Jamaica Pond

Jamaica Pond, boathouse in distance, 2005

Skating on Jamaica Pond, 1859

Jamaica Pond is a kettle pond, part of the Emerald Necklace of parks in Boston designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. The pond and park are in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, close to the border of Brookline. It is the source of the Muddy River, which drains into the lower Charles River.^{USGS 2005}

The pond has an area of about 68 acres (28 ha), and is 53 feet (16 m) deep at its center (MassWildlife map), making it the largest body of fresh water in Boston, and the largest natural freshwater body in the lower Charles River watershed. It is ringed by a 1.5 mile walking path, and is an extremely popular destination for Bostonians for walking, fishing, rowing, and sailing. Around Halloween each year, the pond serves as the site for The Lantern Parade. Participants dress in their Halloween costumes and walk around the pond.

The pond once served as a reservoir for the City of Boston and the Town of West Roxbury, and it supplied ice in the winter to Boston and beyond.

According to the USGS, the name Jamaica derives from an Indian name meaning "abundance of beavers".^[1]

History

The Jamaica Plain Ice Company employed 350 men in 1874, and harvested as much 5,000 tons of ice a day from Jamaica Pond.^[2]

The pond was once the site of a popular annual winter skating carnival. In 1929, this carnival was cancelled by Mayor Curley when cracks appeared on the ice, and 50,000 skaters had to be evacuated.^[3] In recent years, ice skating is no longer permitted on the pond.

Overlooking Jamaica Pond until its 2007 demolition was Pinebank Mansion, the summer home of Edward Newton Perkins.

References

Water resources and the urban environment, lower Charles River Watershed; ISBN 1-4289-8365-1
Weiskel, Peter K.; Barlow, Lora K.; Smieszek, Tomas W. (2005). "Water Resources and the Urban Environment, Lower Charles River Watershed, Massachusetts, 1630–2005" (PDF). http://www.usgs.gov/. Reston, Virginia: U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved February 4, 2014. External link in |website= (help)

↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Jamaica Pond
↑ Rosenberg, Charlie (Nov 2007). "Jamaica Plain Historical Society 'Locales' Editor, Harvesting Ice on Jamaica Pond". Jamaica Plain Historical Society. Archived from the original on October 22, 2010. Retrieved June 4, 2010.
↑ Remember Jamaica Plain? Fifty Thousand on Jamaica Pond Ice? Wow!

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jamaica Pond.

Coordinates: 42°19′0″N 71°7′13″W / 42.31667°N 71.12028°W / 42.31667; -71.12028

Emerald Necklace
Arborway Arnold Arboretum The Fens Boston Common Boston Public Garden Commonwealth Avenue Dorchesterway Fenway Franklin Park Jamaica Pond Jamaicaway Olmsted Park Park Drive Riverway
Frederick Law Olmsted Boston, Massachusetts Jamaica Plain Roxbury Brookline Dorchester

