American Country Clubs 
II. SOME COUNTRY CLUBS ABOUT BOSTON 
By LIVINGSTON WRIGHT 
O UT at Brookline, over toward the Dedham 
line, but within six miles of the State House 
and Beacon Hill, in a location to be reached 
by drives over as fine boulevards and highways as are 
to be found anywhere in the world, the Brookline 
Country Club was established in 1882. The inno¬ 
vation was largely due to the determination of Mr. J. 
Murray Forbes, a gentleman widely known for his 
interest in riding and driving, to create a permanent 
headquarters for the Boston residents who were able 
and disposed to back high-class out-of-doors recrea¬ 
tion, especially those amusements in which the horse 
was a feature. The estate originally taken has been 
enlarged, until now over one hundred acres of 
picturesque and attractive field, woodland and dale 
belong to the Country Club. The old mansion that 
became the club house has been repeatedly altered 
and added to until the present convenient and taste¬ 
ful structure stands as practically ideal for the pur¬ 
pose for which it is used. Prior to the inception of the 
Country Club, its elder rival, the Myopia Hunt, used 
to hold steeplechase meets on the grounds which are 
now a part of the former’s property. The club house 
stands in a picturesque location and from its veranda 
the guests may look off over the broad lawns to the 
race course and the sporting field. The track is a 
half mile and in the center is a splendid polo field. 
The essential arrangements and facilities for driving 
exhibitions, coaching meets and parades, polo, pony 
racing, steeplechases, drag hounds and the horsey 
sports generally have been added to by the laying out 
of golf links, and the making of tennis courts. 
There is a shooting box where experts at trap shoot¬ 
ing are wont to test their skill; a toboggan slide has 
furnished its peculiar winter delights and in the club 
house, aside from the rooms and conveniences for 
members who may wish to stop at the place for a 
somewhat extended length of time, there are dining¬ 
rooms, a ballroom, and in brief, all the facilities for 
recreation and comfort. Besides, the constant use 
of the club house and grounds for members who 
drive over for a brief rest and a luncheon, or the 
private parties that are given, keep the Country 
Club gay and well filled. The members, of whom 
there are now some eight hundred, arrange early 
each autumn a week’s carnival of sport. The 
occasion is a great event of society, and lovers of 
horsemanship are over in force from New York and 
Philadelphia. During this festal celebration the 
four or five days of races, exhibitions and parades 
bring out thousands of spectators. The coaching 
parade, the exhibition of fine carriage horses and 
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