Park · 1970
Nicola Micozzi Beach
Nicola Micozzi Beach, usually called Micozzi Beach and in earlier reports the Nutting Lake Beach or town beach, is the town swimming beach on the east shore of Nuttings Lake, on the Middlesex Turnpike near Lexington Road. It has a sand beach with lifeguards in summer, a bathhouse and lifeguard room, a parking lot, a playground, sand volleyball and basketball courts, picnic tables, a gazebo and grill, a floating fishing pier and canoe, kayak and paddleboard rentals. The beach, about two acres, sits at the lake end of a 22-acre parcel of town conservation land.
The land was part of a farm of about fifty-one acres between Lexington Road, Manning Road, the Middlesex Turnpike and "Nutting's Pond", bounded "by said Nuttings Pond along the shore line fourteen hundred fifty (1450) feet to the Middlesex Turnpike". Frank W. Crosby, who had it by the will of his father, Leander Crosby, had Edgar P. Sellew survey it as Lot 4 of a plan of his land in April 1907 and sold it in 1914 to Mary A. Wallace. It changed hands quickly: Wallace sold it in 1915 to Elmer E. Libby of Haverhill, who sold it two months later to John A. Crowe of Cambridge, and Crowe's widow Mary sold it in 1920 to Isedor A. and Hilda M. Johnson. The Johnsons sold it in September 1929 to Neil J. Kennedy, who the same day mortgaged it for $7,000 to Robert L. Innis and Dougal McLennan; the courts later found that Kennedy had held it for Innis. After Robert L. Innis's death his son Robert B. Innis gathered in the family's lands and in 1964 put them in the Virginia Realty Trust, which sold what remained of Lot 4 in November 1968 to Leonard and Anthony Caporale, trustees of the Shores Realty Trust.
The town first wanted the lakeshore for recreation. A February 1970 special town meeting article to take the 22 acres of the Caporales "adjacent to Nuttings Lake" for "recreational and other municipal purposes" got only $800 for an appraisal. At the annual town meeting in March 1970 the article was amended to take the land "for conservation purposes", to add a second assessors' parcel and to put it under the Conservation Commission, and was voted 130 to 9 with $16,650. On April 27, 1970 the Selectmen took the land, Plate 88, Parcels 100 and 91, by eminent domain, bounded by the Middlesex Turnpike for about 730 feet and by "the shore of Nutting Lake, 1360 feet more or less", excepting the sewer pumping station lot the town had taken from the same owners in 1969, and awarded the Caporales $16,500; the order was recorded on May 26, 1970. The Conservation Commission filed it for state reimbursement under the self-help program.
The beach was the last piece of the Nutting Lake Water Quality Restoration Project carried through by the commission under Nicola Micozzi, its chairman from 1978. In 1981 the commission was given a three-car garage, which was moved to the southwest cove of the lake and converted in 1982 into a comfort station with rest rooms, changing rooms, storage and a field office, with water, sewer and a rough parking area all donated. On Micozzi's motion the 1984 annual town meeting authorized the commission to build "a Town Beach at Nutting Lake with associated comfort station, parking, etc." for about $100,000 from the Conservation Fund on the town land at Plate 88, Parcels 91-307 and 100, over a minority report recalling that the town had twice tried a beach and "it has been a disaster both times". The Board of Appeals granted the commission a special permit in 1985, and in May 1986 State Senator Patricia McGovern and Representative Michael Rea Jr. handed Micozzi a $50,000 state grant for the parking area and handicapped access at the beach house. The Recreation Department trained fifteen residents as lifeguards and opened the beach on June 27, 1987, and the Selectmen voted unanimously to name it the Nicola Micozzi Beach "in recognition of his time, effort and dedication in making the development of this facility a reality". Micozzi died that October.
