Canoeing and boating on the Charles

Canoeing and boating on the Charles were popular sports, as Mr. & Mrs. C. Atherton Hicks demonstrated. The more than eleven miles of the Charles River almost encircling Needham have always lent themselves to boating, fishing and swimming. There were boat rental facilities in several locations, such as Red Wing Bay in the Charles River Village section and the Highland Avenue bridge in Needham Heights. It was every boy's dream to own a canoe.