'Come on down': Swansea welcomes Ernie Boch Jr. with ideas for Pleasure Island's future

SWANSEA —Along Pinehurst Avenue, someone has stuck a homemade sign into the grass at Compton’s Corner, with the decaying bridge to Pleasure Island visible across a glittering stretch of the Cole River.

“Welcome to Ocean Grove Ernie Boch Jr.,” it reads, with a little illustration of a clam. “Come on down.”

In the weeks since the billionaire Subaru of New England kingpin and philanthropist publicly announced he bought Pleasure Island, few drastic changes have taken place to the 4.25-acre private island and its dilapidated structures. Much of the overgrowth at an abutting property Boch also owns on Ocean Grove Avenue has been tamed — but apart from that, plans for Pleasure Island’s future are still in the planning stages.

Once a popular destination for picnics and parties, Pleasure Island closed in the mid-2000s due to noise complaints and bridge safety concerns. During a tour of the land, Boch said he has no specific vision for the property thus far, except to say he isn’t interested in hosting weddings or other loud parties there. Boch and his director of properties and logistics said they’re focusing on cleaning up the long-abandoned island first and seeing if any plans they develop are workable with town officials and neighbors.

But neighbors who spoke to The Herald News have a few ideas.

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Spend the afternoon, and a few bucks

Alyssa Lafferty of Ocean Grove Avenue has lived in the Grove her whole life. When she found out Boch bought the island, she reached out to him on Facebook.

“I was like, ‘Hey, I want to be involved in whatever it is you’re doing,’” she said. “We’re all just wondering what he’s going to do with it.”

Lafferty stood outside her home with her children, a friend and her kids, and other kids from the neighborhood running a homemade lemonade stand — and she sees a vision of Pleasure Island also as a place where people can drop by and spend a few bucks.

“I would have the whole place with anchors and docks so people could come up on their boats. Lemonade stands, slushes, ice cream, burgers, dogs, all that kind of stuff,” Lafferty said. “And there’s multiple buildings, so I’d have another building that was upper-scale dining.”

Pleasure Island is right across from Swansea Town Beach, which has recently undergone extensive renovations. In her mind, whatever is built there should tie in with the beach, with facilities for kids, basketball and volleyball courts and a playground — and include some way to pay for itself and contribute to the community.

“It’s bringing a lot of people from other towns. … At least have that across the street so [visitors] can spend their money with us. If they’re going to come, they can contribute to our town.”

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Making Pleasure Island kid-friendly

Jenna Goulart’s backyard overlooks Pleasure Island, separated from it by a little over 200 feet of water. She has lived in her River Street home for a few years, not long enough to remember the heyday of Pleasure Island — or the noise. Holding her son, Colton, 2, she said she’d be tolerate some disruption from the new neighbors, within reason.

“If it was every night, it would probably be annoying,” Goulart said. “The Fourth comes, obviously, and it’s loud around here, but because I have a little kid I wouldn’t want that every night. But I’m kind of half-and-half depending on how disruptive it is. I wouldn’t mind it here and there, but I definitely wouldn’t want it every night.”

If she had Boch-level money, she said, "Honestly, I would turn it into a farm for myself. That’s honestly what I would love to do with it.”

But also taking into account what Pleasure Island could do for the community, Goulart said she’d like to see something there that could expand that idea — like a petting zoo.

“It would be nice if there were animals over there,” she said, holding her son. “I'm thinking of him — more kid-related, I would like.”

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Bring back the feel of classic Ocean Grove

Linda Nogeiro walked her dogs Oscar and Jaxon by the boat ramp — Oscar is a therapy dog, she said, but Jaxon was “just out for a good time.” Nogeiro is from the area, and has fond memories of Pleasure Island.

"I remember going there as a kid, swimming there and having picnics there,” Nogeiro said. “It was wonderful, and for that to be open again — God bless him. I wish him well.”

She also remembered roller-skating at the Bluffs, where Town Beach is. Rebuilt in 1939 after the Hurricane of 1938 destroyed the original building, the Bluffs Recreation Center offered roller-skating, ballroom dancing, bowling, arcade games, ice cream and snacks until the mid-1970s.

“It was always a lot of fun down here,” she said. “That’s why I come over here all the time, just to walk my guys. It’s peaceful, it’s clean, and I don’t feel threatened in any way. … It feels safe.”

Nogeiro said her vision for Pleasure Island would include “maybe some boating, a place for people to walk … where people could walk their dogs,” along the lines of Bicentennial Park in Fall River. She said she’d build a facility that would bring the island back to the kind of place where people could hold picnics and family outings, recapturing some of that classic Ocean Grove seaside-resort charm.

“It’s a fun place, this area. It’s wonderful.”

Dan Medeiros can be reached at dmedeiros@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Swansea's Ocean Grove welcomes Ernie Boch Jr. to Pleasure Island