Waterbodies of Massachusetts
Bays, Coves, and Sounds	Assonet Bay Broad Sound Buzzards Bay Cape Cod Bay Cat Cove Dorchester Bay Duxbury Bay Fairhaven Bay Hingham Bay Juniper Cove Massachusetts Bay Nahant Bay Nantucket Sound Narragansett Bay Orleans Cove Plymouth Bay Popponesset Bay Quincy Bay Vineyard Sound Waquoit Bay Warren Cove
Canals, Channels, and Straits	Blackstone Canal Broad Brook Canal Broad Canal Canapitsit Channel Cape Cod Canal Fort Point Channel Hampshire and Hampden Canal Holyoke Canal System Hypocrite Channel Jeremiah's Gutter Lechmere Canal Lowell Power Canal System and Pawtucket Gatehouse Madaket Ditch Merrimack Canal Middlesex Canal Mother Brook North Canal Pawtucket Canal Quick's Hole Robinson's Hole Salem Channel Salem Beverly Waterway Canal South Channel South Hadley Canal Turners Falls Canal Woods Hole
Estuaries	Annisquam River Back River Bass River Boston Harbor Buzzards Bay Fore River Mitchell River Mount Hope Bay Oyster Pond River Popponesset Bay Quashnet River Weir River
Harbors	Barnstable Harbor Boston Harbor East Harbor Hyannis Harbor Marblehead Harbor Plymouth Harbor Provincetown Harbor Rock Harbor Salem Harbor
Lakes	Briggs Reservoir Buffumville Lake Charge Pond Chebacco Lake Crystal Lake Follins Pond Hickory Hills Lake Indian Lake Lake Ashmere Lake Attitash Lake Boon Lake Buel Lake Chaubunagungamaug Lake Cochichewick Lake Cochituate Lake Garfield Lake Massapoag Lake Monomonac Lake Nippenicket Lake Onota Lake Quannapowitt Lake Quinsigamond Lake Rico Lake Sabbatia Lake Saltonstall Lewis Lake Little Quittacas Pond Long Pond Mystic Lakes Pine Lake Pocksha Pond Prankers Pond Silver Lake Wallum Lake Wenham Lake Whites Pond
Ponds	Abner Pond Arnold School Pond Barrett Pond Bartlett Pond Bates Pond Beaver Dam Pond Big Rocky Pond Big Sandy Pond Billington Sea Black Jimmy Pond Bloody Pond Boot Pond Brooks Pond Browning Pond Bullough's Pond Campus Pond Cedar Pond Clay Pit Pond Cliff Pond College Pond Cooks Pond Crossman Pond Curlew Pond Deer Pond Dug Pond Dunham Pond East Head Reservoir Elbow Pond Ezekiel Pond Fairyland Pond Fawn Pond Fearing Pond Federal Pond Five Mile Pond Flax Pond (Brewster) Forge Pond Fresh Meadow Pond Fresh Pond Fuller Street Pond Furnace Pond Gallows Pond Glen Charlie Pond Great Herring Pond Great Island Pond Great Pond Great South Pond Gunners Exchange Pond Halfway Pond Hardy Pond Harrobs Corner Bog Pond Hedges Pond Higgins Pond Hocomonco Pond Horn Pond Houghton's Pond Hoyts Pond Indian Head Pond Indian Pond Island Creek Pond Island Pond (Cedarville) Island Pond (Plymouth) Jacobs Pond Jamaica Pond Keene Pond Kings Pond Lake Lashaway Learned Pond Leonards Pond Little Herring Pond Little Long Pond (Plymouth) Little Long Pond (Wareham) Little Pond Little Rocky Pond Little Sandy Bottom Pond Little Sandy Pond Little West Pond Long Duck Pond Long Island Pond Long Pond (Plymouth) Long Pond (Rochester) Lout Pond Lower Chandler Pond Maquan Pond Mary's Pond Mashpee and Wakeby Ponds Menemsha Pond Micajah Pond Mill Pond (Duxbury) Mill Pond (Wareham) Monponsett Pond Morey Hole Muddy Pond New Long Pond North Hill Marsh Pond North Triangle Pond Oldham Pond Parker Mills Pond Pembroke Street South Pond Pine Street Pond Ponkapoag Pond Quaboag Pond Redd's Pond Reeds Millpond Robbins Pond Rocky Pond Round Pond Russell Millpond Russell Pond Sampsons Pond Sandy Pond Sargent's Pond Savery Pond Sawins Pond Scargo Lake Shallow Pond Ship Pond Shubael Pond Smelt Pond Smith Pool Snipatuit Pond South Meadow Brook Reservoir South Meadow Pond South Triangle Pond Spectacle Pond (Sandwich) Spectacle Pond (Wareham) Spring Pond Spy Pond Stetson Pond Studleys Pond Thompson Pond Tihonet Pond Tispaquin Pond Tremont Mill Pond Triangle Pond Tuxbury Pond Union Pond Upper Chandler Pond Vaughn Pond Walden Pond Walker Pond Wampatuck Pond Watson Pond Watuppa Ponds West Chandler Pond White Island Pond Winnecunnet Pond
Reservoirs	Aaron River Reservoir Accord Pond Ashley Reservoir Assawompset Pond Big Pond Blackmore Pond Briggs Reservoir Chestnut Hill Reservoir Fisher Hill Reservoir Fort Meadow Reservoir Fresh Pond Great Quittacas Pond Great Sandy Bottom Pond Haggetts Pond High Service Water Tower and Reservoir Lake Wyola Little South Pond Littleville Lake Lost Lake Miscoe Lake Neponset Reservoir Norton Reservoir Otis Reservoir Quabbin Reservoir Round Pond Silver Lake Stockbridge Bowl Stony Brook Stump Pond Sudbury Reservoir Sugden Reservoir Tully Lake Wachusett Reservoir Walden Pond (Lynn) Weston Reservoir

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