The Recreation Department has run the beach every summer since, at first with day and season parking fees approved by the 1987 and 1992 town meetings. In 1989 the lot was paved and curbed and a volleyball court and plantings added; by 2002 there were a playground, canoe rentals and a picnic area. Because the beach stood on conservation land, the October 2013 fall town meeting voted 148 to 1 to change the purpose of the two-acre beach portion of the 1970 taking from conservation to park, playground and recreation purposes, to move it from the Conservation Commission to the town, and to ask the General Court for the special legislation that Article 97 of the state constitution requires. A new playground entrance, crosswalk and sidewalks on the Middlesex Turnpike were finished in 2015, Eagle Scouts built a basketball court in 2016, the jersey barriers between the lot and the beach were replaced with bollards in 2019, and the bathrooms and lifeguard room were rebuilt in 2024. A failing sewer pipe closed the beach in the summer of 2023, the year the Conservation Commission approved a management plan for the lake.
A smaller public beach on the lake, the Clifton Street beach, came to the town in 1969 as a gift of lots 3 to 9 of the Nuttings Lake Park subdivision from the Nuttings Lake Improvement Association, "to be used as a public bathing beach or recreational area"; it is a separate place from Micozzi Beach.
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| February 28, 1914 | Warranty Deed | Frank W. Crosby of Billerica, unmarried | Mary A. Wallace of Boston | 1914: Frank W. Crosby sells Lot 4 on Nutting's Pond (51.25 acres) to Mary A. Wallace | 517/493 |
Two parcels on Lexington Road, being "a part of the premises devised to me by my father, Leander Crosby, late of said Billerica, deceased, under the name of Frank William Crosby": the first from the junction of Manning Road and Lexington Road 1,897.40 feet up Lexington Road, by his other land to "a drill hole in a stone bound at Nutting's Pond; thence by said Nuttings Pond along the shore line fourteen hundred fifty (1450) feet to the Middlesex Turnpike", 1,446 feet down the Turnpike to Merton L. Fisk and back to Manning Road, 51.25 acres; the second, 30.09 acres, on Lexington Road and School Lane: Lots 4 and 6 on his plan by Edgar P. Sellew, April 26, 1907 (Plan Book 31, Plan 46). Dated Feb. 28, 1914. Wallace mortgaged it back for $7,000 the same day (Book 517, Page 495).
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| February 28, 1914 | Mortgage | Mary A. Wallace of Boston | Frank W. Crosby of Billerica | 1914: Wallace mortgages the land back to Crosby for $7,000 | 517/495 |
For $7,000, the same two parcels on Lexington Road, Manning Road, Nutting's Pond and the Middlesex Turnpike. Discharged (Book 633, Page 332).
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| February 18, 1915 | Warranty Deed | Mary A. Wallace of Billerica (Frank Wallace releasing curtesy) | Elmer E. Libby of Haverhill | 1915: Mary A. Wallace to Elmer E. Libby | 534/74 |
The same two parcels, 51.25 and 30.09 acres, Lots 4 and 6 on the Crosby plan of April 26, 1907, "being the same premises conveyed to me by the said Frank W. Crosby by deed dated February 28, 1914", subject to the $7,000 Crosby mortgage. Dated Feb. 15, 1915. A second mortgage of $1,250 back to Wallace followed (Book 534, Page 341).
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| April 21, 1915 | Warranty Deed | Elmer E. Libby of Haverhill (Elva B. Libby releasing dower) | John A. Crowe of Cambridge | 1915: Elmer E. Libby to John A. Crowe | 536/426 |
The same two parcels on Lexington Road, bounded by "Nuttings Pond along the shore line fourteen hundred fifty (1450) feet to the Middlesex Turnpike", Lots 4 and 6 on the Crosby plan (Plan Book 31, Plan 46), "being the same premises conveyed to me by Mary A. Wallace" (Book 534, Page 74), subject to the Crosby and Wallace mortgages. Dated April 21, 1915.
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| September 2, 1920 | Quitclaim Deed | Mary A. Crowe of Hingham, unmarried | Isedor A. Johnson and Hilda M. Johnson of Billerica, as tenants by the entirety | 1920: Mary A. Crowe, under John A. Crowe's will, to Isedor and Hilda Johnson | 633/326 |
The same two parcels on Lexington Road (51.25 and 30.09 acres, Lots 4 and 6 on the Crosby plan), "being the same premises conveyed to the late John A. Crowe by deed of Elmer E. Libby, dated April 21, 1915 ... For my title, see will of the said John A. Crowe, duly probated in Middlesex Registry of Probate". Dated Sept. 1, 1920.
