From 1897 to 1964, Norumbega Park was a fixture of the Auburndale section of Newton. Over the course of its history, Norumbega Park entertained people from throughout the Greater Boston area.

Look around Auburndale today, though, and there is little physical evidence of the park, which once boasted the largest outdoor theater and largest zoo in New England. How did this much-beloved park rise to fame and then disappear in less than 70 years?

Norumbega Park was a trolley park, or a destination built to entice people to use the streetcar system built in the late-19th century. For a small fare, the trolley swept people from the busy city of Boston to the serenity of a riverside park in Newton. Live music in the Totem Pole Ballroom, amusement park rides and canoeing on the Charles River were some of the more popular activities at Norumbega. The park drew hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. With a strict no-alcohol policy, police supervision of canoeing (or "canoodling") couples, as well as a dress code and couples-only rule at the Totem Pole Ballroom, parents felt safe letting their teenagers go on dates at Norumbega.

The rise of the automobile, however, signaled the decline of Norumbega Park. Rather than take a trolley to the local park, people increasingly took day trips in their cars. The construction of Route 128 and Route 95 made it faster and easier for people to access points of interest further away from the city. By the 1950s, Norumbega was competing with other attractions in New Hampshire, Cape Cod, and even more distant places like Disney World. With more options for entertainment and more ways to get to them, people began to visit Norumbega less, which had financial implications for the park.

By the early 1960s, the park had become insolvent and Norumbega closed on Labor Day 1963. The Totem Pole Ballroom, once touted as "America's most beautiful ballroom" remained open until February 1964. The vacant amusement park became a favorite target of vandals. On November 11, 1965 the Totem Pole burned to the ground, and a few months later two Norumbega boathouses burned. The source of these fires was never determined. By the middle of 1966, the park was entirely destroyed.

With a large waterfront site vacant, a great deal of controversy was stirred up over what would happen to this land along the Charles River.  In the end, it was the Marriott Hotel that occupied the site.

Since its opening in 1970, the Marriott has honored the memory of Norumbega. In 1976, the remaining parts of the Norumbega site became the Norumbega Conservation Area and are protected and administered by the Newton Conservation Commission.

Thankfully, there are many people who still love Norumbega Park and do their part to preserve its memory. To learn more about Norumbega, visit Historic Newton's Jackson Homestead and Museum to see the exhibit, "Norumbega: Romance and Recreation by the River." At the museum, you can also watch the superb documentary, "Return to Norumbega."  Once a grand venue for entertainment and recreation, Norumbega Park may be gone, but its legacy lives on in the hearts and minds of all those who remember it.