Nutting Lake Beach
Nutting Lake Beach is a small piece of town land on the south shore of Nuttings Lake, on Lakeview Drive near Eliot Street in the Nuttings Lake Park colony. It is made up of Lots 3 to 9 of Nuttings Lake Park Extension Plan E and covers about a third of an acre; the assessors list it as town land, "Plan E Lots 3-9 Boat Landing." Lakeview Drive was called Clifton Street until about 1990, and the town reports of the 1970s call this the Clifton Street Beach. It is a different place from the larger Nicola Micozzi Beach on the east shore of the lake at the Middlesex Turnpike.
The land was a twenty-acre wood lot on the south side of the pond. In 1791 Samuel Kidder, David Abbot Jr., Oliver Crosby and Thomas Page quitclaimed to Benjamin Needham "a certain tract or parcel of Land situate in Billerica aforesaid on the South side of Nuttens Pond so called containing twenty acres", running about 76 rods back from the pond. On March 1, 1811 Daniel Davis of Princeton sold a lot with the same bounds, "about twenty acres" from a stone wall "on the southerly side of Nuttings pond" back to land of Benjamin Bowers, to Joseph, Elijah and Artemas Hill, "minors and sons of Josiah Hill" of Bedford, for $400, to be divided among the three brothers. In 1848 Elijah B. Hill sold the whole "wood lot ... on the southerly side of Nattings Pond", bounded by the Bowers lot, the pond and land of Jeremiah Crosby, to his brother Artemas Hill for $500. On February 10, 1849 Artemas Hill sold it, with a farm in Bedford, to Lyman Haynes; the same day Haynes sold Hill the tavern stand in the Centre. The lot stayed with the Haynes family for more than sixty years. On April 30, 1915 Lyman Haynes's heirs, among them trustees under the will of his son Tilly Haynes, sold "a certain tract of land situated in said Billerica adjoining Nuttings Pond (now called Nuttings Lake) containing twenty (20) acres" to the Suburban Land Company of Boston.
The company had the lot laid out as Nuttings Lake Park Extension Plan E, drawn by C. A. Thayer in May 1915 and recorded in Plan Book 33, Plan 46. The plan put small house lots along a shore road, Clifton Street, with Eliot and Beach Streets running back from it. In 1924 the company sold Lots 3, 4 and 5, with Lots 60 to 64, to John C. Taylor of Lexington, on condition that they not be "let or used for clubs or as what is known as summer outing associations." The Nuttings Lake South Side Improvement Association already had a boat house at the lake by 1920, when an article in the town warrant asked the town to accept Elliot Street "to the boat house of the Nuttings Lake South Side Improvement Association." On November 22, 1928 the Suburban Land Company sold the Association Lots 6 to 9, 7,240 square feet, on condition that any building on them "be used for the special benefit of the members of the Association and also for the benefit of the general public such as may comprise the inhabitants of Nuttings Lake Park", and that the Association remain "a semi-public institution for the general benefit of all the people at the Lake" and not make rules that "discriminate against any of the inhabitants of Nuttings Lake." Taylor sold the Association Lots 3 to 5 in March 1929.
From 1949 to 1956 the town used the South Side Improvement Association Club House at Nuttings Lake as a polling place, and the Nuttings Lake by-law adopted at the town meeting of 1962 forbade launching motor-boats between nine in the morning and six at night at "the South Side Improvement Association beach", with the shore at the end of Canterbury Street and at the end of Rhodes Street.
On August 26, 1968 the officers and directors of the Association voted to convey Lots 3 to 9 "with the buildings thereon" to the town, and the treasurer, Bertha May Lyons, signed the deed on September 27, 1968. The annual town meeting of March 1969 voted, under Article 44, to accept the gift of "a parcel of land containing 13,310 sq. ft. located on Clifton Street, Nutting Lake, shown as Lots 3-9 inc. on Plan E", amended so that the land "be used as a public bathing beach or recreational area under the jurisdiction of the Town Recreational Committee", and under Article 45 accepted $202 from the Association for its upkeep. The deed was recorded on June 25, 1969.
The beach was soon overshadowed by plans for a larger one. In 1977 and again in 1978 the Conservation Commission applied for federal Community Development Block Grant money to build a new town beach and to "restore the existing small Clifton Street Beach"; neither application was funded, and the new beach on the east shore, later named for Nicola Micozzi, opened in 1987. The Clifton Street lots remain town land.
