 28 ha) and is in the middle 53 ft (16 m) deep, making it the largest body of freshwater in Boston and the largest natural freshwater lake in the lower basin of the Charles River. He is surrounded by hiking trails and is for the people of Boston a very popular destination for walking, fishing and sailing.

Past, the lake was used as a drinking water reservoir for the city Boston and Roxbury and delivered in the winter ice to Boston and other nearby cities.

According to the USGS the name Jamaica is derived from a Native American word that means " abundance of beavers ."

History

In 1873, the Jamaica Plain Ice Company employed 350 workers to reduce up to 5,000 tons of ice per day from the Jamaica Pond.

By 1929, the lake was the venue for the popular annual ice skating carnival, but this was forbidden by the mayor James Michael Curley, as cracks in the ice formed and had to be evacuated 50,000 skaters. For several years, the ice-skating on the lake is basically no longer allowed.

Until its demolition in 2007 was above the lake the Pinebank Mansion, which served as a summer residence for Edward Newton Perkins.