Sunsets, pines, picnics, swimming, boating, Greylock — just some of the phrases historically shared by residents when envisioning Pontoosuc Lake Park.
As spring arrives, a brand new visioning of Pontoosuc Lake Park appears to enhancements and to the longer term. The Pittsfield Parks and Recreation division’s new visioning undertaking, stemming from Neighborhood Preservation Act funding, additionally remembers a proud legacy of the town’s parks.
How in style was Pontoosuc Lake’s southern shore in 1891? Greater than 3,000 Berkshire passengers boarded the Pittsfield trolley on its first day of service, heading to the acquainted “Lake station,” as chronicled by Berkshire County Historic Society.
What position did trolleys play? In 1900, Pittsfield Electrical Avenue Railway leased land alongside Pontoosuc’s southern shore for a park. Firm director James Hull consulted panorama architect Frederick Legislation Olmsted Jr., who visited the shoreline in 1903. In a letter now preserved on the Library of Congress, Olmsted Jr. pressured the shoreline’s “rural magnificence,” recommending a “central staircase” and conservation of the pines.
By 1912 , Pittsfield mayor Kelton B. Miller, former writer of The Berkshire Eagle, initiated Pittsfield’s first public parks fee. Miller emphasised the “good begin” of Springside Park and the Widespread in his inaugural message, revealed within the metropolis’s 1912 Municipal Registry. He prioritized public parks, conservation and the awakening of “civic delight.” It was a watershed second for the town. A fee shaped the next 12 months.
A turning level got here with Mayor Faulkner’s 1915 public tackle: “In the course of the 12 months the town was given a deed to the Honosada Park property on the south shore of Pontoosuc Lake, the property having been taken by the Park Fee in 1913 ….” By 1915, Pittsfield counted 10 parks, together with Springside, The Widespread, Burbank and the newly acquired Pontoosuc Lake park.
Within the Forties, Lawrence Ok. “Pete” Miller purchased the broken Blue Anchor, donating land to the town for Pontoosuc Lake Park, as recorded by Berkshire County Historic Society. By the Nineteen Fifties, a extremely in style swimming seaside on the southern shore with U-shaped docks drew 1000’s of Pittsfield households and guests.
Newly digitized data from Berkshire Athenaeum’s Pittsfield’s Parks and Recreation scrapbook, developed by CPA funding, describe a July afternoon when “about” 3,700 guests headed to Pontoosuc Lake Park. Swimming classes have been offered, the place at the moment views of Mount Greylock nonetheless encourage. Over a long time, the seaside pale, although residents and guests continued to return.
Pontoosuc Lake is a treasured pure useful resource and landmark for Lanesborough and Pittsfield. The lake’s pure magnificence is treasured and wishes preservation. At the moment, Pittsfield’s public park on the lake includes 23 acres alongside Hancock Highway and Route 7.
Pittsfield Preservation Committee chair John Dickson lately offered details about the brand new visioning undertaking.
“This visioning undertaking/design is the result of a proposal permitted by the Neighborhood Preservation Committee in 2017 to repair up the park. … The funding paid for the consultants to provide you with designs and to take part in the neighborhood survey/outreach,” Dickson wrote in an electronic mail.
At a March 3 Zoom idea plan evaluate, residents’ concepts for the park included, amongst others, improved swimming services, a swimming space for younger youngsters and higher entry for individuals with disabilities.
Pittsfield public parks mattered to residents yesterday, as they do at the moment. In the course of the COVID-19 period, parks have offered out of doors recreation. In an period of local weather change parks may also help protect open area.
From a trolley cease to the town’s first parks fee, it took a long time to protect Pontoosuc Lake Park as a public, open area in Pittsfield — a spot related to the neighborhood. In a brand new second, at the moment the park attracts wanted consideration.
Pontoosuc Lake Park tells a narrative of an early period — of individuals, locations and visions. Berkshire panorama formed the tradition and improvement of Pittsfield. Parks introduced public delight to the town. In 2022, a brand new imaginative and prescient appears at each yesterday and at the moment, recalling Pittsfield’s pure heritage and Pontoosuc Lake Park’s persevering with legacy.
Judy Waters, a Pittsfield native, is an occasional Berkshire Eagle contributor.