Spot Pond

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Spot Pond
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Spot Pond
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Spot Pond
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Spot Pond
Location Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°27′21″N71°05′48″W / 42.4557590°N 71.0967287°W / 42.4557590; -71.0967287
Type lake
Low Service Reservoir, Spot Pond, Stoneham, Massachusetts, 5 Sept 1899.jpg
Hauling muck during construction, 5 Sept 1899
A glass lantern slide by George Davenport shows the Shute marker 'Where Shute Fell' on Great Island in Spot Pond, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.jpg
The Shute marker 'Where Shute Fell' on Great Island

Spot Pond is a lake in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. [1] The pond is within the Middlesex Fells Reservation, a Massachusetts state park. [2] It is almost entirely located within the boundaries of Stoneham, Massachusetts.

Spot Pond was named in 1632 by colonial governor John Winthrop. [3]

The pond contains Great Island ( 42°27′08″N71°05′46″W / 42.45222°N 71.09616°W / 42.45222; -71.09616 ), a lake island. Great Island is known to contain an old granite marker with the mysterious inscription "Where Shute Fell". It is unknown who installed the marker, and for what reason. [4] Possibly, it is related to a Wrestler from Haywardsville, as many wrestling matches and prizefights were held on the island. [5]

Spot Pond lends its name to the Spot Pond Archeological District, the site of the former Hayward Rubber Works and an extinct mill town. [6]

Under the Metropolitan Water Supply Commission (1926-1946), Spot Pond was integrated into the Boston area public drinking water supply. Its water level was raised 16 feet, and the stream running into it was diverted, making its sole supply the new East and West Spot Pond Supply mains. Spot Pond water served the northern Low Service zone, and water pumped from Spot Pond to Fells Reservoir served the Northern High Service zone. Spot Pond is no longer part of the public drinking water supply, but the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority is building covered storage tanks in the area. [7]

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The Middlesex Fells Reservation Parkways are the roadways within and bordering on the Middlesex Fells Reservation, a state park in the northern suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The park includes portions of the towns of Malden, Medford, Melrose, Stoneham, and Winchester. The roads inside the park and around its perimeter have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Other portions of some of the roads are covered by more than one listing in the national register; see Fellsway Connector Parkways and Middlesex Fells Reservoirs Historic District.

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The Middlesex Fells Reservoirs Historic District is a historic district roughly bounded by Pond St., Woodland Rd., I-93, and MA 28 in Stoneham and Medford, Massachusetts. It encompasses a portion of the Middlesex Fells Reservation, a state park managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). The principal features of the district are three reservoirs and their associated gate houses and pumping stations, which were developed by the Metropolitan District Commission starting in the late 19th century. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

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The John Bottume House is a historic house at 4 Woodland Road in Stoneham, Massachusetts. Built c. 1849, this stone house was one of several built along the shore of Spot Pond by a Boston businessman as a retreat, and is the only one to survive. It is owned by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, and houses the visitors center for the Middlesex Fells Reservation. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metropolitan District Commission Pumping House</span> Historic building in Stoneham, Massachusetts

The Metropolitan District Commission Pumping House is a historic water pumping station, adjacent to Spot Pond in the Middlesex Fells Reservation, on Woodland Road in Stoneham, Massachusetts. Built in 1901 by the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC), it is one of Stoneham's finest examples of Renaissance Revival architecture. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, and included in the Middlesex Fells Reservoirs Historic District in 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spot Pond Archeological District</span> Historic district in Massachusetts, United States

The Spot Pond Archeological District is a historic archaeological site near Spot Pond in Stoneham, Massachusetts. It is located in the Virginia Woods section of the Middlesex Fells Reservation, a state park. The district encompasses sites along Spot Pond Brook that were mill sites dating from the 17th to the 19th centuries. At its height, in the mid-19th century the Hayward Rubber Works was located in the area, giving it the name "Haywardville". One of the park's trails runs through the area, and a park pamphlet provide a self-guided tour joining the major remnants of the industries that once flourished there.

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Boston Regional Medical Center was a 187-bed hospital located in Stoneham, Massachusetts. Previously known as New England Sanitarium and Hospital and later New England Memorial Hospital, it was located within the Middlesex Fells Reservation along Woodland Road in Stoneham, Massachusetts, until it closed in February 1999 for financial reasons.

In the early 1800s, Nathaniel Hayward bought remodeled shoe mills in Stoneham, Massachusetts from Elisha Converse, founder of the largest rubber shoe manufacturer in the world, the Boston Rubber Shoe Company in Malden, Massachusetts. Straddling Spot Pond Brook, the village was the site of early industrial development which later blossomed into larger factories. The factory grew to be an industrial community that has come to be known as Haywardville. It is here where Hayward and Charles Goodyear invented slickers and the process of vulcanization. The factory produced a variety of rubber products including boots, pails and spittoons. There were numerous large factory buildings here during this period, a community of living quarters, some shops - or at least places to barter for goods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Pond (Massachusetts)</span> Reservoir/lake in Stow and Hudson, Massachusetts

White Pond is a 58.5 acre lake and reservoir within the towns of Stow and Hudson, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. The lake has historically provided a source of drinking water to the town of Maynard, and Maynard maintains water rights to the pond and owns some of the land surrounding it. White Pond is adjacent to Lake Boon but their waters are not connected.

References

  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Spot Pond
  2. "Middlesex Fells Reservation". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  3. Annual Reports, with Mayor's Inaugural Address. 1919. p. 136.
  4. Annear, Steve (20 June 2016). "Mystery surrounds granite marker on Stoneham island". Boston Globe. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  5. Alison C. Simcox, Douglas L. Heath: Middlesex Fells. Arcadia Publishing, 2015.
  6. "Middlesex Fells Reservation". National Park Service. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  7. MWRA - Water System History