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| December 8, 1791 | Quitclaim | Samuel Kidder, David Abbot Jr. and Oliver Crosby of Billerica, yeomen, and Thomas Page of Bedford, yeoman | Benjamin Needham of Billerica, yeoman | 1791 Kidder, Abbot, Crosby and Page quitclaim a 20-acre lot on the south side of the pond to Benjamin Needham | 106/244 (South) |
Billerica town book 8, pages 304-305. Signed December 5, 1791 before William Bowers Jr. and Samuel Blanchard Jr.; acknowledged before Isaac Stearns; recorded December 8, 1791. For five shillings they quitclaim "all the Right Title and Interest We have or ever had in and to a certain tract or parcel of Land situate in Billerica aforesaid on the South side of Nuttens Pond so called containing twenty acres be the same more or less", beginning at the southeast corner "at a Black Oak tree marked by land of John Blanchard", westerly by land of Jonathan Stickney about 52 rods, north by said land about 76 rods to the pond, east by the pond to the wall about 50 rods to land of the heirs of Samuel Shed, and by that land and land of John Blanchard about 67 rods to the first bound. The grantee index notes another deed of the same date from the same grantors, Book 8, Page 256 (Middlesex South Book 104, Page 363).
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| March 29, 1814 | Deed | Daniel Davis of Princeton, Worcester County; Betsey Davis, his wife, relinquishing dower | Joseph Hill, Elijah Hill and Artemas Hill, minors and sons of Josiah Hill of Bedford, yeoman | 1811 Daniel Davis of Princeton sells the 20-acre pond lot to the three young sons of Josiah Hill of Bedford | 208/380 (South) |
Billerica town book 11, pages 371-372. Signed March 1, 1811; acknowledged April 22, 1812 before Elijah Stearns; recorded March 29, 1814. For $400, "a certain tract or parcel of land lying in Billerica ... containing about twenty acres more or less, in the manner following to wit, ten acres on the easterly side of said tract of land to Joseph, five acres on the easterly side of the remainder of said land to Elijah, and the remainder to Artemas", the division to run parallel with the easterly side; bounded "beginning at the N E corner at a stone wall on the southerly side of Nuttings pond by land of Hezekiah Crosby thence southerly by said Crosby in part and partly by land of Jeremiah Blanchard about sixty seven rods to land of Benjamin Bowers; thence westerly by said Bowers to the corner of the wall about fifty rods, thence northerly by said Bowers about seventy six rods to the aforesaid pond thence easterly by said pond to the bound first mentioned." Warranty covenants.
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| February 15, 1848 | Deed | Elijah B. Hill of Billerica, yeoman; Lucy Hill, his wife, relinquishing dower | Artemas Hill of Billerica, yeoman | 1848 Elijah B. Hill sells his brother Artemas the 20-acre wood lot on the south side of the pond | 524/350 (South) |
Billerica town book 18, pages 412-413. Signed February 10, 1848 before Sewall Stearns, Lucretia Stearns and Emery E. Hill; recorded February 15, 1848. For $500, "a certain wood lot situate in said Billerica on the southerly side of Nattings Pond so called containing twenty acres more or less bounded westerly and southerly by the Bowers lot so called northerly by said pond and easterly by land of Jeremiah Crosby." Warranty covenants.
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| 1849 | Deed | Artemas Hill of Billerica, yeoman; Betsey R. Hill, his wife, relinquishing dower | Lyman Haynes of Billerica, yeoman | 1849 Artemas Hill sells the 20-acre pond lot, with land in Bedford, to Lyman Haynes | 555/321 (South) |
Billerica town book 20, pages 230-231. Signed February 10, 1849 before Dudley Foster and Theodore L. Haynes; the recording line was not read. For a sum of dollars (the amount is not legible in the copy), "a certain tract of land lying in Bedford in said County containing sixty acres more or less and divided into twelve lots by stone walls", beginning on the road to the Bedford Spring House near a stone bound between Billerica and Bedford; "Also another tract situate in said Billerica adjoining Nuttings pond containing twenty acres more or less and bounded as follows beginning at southwest corner at land of Dr. Josiah Bowers bounds southerly on the wall now stands on land of said Bowers bounds easterly on land of Jeremiah Crosby as the wall now stands northerly on Nuttings pond westerly on said Bowers land as the wall now stands to the corner first named"; and three acres of meadow in Bedford near Carlisle Bridge on the Concord River. Warranty covenants. The same day (deed dated February 10, 1849) Haynes sold Hill the tavern stand in front of the first Congregational meeting house (Middlesex South Book 567, Page 374).
