The inspiration for this article was a 1977 Standard Times picture that I found in a file folder. It was on one of our hotter days this summer and the picture of Mary’s Pond beach crowded with sun worshippers and swimmers made me wish I was there, somewhere in that picture. Unfortunately, I couldn’t include the picture as it was copyrighted by the paper.
Today, the 81- acre pond is as cool and inviting as it was in 1977, but as the picture I’ve included shows, the beach has a lot less activity than there was 48 years ago. Mary’s Pond is classified as an Atlantic Coastal Plain Pond and is protected by the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species program. Today, the state oversees the water and pondlife. They stock the pond in both the spring and the fall with brown, rainbow and tiger trout and brookies. In the deeper recesses of the pond there is a healthy population of largemouth bass. This makes it a fisherman’s dream (I talked to one man who said it was one of the main reasons he moved to town) and on any given day, you can see fishing lines in the water from shore, from kayaks or anglers in waders.
However, the scene in that picture was of a sunny, summer day when people flocked to the pond’s beach. Particularly, in the 50’s and into the 80’s, the beach would be packed with sunbathers and swimmers, many from out of town. Families would come for the day, bringing towels, inflatables, grills, tire tubes and lawn chairs.
For many years, there was a bathhouse, campground, store, lunch counter and even a ballroom along Mary’s Pond Rd. For most of those years, beach goers believed that the beach was owned by the County or the State. In the 1990’s when the town was getting ready to take over the beach to develop it, a search of the property records at the Plymouth County Registry of Deeds, showed that the property under discussion was privately owned. There were two deeds. One was in the names of Robert and Isaac Hiller and the second in the name of Edith Hiller.
So today, Mary’s Pond is much quieter. Use is restricted to kayaks and other small boats (with parking off of Perry Lane) and fishermen ad women. There is a walking trail and an area to view the osprey who also enjoy fishing.
By Connie Eshbach
