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NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
AND REMINDER 
Vol. XIII 
Manchester, Mass., Friday, April 16 
No. 16 
Kernwood Country Club at Salem 
Newest Addition to North Shore Social Attractions to be Ready by June 17 
By A. L. F. in Boston Transcript 
COMPARED with some of the other golfing districts, 
Massachusetts is not doing much in the line of 
developing new golf links this year; nevertheless there 
is one within the Greater Boston confines that is to 
be opened during the season. ‘This is the new Kern- 
wood Country Club of Salem, located on what was 
the Peabody estate, and with the old house that was 
built by Colonel Francis Peabody in 18435 to be the 
main clubhouse. 
The club intends to retain the original architec- 
ture of the structure in so far as that is consistent 
with modern comforts. Up-to-date plumbing and im- 
provements will be introduced, but there will remain, 
downstairs, rooms finished in a manner that will make 
it a clubhouse unique. The exterior will retain its 
Tudor Gothic style and an addition on one side to 
give a piazza dining room will be in harmony of de- 
sign with the remainder of the structure. The ma- 
terial changes will be upstairs, inside, made necessary 
in order to equip the house with about two hundred 
lockers and shower baths. 
On the main floor, where now is in progress a 
‘‘house-cleaning’’ most thorough, the different rooms 
will be much as they were finished for Colonel Pea- 
body, aside from the renovations and a few changes 
suitable to club life. What might be termed the 
“chapel room,’’ with its churchy overhead design and 
its beautiful stained glass windows, probably will 
serve for a reception room. A Chinese room, with its 
quaint gargoyles, will be a novelty alike to members 
and visitors. One of the other rooms has an inset 
panel ceiling which reflects not only the  «sthetic 
tastes of Colonel Peabody, but a high quality of work- 
manship in the days when the building was con- 
tructed. 
Heavy doors, each with individual carvings; 
beautifully carved chests and many other interior 
features of this house, combined with a charm of set- 
ting and surroundings, leave no doubt that the Kern- 
wood Club made a wise decision in determining to 
renovate and only slightly alter this building for a 
clubhouse, rather than tear down and build anew. 
The other spacious building on the estate, home of 
Colonel Peabody’s son, will be converted into a dormi- 
tory and to such other purposes as the club may de- 
cide later. 
Eventually the Kernwood Country Club will have 
an eighteen-hole course, with a delightful piece of country 
for a layout of holes of practically any length desired and 
with an unusual topographical variety. At present the 
principal efforts are being put into the development 
of nine holes on that part of the property on which the 
old Peabody buildings are located. Work began on 
these holes about the first of Septemper, last year, and 
they probably will be playable around the middle of 
July or first of August, depending upon the weather. 
Meantime, six holes on the property across the road 
leading to the clubhouse will be put in temporary con- 
dition for play, to be ready perhaps by the first of 
May. It is planned to have a housewarming in the 
main ¢lub building on Bunker [Hill Day, June 17. 
The nine holes which are being prepared now are 
sporty and will call for the highest skill of the mem- 
bers to get around in» what they will deem ‘‘respect- 
able’’ figures. Tentatively, they have a total playing 
length of 3235 yards, with space in plenty to add to 
the yardage, but with more likelihood that the mem- 
bers of inferior ability will be clamoring for the 
‘short?’ tees. The club’s committee will be wise, 
however, to have the holes moderately long to begin 
with, for the difficulties of play are the things that im- 
prove the individual’s game. Merely to state that 
Donald Ross is the architect of the course is to imply 
that it will be bunkered with reasonable severity, put 
with the scientific ideas of a man who is a past master 
in the art and whose ideas along that line are consid- 
ered about the ‘‘last word’’ on this side of the At- 
lantic. 
When Ross was engaged to lay out the new course 
and spent a few days tramping over the property in 
order to fill his mind with its natural features, and 
possibilities, he’ had on hand a problem which em- 
braced the destruction ‘and uprooting of a number of 
trees, some ledges, construction of seawalls, the level- 
ling of ridges and filling in of depressions; but his 
solution was such as to delight any lover of the game 
who looks the property over even now, in its yet im- 
mature state. Ilis greens, in particular, as well as the 
bunkers already installed, show the master hand and 
won the admiration of T. L. McNamara, on a visit to 
the course with the writer. When Ross finally deeid- 
ed on where he would have the different greens and 
tees, the grounds committee of the club almost “threw 
up its hands,’’ wondering how he was to so alter the 
natural lay of the land, but instructions have been fol- 
lowed carefully and results are beginning to show that 
the man who has designed the lay of so many courses 
was making no mistake at Kernwood. 
The first hole is the longest of the course, 480 
yards. Its tee is between the clubhouse and the house 
which will be used for sleeping quarters. It was neces- 
sary to cut down a number of trees and dynamite the 
stumps, but that has been done and quite a stretch of 
the fairway will soon be in good shape, for the soil is 
excellent for golf, which is true of the greater part 
of the property. Under normal conditions it will take 
two good shots and a mashie pitch to get home, with 
distance a highly desirable asset on the long shots, 
the approach being far from easy. The green is built 
up in the rear, and to go over into the bunker, partly 
in back and also to the right, means facing a steep 
embankment, for the recovery out of the sand. There 
is a bunker on the left guarding the approach and a 
clump of trees also on that side, which may prove 
