In 1951, July 26 was a Thursday. The Wakefield Daily Item cost three cents. Today’s Weather: SUNNY with temp near 90°.
When we last visited 1951, we discovered that there were concerns about overcrowding on what was known as Boulevard Beach at the northeastern end — the “head” — of Lake Quannapowitt. People from surrounding towns had been joining Wakefieldians in the delights of Lake Quannapowitt ever since the town was founded; but with increasing numbers of households acquiring automobiles and motor vehicle transportation becoming beyond simply de rigueur, the few “neighbors” visiting the Lake over the years became hordes of out-of-towners from towns many miles away. By this year, as we saw on our previous visit, the crowding of the beach and the trash left behind by swimmers and picnickers had become a real problem. The town Selectmen closed the beach temporarily and had posted No Trespassing signs on temporary barriers erected at either end of Quannapowitt Boulevard, hoping to deter traffic, parking, and bathers from the beach. Reserve policemen were assigned to the area and patrolled in the evening as well as the daytime. The ban was still in effect on this day, and front-page headlines screamed the Selectmen’s ineffective resolution to the situation. Out-of-town, would-be swimmers were still trying to break the “no-bathing barrier” and were sneaking on to the beach through bushes near the adjacent Howard Johnson’s ice cream stand—particularly at night when they thought they would not be seen. “Officer Joyce told scores of persons, ‘There is no swimming permitted from the beach.’ However, some of them went away only to return through the bushes moments later.” At 2:15 in the morning on this day, the paper reported, there was a complaint from a Sweetser st resident about noise. “Officer John J. Mahoney checked in the cruiser to find two sailors and four waitresses from Boston were swimming in the lake from the boulevard end. They were sent on their way with a warning.”
Overcrowding was not the only problem at Lake Quannapowitt, however; the weeds in the lake had become uncontrollable and caused not only murky water—they also posed a danger. “Wakefield’s prize beauty attraction has become a dirty, besmirched, neglected orphan. Lake Quannapowitt, which gives to Wakefield a center unsurpassed for beauty in all New England, is becoming a fetid, weed-filled bog, offensive to sight and smell. A heavy growth of weeds now exists throughout most of the lake. Where they cannot be seen from shore, the weeds grow a few inches below the water’s surface in an ever-increasing section of the lake. Great masses of floating weeds, apparently detached from their roots at the bottom, have become so thick that it is impossible to drive a power boat or sail a sailboat through them.” Indeed, the conditions of the lake “flora” had affected sailing races for the Quannapowitt Yacht Club and, far more serious, had nearly caused the demise of two youths from Malden who got tangled in the heavy jungle of undesirable growth when their sailboat capsized. But for the proximity of a police patrol boat and officers who pulled them free, the two boys would have drowned. Well, couldn’t the weeds just be mucked out of the lake, you ask? There was no action taken by the town because, “In the opinion of Town Counsel John I. Preston, the authority and responsibility to care for the weed growth lies directly with the state. The local lake is a great pond, covering more than 20 acres, and as such it is owned by the state. On any matters concerning the waters the state has supreme authority, and such has been the understanding through negotiations over several years to gain control of the land on the lake shores and in other matters.” The state, however, denied any responsibility for the care of weed growth. Apparently, the state’s authority was primarily for “encroachments on the water,” such as the building of piers, bathhouses, floats; and for maintaining the level of water or filling in a portion of the lake. “Sanitation or control of growth in lake waters are not the responsibility of his division,” according to Everett Hutchins of the Division of Waterways of the state Department of Public Works. Mr. Hutchins further suggested that the town raise funds to eliminate the weeds. “Then, with the approval of his department, he made clear, the proper treatment could be given.” The state’s approval would be contingent on the proposed method to rid the weeds; chemicals might harm fish or birds or human bathers, dredging might not be effective in shallow spots.
While the town and the state were passing the buck back and forth, members of the Quannapowitt Yacht Club took it upon themselves to man a large raft and fork “tons” of the masses of weeds onto the raft and then dispose of them. And on this day the Item reported that the underwater jungle had been a problem once before: Town Clerk Charles F. Young had weeded out information from the town meeting records of 1884 that there was an article on the Town Warrant of that year: “To see if the Town will raise and appropriate the sum of one hundred dollars for clearing Lake Quannapowitt of the thick and rank growing weeds and grasses.” The vote on that warrant was “to indefinitely postpone.”
Zooming forward 40 years, we arrive at 1991 and the founding of the Friends of Lake Quannapowitt organization by a group who saw how important the “great pond” was to Wakefield and works to support and protect it for future generations. “We stand to promote public awareness and provide long-term protection and enhancement of Lake Quannapowitt and its surrounding public lands” (folq.org/mission). Among other activities, the FOLQ sponsors watershed field trips for Galvin Middle School students, lake clean-ups, goose control, maintains doggie-bag dispensers, and works with various state and local government departments to analyze the health of the lake through crucial water testing.
