Nickerson State Park
Nickerson State Park is a state-owned, public recreation area of more than located on Cape Cod in Brewster, Massachusetts. The park's sandy soil and scrub pines surround many kettle ponds which are dependent on groundwater and precipitation. The largest of these are Cliff Pond (the largest at across), Flax Pond, Little Cliff Pond, and Higgins Pond. Ruth Pond, Keeler's Pond, Eel Pond, and Triangle Pond provide additional water habitats. History. The land composing the park was once part of the estate of Samuel Mayo Nickerson (1830–1914), a native of the area and a Chicago  liquor distiller who made a fortune as one of the founding officers of the First National Bank of Chicago. In 1890, Nickerson built Fieldstone Hall on land overlooking Cape Cod Bay a mile west of the park to be the home of his son Roland C. Nickerson, Roland's wife Addie, and their three children. Fieldstone Hall was lost to fire in 1906, and a larger mansion was built on the same site. That building subsequently became a seminary and is now a major feature of the Ocean Edge resort. Roland Nickerson died at age 51 shortly after Fieldstone Hall  burned down, his death at the time being ascribed to his heartache at the loss of his home and personal possessions. His son Roland Jr. was a naval lieutenant who died in the 1918 influenza epidemic. In 1934, Addie Nickerson donated the portion of the estate on the south side of Route 6a for use as a "state forest park." It became the Commonwealth's first state park and was named in honor of her late husband and late son.