Article
Nuttings Lake South Side Improvement Association
Nuttings Lake South Side Improvement Association
The Nuttings Lake South Side Improvement Association was the improvement association of the summer colony on the south shore of Nuttings Lake, among the Nuttings Lake Park house lots of the Suburban Land Company, whose Extension Plan E of 1915 laid out the shore road there. One of several district associations of its kind in Billerica (see Billerica Improvement Association), it kept a boat house, a clubhouse and a bathing beach on Clifton Street for its members and the people of the lake, and in 1968 it gave its land and buildings to the town, which keeps them as the small public beach on Clifton Street (Nutting Lake Beach). In the town's own records of the gift it is called the Nuttings Lake Improvement Association.
Boat house and clubhouse
The association already had a boat house on the lake by the spring of 1921, when an article in the warrant for the annual town meeting asked the town to accept Elliot Street as a town road from Manning Road "a distance of about 1100 feet to the boat house of the Nuttings Lake South Side Improvement Association"; the article was dismissed. On November 22, 1928 the Suburban Land Company sold the association Lots 6 to 9 of the Nuttings Lake Park Extension Plan E, 7,240 square feet on the shore road, 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 body for all the people at the lake. In March 1929 it bought the neighboring Lots 3 to 5 from John C. Taylor of Lexington.
Its clubhouse served the town as well. From the town election of February 1950 into the later 1950s the voters of the Nuttings Lake district cast their ballots at "the South Side Improvement Association Club House," where the town's warrants were also posted. The Nuttings Lake by-law adopted by the town in 1962 forbade the launching of motor-boats between nine in the morning and six at night at "the South Side Improvement Association beach," as well as at the ends of Canterbury and Rhodes Streets.
Gift to the town
At a special meeting on August 26, 1968 the association's officers and directors voted to convey Lots 3 to 9 "with the buildings thereon" to the town, and the deed was signed on September 27, 1968. The annual town meeting of March 1969 accepted "a parcel of land containing 13,310 sq. ft. located on Clifton Street, Nutting Lake, shown as Lots 3-9 inc. on Plan E," to be used as a public bathing beach or recreational area, and under a second article accepted a check for $202 from the association "for the purposes of maintenance and improvement" of the land, the money to be spent under the direction of the Recreation Commission. The deed was recorded on June 25, 1969. The gift, $202.50, was still carried in the town's accounts as the "Nuttings Lake Improvement Association Grant" in 1991. The beach was overshadowed after 1987 by the larger town beach on the east shore, the Nicola Micozzi Beach.
References
- Town Report 1920, warrant for the 1921 meeting, Art. 22: Elliot Street to the boat house of the Nuttings Lake South Side Improvement Association
- Town Report 1921: Art. 22, Elliot Street to the boat house of the Nuttings Lake South Side Improvement Association, dismissed
- Town Report 1949: election of February 4, 1950 at the South Side Improvement Association Club House, Nuttings Lake
- Town Report 1962: Nuttings Lake by-law, motor-boat launching prohibited by day at the South Side Improvement Association beach
- Town Report 1968, warrant Art. 45: to accept $202.00 from the Nuttings Lake Improvement Association for maintenance and improvement of the parcel
- Town Report 1969: Arts. 44 and 45, gift of 13,310 sq. ft. on Clifton Street (Lots 3-9, Plan E) for a public bathing beach, and $202
- Town Report 1991: Grant, Nuttings Lake Improvement Association, $202.50
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 28, 1928 | Warranty Deed | Suburban Land Company, Inc., of Boston, by Adolph A. Brand, Treasurer | Nuttings Lake South Side Improvement Association, of Billerica | Suburban Land Company to the Association, Nov. 22, 1928: Lots 6-9, Plan E, with conditions for members and the public | 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 | John C. Taylor to the Association, signed March 15, 1929: Lots 3-5, Plan E | 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 | The Association to the Town of Billerica, signed Sept. 27, 1968, recorded June 25, 1969: Lots 3-9 with the buildings | 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.