Nuttings Lake Park

Nuttings Lake Park is the cottage colony laid out between 1910 and 1916 around Nuttings Lake, in the south part of town between the Middlesex Turnpike and Lexington Road. The lake was known for most of the town's history as Nutting's Pond. In April 1910 C. A. Thayer, an engineer of Providence, Rhode Island, drew three plans of "Nuttings Lake Park (Area of Lake Over 100 Acres)": Plan A (Plan Book 27, Plan 57, recorded May 31, 1910), on the turnpike side of the lake, with Columbia, Washington, Thayer, Short, Hicks, Cherry, Tremont, Elm, Pearl, Howard and Pine Roads, Massachusetts Avenue and a shore road later called Marshall Street; Plan B (Plan Book 27, Plan 34), along the north shore, with Lake Street and Central, South, Peace, Cady, Rhodes and Back Streets; and Plan C, the Nuttings Lake Park Annex (Plan Book 27, Plan 35, recorded May 6, 1910), adding Everett, Plenty and Stewart Streets and more lots behind Plan B. The lots were small, most of 2,500 square feet, and were sold for summer cottages.

The park grew by extensions. A revised section of Plan A was drawn in May 1912 (Plan Book 30, Plan 23, recorded June 21, 1913); Thayer's Extension Plan E of May 1915 (Plan Book 33, Plan 46) added Bolton, Day, Eliot, Cottage, Burt, Clifton, Lenox and Beach Streets; Extension Plan D of November 1914 (Plan Book 32, Plan 49) added Friendship, Cove, Clinton, Park, Cedar and Laurel Streets; H. A. Millhouse's Addition Plan F of June 1915 (Plan Book 32, Plan 91) added Canterbury, Baldwin, Deerfield, Fairview, Endicott and Water Streets beside land of Dolan; and Extension Plan G of December 1916 (Plan Book 35, Plan 76) extended it again on the northwest side. The plans carried an inset map showing the way to the park from the railroad stations.

The lanes stayed private ways for a generation. Marshall Street was accepted in 1935 and Lake Street in 1937 and 1943, a W.P.A. project of 1937 widened Lake Street, and town water came between 1937 and 1941. The 1941 town report named Nuttings Lake with Riverhurst, Queensland and Rio Vista among the "camping sections" of the town. Several plan street names are no longer on the map, including Washington, Thayer, Hicks, Pine, Central, Back, Everett, Burt, Clifton, Lenox, Beach, Laurel, Park, Cedar, Baldwin, Fairview, Endicott and Walnut.

Later plans filled in the east and south shores. R. B. and A. M. Bellamy, civil engineers, drew "Lakeside" on September 3, 1915 (Plan Book 33, Plan 52), a separate tract of small lots between the lake and Lexington Road with Lakeside, Crest, Meadowbank, Maple and Sunset Roads; its early deeds barred buildings costing less than $600 and any use "for clubs or what is known as summer outing associations." Alfred Millhouse added Extension Plan H in June 1925 (Plan Book 56, Plan 85), with Wadsworth, Laurel and Monson Streets running down to Pond Lane. Several plan streets now carry other names: Maple Road is Austin Road and Sunset Road is Taylor Road; on Plan D, Hill Street is Ingersoll Road, Park Street is Terry Lane, Pine Street is Swan Lane and Cedar Street is Exeter Place; Central Street is Mulcahy Lane; on Plan G, Main Street is Mallard Street and Grant Court is Durrant Court; Plan A's Elm Road is now Great Elm Road and Elmtree Road; and on Indian Knoll Terrace, Pine Avenue is Perreault Avenue and Walnut Avenue is Yale Street. Two later subdivisions sit inside the old park: Patricia Road, laid out for Robert B. Innis in 1961, and Thistle Estates on Thistle Lane (1986).

Historic Buildings

Points of Interest

• Nuttings Lake Causeway (1810)
• Billerica Recreation Center (1957)
• Nutting Lake Beach (1969)
• Nicola Micozzi Beach (1970)
• Nutting Lake Conservation Land (1970)
• Nuttings Lake