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| June 2, 1915 | Quitclaim Deed | Adeline H. Hickey (Addie Haynes) and James T. Hickey of Boston; Carrie H. Jenkins, widow; John Haynes of Springfield; Clifford C. Haynes of West Springfield; their wives releasing dower | Suburban Land Company, Inc., of Boston | 1915 the heirs of Lyman Haynes sell the 20-acre lot on the south shore of Nuttings Pond to the Suburban Land Company | 539/212 |
Signed April 30, 1915 by Adeline H. Hickey (formerly known as Addie Haynes), James T. Hickey, Carrie H. Jenkins (formerly Caroline H. Webb), John Haynes, Margaret C. Haynes, Clifford C. Haynes and Esther M. Haynes; recorded June 2, 1915. "For consideration paid", with quitclaim covenants, "a certain tract of land situated in said Billerica adjoining Nuttings Pond (now called Nuttings Lake) containing twenty (20) acres, more or less and bounded as follows: Beginning at the southwest corner at land formerly of Dr. Josiah Bowers, bounds southerly as the wall now stands on land now or formerly of said Bowers, bounds easterly on land formerly of Jeremiah Crosby as the wall now stands; Northerly on Nuttings Pond; westerly on said Bowers land as the wall now stands to the corner as named. Being the same premises conveyed to Lyman Haynes ... by Artemas Hill by deed dated February 10, 1849 and recorded in Middlesex South District Deeds, Book 555, page 321." Part of the consideration was a $500 mortgage from the grantee to one of the grantors. The deed recites that it and another deed of even date are meant to convey the entire interest in the land, and that the grantors include trustees under the will of Tilly Haynes, a son of Lyman Haynes. The next deed on the page (Book 539, Page 213) is from Harriet B. Haynes and Clifford C. Haynes, executors of the will of Cyrus H. Haynes of Springfield, and other Haynes heirs, to the same company. Book 539, Pages 212-213.
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| March 25, 1924 | Warranty Deed | Suburban Land Company, Inc., of Boston, by Adolph A. Brand, Treasurer | John C. Taylor of 7 Sunny Knoll Avenue, Lexington | 1924 Suburban Land Company sells Lots 3, 4, 5 and 60 to 64 of Plan E to John C. Taylor of Lexington | 703/188 |
Signed March 21, 1924; recorded March 25, 1924. "For consideration paid", with warranty covenants, "Eight certain lots of land numbered Three (3), Four (4), Five (5), Sixty (60), Sixty-one (61), Sixty-two (62), Sixty-three (63) and Sixty-four (64)" on "Nutting's Lake Park Extension Plan "E", dated May 1915, and made by C. A. Thayer, C. E.", Plan Book 33, Plan 46, "said lots in all containing 11,395 square feet, more or less", subject to restrictions "that no dwelling-house shall be erected on these premises which shall cost less than $500.00, nor shall it be let or used for clubs or as what is known as summer outing associations." "For title see Book 539, Pages 212 & 213." Book 703, Page 188.
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| November 28, 1928 | Warranty Deed | Suburban Land Company, Inc., of Boston, by Adolph A. Brand, Treasurer | Nuttings Lake South Side Improvement Association, of Billerica | 1928 Suburban Land Company sells Lots 6 to 9 of Plan E to the South Side Improvement Association as a semi-public place for the people at the lake | 771/272 |
Signed November 22, 1928; recorded November 28, 1928. "For consideration paid", with warranty covenants, "Four certain lots of land numbered six (6), seven (7), Eight (8) and Nine (9) as appears on a plan known as Nuttings Lake Park Extension Plan "E", dated May 1915, and made by C. A. Thayer, C. E.", Plan Book 33, Plan 46, "said lots in all containing 7,240 square feet, more or less." Restrictions: "That the building or buildings to be erected on said premises shall be used for the special benefit of the members of the Association and also for the benefit of the general public such as may comprise the inhabitants of Nuttings Lake Park, under such reasonable rules and regulations as the Nuttings Lake South Side Improvement Association will embody in its by-laws; and that the said Nuttings Lake South Side Improvement Association shall be, at all times, a semi-public institution for the general benefit of all the people at the Lake", and shall not "enact or enforce any laws or regulations that might discriminate against any of the inhabitants of Nuttings Lake." "For title see Book 539, Pages 212 & 213." Book 771, Pages 272-273.
