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Wood Island Park, East Boston, Massachusetts. More information needed....


RESORTS AND RECREATION


At the time the East Boston Company was formed, both Chelsea and Nahant were popular resort areas, and the developers saw the same potential for East Boston. Their idea paid off when the 80-room Maverick House Hotel in Maverick Square began attracting visitors as soon as it opened its doors in 1835. Maverick House was the first of several hotel buildings on this site to serve vacationers and travelers transferring from ships and trains.

The tradition of recreation has continued in a variety of ways. Incorporated in 1879, Jeffries Point Yacht Club was the first chartered yacht club on the East Coast. In the 1890s, the city established a major recreational development in East Boston. Now, only the large trees shading Neptune Road recall the entrance to Wood Island Park (later known as World War Memorial Park). Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect responsible for Boston's park system, Wood Island Park covered 46 acres. Its many facilities-men's and women's open air gyms and running tracks, playgrounds, grandstand, field house and bath house-attracted 43,000 visitors in 1895. Unfortunately, Wood Island Park was taken by airport expansion in 1966.