Jamaica Pond

42°19′0″N 71°7′13″W / 42.31667°N 71.12028°W / 42.31667; -71.12028Typekettle pondPrimary outflowsMuddy RiverSurface area68 acres (28 ha)Max. depth53 feet (16 m)

Jamaica Pond is a kettle lake, 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 (2.4 km) 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.^[1]

According to the USGS, the name Jamaica derives from an Indian name meaning "abundance of beavers".^[2]

The pond's setting, Jamaica Park, was included in the Olmsted Park landscape complex that was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 8, 1971.^[3]

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.^[4]

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.^[5] 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.

Gallery

Skating on the pond, 1859
Ice delivery van, 1890
Swans, 2010
Sailboat on pond, 2013
Bicyclists, 2021
Walking path, 2021
Fishing, 2021
Rowboat, 2021
Renting a sailboat, 2021

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). Reston, Virginia: U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved February 4, 2014.

^ "Harvesting Ice on Jamaica Pond". Jamaica Plain Historical Society. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Jamaica Pond
^ "National Register Information System – Olmsted Park System (#71000086)". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007. Retrieved December 17, 2022.
^ 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.

MassWildlife map and information
Boston Parks & Recreation Department
Emerald Necklace Conservancy
Friends of Jamaica Pond
Sam Blackman: The Jamaica Pond Project
Boating on Jamaica Pond by Courageous Sailing
Jamaica Pond Lantern Parade by Spontaneous Celebrations

Emerald Necklace

Arborway
Arnold Arboretum
The Fens
Boston Common
Boston Public Garden
Commonwealth Avenue
Dorchesterway
Fenway
Forsyth Park
Franklin Park
Jamaica Pond
Jamaicaway
Olmsted Park
Park Drive
Riverway

Lakes and ponds of Massachusetts by drainage system

Lakes

Connecticut River Watershed	Lake Monomonac Lake Wyola
Housatonic River Watershed	Lake Buel Lake Garfield Lake Onota
Merrimack River Watershed	Fairhaven Bay Haggetts Pond Lake Attitash Lake Boon Lake Cochichewick Lake Cochituate Lake Saltonstall Lost Lake Walden Pond
Providence River Watershed	Lake Quinsigamond
Taunton River Watershed	Assonet Bay Lake Nippenicket Lake Rico Lake Sabbatia Long Pond Pocksha Pond
Others	Buffumville Lake Charge Pond Chebacco Lake Crystal Lake Follins Pond Hickory Hills Lake Indian Lake Lake Ashmere Lake Chaubunagungamaug Lake Massapoag Lake Quannapowitt Lewis Lake Mystic Lakes Pine Lake Prankers Pond Silver Lake Wallum Lake Wenham Lake Whites Pond

Ponds

Agawam River Watershed	Fawn Pond Glen Charlie Pond Halfway Pond Little Long Pond (Plymouth) Long Pond (Plymouth) Mill Pond (Wareham) Spectacle Pond (Wareham)
Connecticut River Watershed	Brooks Pond Browning Pond Quaboag Pond Thompson Pond
Eel River Watershed	Boot Pond Cooks Pond Forge Pond Great South Pond Gunners Exchange Pond Hoyts Pond Island Pond (Plymouth) Russell Millpond
Jones River Watershed	Crossman Pond Furnace Pond Harrobs Corner Bog Pond Indian Head Pond Lower Chandler Pond Maquan Pond Oldham Pond Pembroke Street South Pond Reeds Millpond Russell Pond Silver Lake Upper Chandler Pond West Chandler Pond
Mattapoisett River Watershed	Long Pond Snipatuit Pond
Merrimack River Watershed	Tuxbury Pond
Taunton River Watershed	Assawompset Pond Great Quittacas Pond Little Quittacas Pond Monponsett Pond Robbins Pond Tispaquin Pond Watson Pond Watuppa Ponds Winnecunnet Pond
Wankinco River Watershed	East Head Reservoir Parker Mills Pond Tihonet Pond
Others	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 Bullough's Pond Buckmaster Pond Campus Pond Cedar Pond Clay Pit Pond Cliff Pond College Pond Curlew Pond Deer Pond Dug Pond Dunham Pond Elbow Pond Ezekiel Pond Fairyland Pond Fearing Pond Federal Pond Five Mile Pond Flax Pond (Brewster) Fresh Meadow Pond Fresh Pond Fuller Street Pond Gallows Pond Great Herring Pond Great Island Pond Great Pond Hardy Pond Hedges Pond Higgins Pond Hocomonco Pond Horn Pond Houghton's Pond Indian Pond Island Creek Pond Island Pond (Cedarville) Jacobs Pond Jamaica Pond Keene Pond Kings Pond Lake Lashaway Learned Pond Leonards Pond Little Herring Pond 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 Lout Pond Mary's Pond Mashpee and Wakeby Ponds Menemsha Pond Micajah Pond Mill Pond (Duxbury) Morey Hole Muddy Pond New Long Pond North Hill Marsh Pond North Triangle Pond Pine Street Pond Ponkapoag Pond Redd's Pond Rocky Pond Round Pond Sampsons Pond Sandy Pond Sargent's Pond Savery Pond Sawins Pond Scargo Lake Shallow Pond Ship Pond Shubael Pond Smelt Pond Smith Pool South Meadow Pond South Triangle Pond Spectacle Pond (Sandwich) Spring Pond Spy Pond Stetson Pond Studleys Pond Tremont Mill Pond Triangle Pond Union Pond Vaughn Pond Walker Pond Wampatuck Pond White Pond White Island Pond

v t e Parks in Boston
Parks	Arnold Arboretum Back Bay Fens Belle Isle Marsh Reservation Billings Field Boston Common Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area Boston National Historical Park Bremen Street Park Cardinal Cushing Memorial Park Castle Island Charles River Esplanade Charles River Reservation Charlestown Naval Shipyard Park Charlestown Veterans Memorial Park Chestnut Hill Reservation Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park City Square Park Commonwealth Avenue Dorchester Park Dorchester Shores Reservation Emerald Necklace Forsyth Park Fort Independence Fort Warren Franklin Park Franklin Park Zoo Galvin Memorial Park Harambee Park Harriet Tubman Park Jamaica Pond John Harvard Mall Kevin W. Fitzgerald Park Langone Park Larz Anderson Bonsai Collection Mary Ellen Welch Greenway Millennium Park Nashua Street Park Neponset River Reservation North End Parks North Point Park Olmsted Park Paul Revere Park Piers Park Boston Public Garden Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Roxbury Heritage State Park Roxbury High Fort Southwest Corridor Park Stony Brook Reservation Temple Street Park Thompson Square Upper Charles River Reservation Webb Memorial State Park Winthrop Square

Parks in Boston

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