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| May 26, 1936 | Warranty Deed | John C. Taylor of Lexington; Elizabeth Taylor, his wife, releasing dower and homestead | Nuttings Lake South Side Improvement Association, of Billerica | 1929 John C. Taylor sells Lots 3, 4 and 5 of Plan E to the South Side Improvement Association | 878/337 |
Signed March 15, 1929 (acknowledged in Suffolk County the same month); recorded May 26, 1936. "For consideration paid", with warranty covenants, "Three certain lots of land numbered Three (3), Four (4) and Five (5) as appears on a plan known as "Nuttings Lake Park Extension Plan "E", dated May 1915, and made by C. A. Thayer, C. E.", Plan Book 33, Plan 46. "Subject to restrictions of record now in force and applicable. Meaning hereby to convey a part of the same premises conveyed to John C. Taylor, this grantor, by deed of the Suburban Land Company, Inc., dated March 21st, 1924 and recorded with said Deeds, Book 703, Page 188." Book 878, Pages 337-338.
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| June 25, 1969 | Quitclaim Deed | Nuttings Lake South Side Improvement Association, of Billerica, by Bertha May Lyons, Treasurer | Town of Billerica | 1968-1969 the Nuttings Lake South Side Improvement Association gives Lots 3 to 9 of Plan E to the town for a public bathing beach | 1889/761 |
Signed September 27, 1968; recorded June 25, 1969, after a certificate of a vote of the officers and directors of the Association at a special meeting of August 26, 1968 at 170 Merrimack Street, Lowell: "To sell and convey to the Town of Billerica Lots 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 with the buildings thereon, all as shown on a Plan known as Nuttings Lake Park Extension Plan "E" dated May 1915 and made by C. A. Thayer, C. E.", recorded in Plan Book 33, Plan 46, Bertha May Lyons to sign the deed (Book 1889, Page 760). Massachusetts quitclaim deed (corporation), "for consideration paid": "Three certain lots of land, numbered THREE (3), FOUR (4), and FIVE (5)" on Plan E, "Being the same premises conveyed to Grantor herein by deed of John C. Taylor, dated March 15, 1929 ... Book 878, Page 337", and "Four certain lots of land numbered SIX (6), SEVEN (7), EIGHT (8) and NINE (9)" on Plan E, "said lots in all containing 7,240 square feet, more or less, Being the same premises conveyed to Grantor herein by deed of Suburban Land Company, Inc. dated November 22, 1928 ... Book 771, Page 272." The annual town meeting of March 1969 (Article 44) accepted "a gift of a parcel of land containing 13,310 sq. ft. located on Clifton Street, Nutting Lake, shown as Lots 3-9 inc. on Plan E", amended so that it "be used as a public bathing beach or recreational area under the jurisdiction of the Town Recreational Committee." The registry indexes the vote and deed together at Book 1889, Page 760; the assessors cite Page 761.
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.
References
- Annual Reports 1920-1924: 1920 warrant, Art. 22, Elliot Street "to the boat house of the Nuttings Lake South Side Improvement Association" (dismissed 1921)
- Annual Reports 1935-1939: Clifton Street or Clifton Avenue at Nuttings Lake accepted as a public way (1939)
- Annual Reports 1945-1949: the South Side Improvement Association Club House, Nuttings Lake, a polling place (1949)
- Annual Reports 1960-1964: 1962 by-law on Nuttings Lake bars launching motor-boats by day at "the South Side Improvement Association beach"
- Annual Report 1969: Articles 44 and 45, gift of Lots 3-9 of Plan E on Clifton Street for a public bathing beach, and $202 from the Association
- Annual Report 1977: Conservation Commission proposal for restoring the Clifton Street Beach (HUD block grant, not funded)
- Annual Report 1978: application to construct a new town beach and "restore the existing small Clifton Street Beach"
- Billerica assessor: parcel 87-157-0, Lakeview Dr, Town of Billerica, 0.303 acres, "1NLP PL E LOTS 3-9 BOAT LANDING"