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| September 5, 1929 | Quitclaim Deed | Isedor A. Johnson and Hilda M. Johnson of Billerica | Neil J. Kennedy of Billerica | 1929: the Johnsons to Neil J. Kennedy | 781/73 |
The same two parcels on Lexington Road, Manning Road, "Nutting's Pond" and the Middlesex Turnpike (51.25 and 30.09 acres, Lots 4 and 6 on the Crosby plan), "being the same premises to us conveyed by Mary A. Crowe ... Book 633, Page 326"; "conveys the manure now on said premises". Dated Sept. 4, 1929.
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| September 5, 1929 | Mortgage | Neil J. Kennedy of Billerica, unmarried | Robert L. Innis and Dougal McLennan of Billerica | 1929: Kennedy mortgages it to Robert L. Innis and Dougal McLennan; held for Innis | 781/74 |
For $7,000 on demand at six per cent, the same two parcels. Margin: partial releases (Book 933, Page 338; Book 1034, Page 42; Book 1061, Page 134) and "See Assignment to Robert L. Innis B. 1062 P. 395". Kennedy held the land for Innis: the courts later determined that land standing in Kennedy's name "to have been the property of my late father, Robert L. Innis" (Book 1430, Page 576; decree in equity, Book 1451, Pages 31 and 33).
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| March 2, 1959 | Quitclaim Deed | Elizabeth A. Innis Davis of Sacramento, California | Robert B. Innis of Billerica | 1959: an Innis heir releases her father's lands to Robert B. Innis | 1430/576 |
Her whole interest, as an heir, in the lands that stood of record in the name of her late father, Robert L. Innis, "and the record title to which stands in the name of Neil J. Kennedy and determined by the Courts of Massachusetts to have been the property of my late father". Recorded March 2, 1959.
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| August 28, 1964 | Quitclaim Deed | Robert B. Innis of Billerica (Phyllis V. Innis releasing dower) | Robert B. Innis, Phyllis V. Innis and Gertrude S. Innis, Trustees of Virginia Realty Trust | 1964: Robert B. Innis to the Virginia Realty Trust (Parcel Eight, Lot 4) | 1662/417 |
Ten parcels, among them Parcel Eight, "Lot 4 on a 'Plan of Land at Billerica, Massachusetts, surveyed for Frank W. Crosby' dated April 26, 1907" (Plan Book 31, Plan 46; see also Plan Book 96, Plans 11 and 16, "Definitive Plan of Land in Billerica, Mass., owned by Robert B. Innis", May 1961), less the parcels sold by Robert L. Innis, by Neil J. Kennedy on his behalf and by the grantor, the town's takings, and Book 1465, Page 475 and Book 1600, Page 396. Title to Parcels Five to Ten: the Probate Court docket of Robert L. Innis's estate (a 20th-century docket, not the 1854 case of the same number in the online index), Book 1430, Page 576, Book 1457, Page 599 and the decree in equity, Book 1451, Pages 31 and 33. Consideration other than monetary.
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| November 25, 1968 | Deed | Robert B. Innis and Phyllis V. Innis, surviving Trustees of Virginia Realty Trust | Leonard Caporale and Anthony Caporale, Trustees of Shores Realty Trust | 1968: Virginia Realty Trust sells Lot 4 to the Caporales' Shores Realty Trust | 1867/752 |
With warranty covenants, "that certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon ... being shown as Lot 4 on a 'Plan of Land at Billerica, Massachusetts, surveyed for Frank W. Crosby,' dated April 26, 1907, Edgar E. [sic] Sellew", excepting the parcels already conveyed by Robert L. Innis and Neil J. Kennedy, the town's takings and Book 1465, Page 475 and Book 1600, Page 396. "Hereby conveying a portion of the premises conveyed to us by Deed ... Book 1663, Page 417" (in fact Book 1662, Page 417). Dated Nov. 22, 1968.
