Last updated: June 6, 2024
Place
Jamaica Pond
Olmsted Archives
Quick Facts
An early water source for Boston, this 68-acre "kettlehole" was formed by retreating glaciers. Olmsted was enamored of the pond's "great beauty in reflections and flickering half-lights." Today, the Boathouse at Jamaica Pond provides facilities for sailing and row boating. Visitors can fish (by permit), and the pond is stocked each year. A beautiful 1.5-mile path around the pond is a favorite of strollers and runners alike. In October, the annual Lantern Festival brings thousands of people, some in full Halloween costume, for a walk around the pond to create their own "flickering half-lights."
When Olmsted began work on the Necklace, Jamaica Pond was laying in waste with a contaminated water supply. Olmsted urged the Boston Park Commission to incorporate the pond and surrounding area into the Emerald Necklace, believing he could save this “natural sheet of water, with quiet, graceful shores, rear banks of varied elevation and contour, for the most part shaded by a fine natural forest growth”. Olmsted’s work at Jamaica Pond can be described as a minimalist design, adding vegetation to compliment the natural scenery he so admired. Olmsted’s greatest designs always showcased pre-existing points of interest at the scene, and current restoration ensures those vistas remain.
Source: "Jamaica Pond," The Cultural Landscape Foundation
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
Olmsted Online
When Olmsted began work on the Necklace, Jamaica Pond was laying in waste with a contaminated water supply. Olmsted urged the Boston Park Commission to incorporate the pond and surrounding area into the Emerald Necklace, believing he could save this “natural sheet of water, with quiet, graceful shores, rear banks of varied elevation and contour, for the most part shaded by a fine natural forest growth”. Olmsted’s work at Jamaica Pond can be described as a minimalist design, adding vegetation to compliment the natural scenery he so admired. Olmsted’s greatest designs always showcased pre-existing points of interest at the scene, and current restoration ensures those vistas remain.
Source: "Jamaica Pond," The Cultural Landscape Foundation
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
Olmsted Online