Trashpaddler: Some Great Ponds

Paddled two of Massachusetts' "Great Ponds" this past week. To be listed and enjoy the protections of being designated a "Great Pond" said pond or lake must contain (or have once contained) more than 10 acres in its natural state. The two great ponds I paddled were Massapoag Pond in Groton/Dunstable/Tyngsborough and Walden Pond in Concord. Both ponds have long been on my radar but for one reason or another I never got to them.

Massapoag Pond is 122 acres in size and its Native American name is said to mean "great pond". It's inlet is at the south end and the outlet is in the northeast corner. This view looks southward from the pond's north end...

Camp Massapoag, a Greater Lowell Family YMCA facility, occupies 38 acres on the lake's west shore...

The most interesting spot for me was the lake's outlet at a place known as "The Gulf"...

...where, according to the area's early historical accounts there may have been a cataclysmic break in a natural embankment that resulted in the pond shrinking in size by several hundred acres. According to Elias Nason, in his 1877 History of Dunstable Massapoag Pond was described as follows: "This fine sheet of water, which originally was full of islands and had an area of more than six hundred acres, is enclosed by hills and headlands, affording many admirable scenic views." An even earlier account by historian Caleb Butler, in his 1848 History of the town of Groton, describes "The north end of the pond was bounded by a ridge of loose sand, rising but little above the surface of the water, and being about six rods only in width (approx. 100'); on the opposite side of which was a descent of about forty feet. Here was an eligible spot for an overshot mill." Butler relates that such a mill was built and pond water was conducted across the embankment. Things apparently went well until a flood occurred sometime in the1700's. That's when, according to legend, the embankment of loose sand was breached, washing away the mill, and creating a new outlet from the pond. The sand, mill, and even the millstones went that-a-way (view of water exiting the pond and flowing northerly...

...towards what today is Lower Massapoag Pond and subsequently Salmon Brook which flows to the Merrimack River. It should ne noted that a later historian, Samuel Abbott Green, in his 1894 An Historical Sketch of Groton, Massachusetts dismissed all of this believing there was no factual evidence to support the theory. Green did, however, acknowledge "while the formation of the banks at the mouth of the pond, or the 'gulf', so called, is peculiar, there are no signs that the water-line was ever any higher then it is at the present time (1877)." In my visit to the outlet this past Monday I was impressed with how the terrain rises abruptly on both sides of the outlet. The idea of such a sand embankment having once filled the gap and later having been breached seems reasonable to me. One other thing that Caleb Butler mentioned was that in trying to locate the valuable millstones a noted clairvoyant of the day, Moll Pitcher of Lynn, was brought in. Despite her psychic efforts the millstones were never found. This 1950 topo map shows the area where the cataclysmic breakthrough may have occurred...

The launch for the Massapoag Pond is at its southern end in Groton. The posted rules...

On Wednesday I paddled another 'walled-in' type of pond...Walden Pond where Henry David Thoreau lived for two years. After paddling the pond's circumference I headed into Thoreau's Cove...

A short walk brought me to the pile of stones...

...said to have been started by Thoreau's friend...

The granite posts near the stone pile marking the outline of Thoreau's cabin...

The approximate view he had from his window...

...and a sketch of the cabin...

It was while living in this cabin that Thoreau wrote his A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers.

The pond was fairly busy with folks walking the trails. There were also several distance swimmers, and a couple of fishermen. The 64 acre pond's water is crystal-clear. Thoreau himself in 1846 is said to have located and measured the deepest part of the pond at 102 feet. According to the Massachusetts Lake and Pond Guide's Fun Lake Facts "Walden Pond is the deepest pond in Massachusetts."

The boat launch has its own access road and a solar-powered kiosk near water's edge allows the $ 8 dollar fee to be paid by credit card...

Sign says it's open 7am to 4pm.

Wrapped up my paddling week on Thursday with an early morning paddle on the Assabet River in Maynard, MA. Thanks to a recently cleaned out culvert I was able to get this look at Thanksgiving Pond..