Aquatic Park Historic District

You are walking toward an area that began as a gritty industrial site known as Black Point Cove. In the late nineteenth century, the water here was so polluted by nearby smelting and textile operations that it was largely avoided by the public. Local swimming clubs eventually fought for decades to reclaim the shoreline from industry, dreaming of a clean, protected space for recreation. That dream finally took shape in the nineteen thirties when the federal government stepped in to transform this polluted inlet into a dedicated public park.