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| May 9, 1969 | Order of Taking | Board of Selectmen of the Town of Billerica | Town of Billerica | 1969: town takes the sewer pumping station lot from Parcel 91 | 1884/275 |
Taking by eminent domain, under the special town meeting vote of March 19, 1966, for "the construction of a pumping station, the installation and maintenance of a sewage system", of about 13,460 square feet of the Caporales' land, "being part of Parcel 91 on Plate 88", 80 feet on the Middlesex Turnpike and about 156 feet back "to the bank of Nutting Lake", beside Parcel 100; plan by Emmons, Fleming & Bienvenu, January 1968. Order dated April 14, 1969.
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| May 26, 1970 | Order of Taking | Board of Selectmen of the Town of Billerica (owners Leonard Caporale and Anthony Caporale, Trustees of Shores Realty Trust) | Town of Billerica | 1970: town takes the 22 acres on Nutting Lake for conservation, $16,500 | 1921/718 |
Under the vote of the annual town meeting of March 7, 1970, the Selectmen "take in fee on behalf of the Town of Billerica, by the power of eminent domain for purposes of conservation a parcel of land owned by Leonard Caporale and Anthony Caporale, Trustees of Shores Realty Trust containing 22 acres more or less", shown on "Compiled Plan of Land in Billerica, Mass., taken for conservation purposes", Emmons, Fleming & Bienvenu, April 1970: "Southwesterly by Middlesex Turnpike, 730 feet", by Baker, Innis, Duggan, King, Neville and Arlex Oil Corp., a 40-foot right of way, "land of the Town of Billerica", Witmyer, Schulze, Schreib, Harrower, Woodworth, Cecere, Powers and Dwyer, and "Westerly, Northwesterly, Easterly, Northerly and Easterly by the shore of Nutting Lake, 1360 feet more or less", excepting the 1969 pumping station taking (Book 1884, Page 275). Damages awarded to the trustees: $16,500. Order dated April 27, 1970.
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| November 15, 1985 | Special Permit | Billerica Board of Appeals | Billerica Conservation Commission, by Nicola Micozzi, Chairman | 1985: special permit to the Conservation Commission for the beach | 3252/158 |
Certificate of granting of a special permit (G.L. c.40A, s.11), dated Aug. 21, 1985, for the land on the Middlesex Turnpike at "Plate 88 Parcel 91, 307 & 100; recorded in M.N.D.R. of D's Book 1921 Pages 718-719", the town beach, comfort station and parking area voted by the 1984 town meeting.
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| June 21, 2023 | Order of Conditions | Billerica Conservation Commission | Town of Billerica (Town Manager's Office) | 2023: Order of Conditions for the Nutting Lake management plan | 37899/233 |
Order of Conditions, MassDEP File No. 109-1532, for the "Nutting Lake Management Plan, Nutting Lake - Middlesex Turnpike", issued May 31, 2023 and valid to May 31, 2026, recorded against the 1970 taking (24 pages).
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.
References
- Town of Billerica: Micozzi Beach and Nutting Lake brochure (2025), 589 Middlesex Turnpike
- Town of Billerica Open Space and Recreation Plan (2025): Micozzi Beach opened 1987; 22 acres of protected land at the lake; 2023 closure
- Annual Report 1970: town meeting votes to take the Caporale land on Nuttings Lake for conservation
- Annual Report 1982: comfort station built at the southwest cove of Nutting Lake
- Annual Report 1984: Article 23, town beach at Nutting Lake authorized
- Annual Report 1986: $50,000 state grant for the beach parking and handicapped access
- Annual Report 1987: Micozzi Beach opens June 27; named the Nicola Micozzi Beach
- Annual Report 2014: Oct. 2013 town meeting changes the beach from conservation to recreation purposes
- Macaroni Kid Lowell: Micozzi Beach review (amenities, parking, pier)