Spy Pond
| Spy Pond | |
|---|---|
Sunset in the winter
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| Location | Arlington, Massachusetts |
| Coordinates | 42°24′28″N 71°09′22″W / 42.40778°N 71.15611°WCoordinates: 42°24′28″N 71°09′22″W / 42.40778°N 71.15611°W |
| Type | kettle hole |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Surface area | 103 acres (42 ha) |
| Average depth | 12 ft (3.7 m) |
| Max. depth | 36 ft (11 m) |
Spy Pond, also known as Spie Pond in the 17th & 18th centuries, is a 103-acre (0.42 km2) kettle hole pond located near the heart of Arlington, Massachusetts, adjacent to the Minuteman Bikeway.
Fifty thousand years ago, the area of Arlington where Spy Pond now sits was covered a mile deep in ice by the Wisconsin Glacier. Fifteen thousand years ago, the ice began to recede, leaving depressions or "kettle holes" in its wake. Initially filled with water from the receding glacier itself and then by natural runoff, the kettle holes eventually formed small lakes and ponds throughout the area.
Spy Pond is now fed by a combination of groundwater and surface runoff from the surrounding area. Spy Pond currently has an average depth of 12 feet (3.7 m) and a maximum depth of 36 feet (11 m).
The pond has a two-acre (0.8 ha) island, Elizabeth Island, which was privately owned (but undeveloped) until 2010, when Arlington Land Trust (in collaboration with the Massachusetts Audubon Society) agreed to purchase the property and set it aside for conservation.
On April 19, 1775, Mother Batherick, an elderly woman who liked to gather dandelions by Spy Pond, managed to corral and take prisoner six Revolutionary War Redcoats who were fleeing their captured supply train.
In 1850, the Spy Pond Water Company began piping water to West Cambridge. The Spy Pond Water Company changed its name to the Arlington Lake Company when West Cambridge was renamed Arlington in 1867.
During the Civil War the Union Army conducted training at Camp Sheppard near Spy Pond and following the war civilian rifle matches were conducted by the Massachusetts Rifle Association from 1875 through 1876 before their move to Woburn, Massachusetts.
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Wikipedia