Randy Stone: Living in The New World “The Ice Pond”

Andy
Grandpa/Uncle Steve, John, Craig, Grandma/Aunt Harriette
Sarah, Wendy, Christina
In front of the Bunkhouse at The Pond circa 1980

I’m not sure how I came to possess my copy of cousin Randy’s story, but it was neatly filed with a number of other family stories typed out in hard copy and I can only guess that Dad gave it to me at some point.  

Living In The New World

“The Ice Pond”

By

Randy F. Stone

Christmas 2002

On the farm, we had several “cow ponds”.  These were strong-fed watering holes for the cows when they were in the fields.  Cows consume a great deal of water to produce milk.  There was one pond on the lower 60 acres and there were three ponds on the upper 50 acres.  One of the three was the Ice Pond, which produced ice blocks that were used for cooling the milk before refrigeration was installed on the farm.  In the winter, the family would “harvest” blocks of ice from the pond and store them in one of the barns.  Tree leaves, saw dust, and hay were used to insulate the ice from the summer’s heat.  Stacking the blocks together with insulation kept the ice throughout the summer until more blocks were cut during the cold winter months.

As I said, by the 1950’s we had modern refrigeration to keep the milk cool.  Hence, the Ice Pond became filled with silt and leaves.  It returned to nature.  It did still provide a fairly good place to skate in the winter.  It was the largest of the ponds on the farm, although at the time, not the deepest.  I can remember ice-skating and playing hockey with my cousins Frankie and Johnnie Service on the pond.  In some very shallow areas, ice would form around rocks and you could navigate around the rocks on the ice.

During the middle 1950’s urban sprawl was beginning in America.  Seymour and the surrounding towns were no exception.  Some parcels of land were sold to developers that were local area-swimming ponds.  After their development, surrounding townspeople were not allowed to use these places for swimming anymore.  They became private properties.  A state park, Kettletown, was developed.  However, it was in Southbury and a good distance for many people to travel.  This predicament motivated my family to improve the Ice Pond into a family recreational site, complete with swimming.  Formal draining and digging began in the fall of 1955.  Uncle Sonny had purchased a small John Deere “crawler” bulldozer for removing rocks on the farmland.  It became the prime tool, under the careful guidance of Uncle Sonny, for digging out “The Pond”, as it now would become titled.  Trees were felled, stumps removed and rocks cleared to make way for this new family project.  There was a small rock pile at one end of The Pond, which had once formed a foundation for an icehouse to store additional blocks of ice for the farm.  Uncle Steve Service, his wife my Aunt Alice, Wd and Pete Wanciak, Uncle Steve Martin, and his wife my Aunt Harriette, Flo Sponheimer, a family friend, Grandma and Grandpa Healey all pitched in to rebuild the former icehouse.  We purchased a pot-bellied stove upon completion of the building and by the time the winter of 1955 arrived, The Pond proper was available for our first ice-skating! My Mom took 8mm pictures of this process and continued to take silent moving pictures into the 1970’s.

After the thaw of 1955 and the Spring of 1956, the balance of landscaping was undertaken in earnest. Rockets were removed and grass was planted, as well as a stone fireplace, which was used for cooking outdoors.  Uncle Steve Martin worked at a company in Seymour called Kerite.  They made underwater communication cables and used wooden spools to wrap the cables for shipment and installation.  Uncle Steve was able to procure several of these spools, which we mounted on tree stumps near the water’s edge,  One large spool piece was large enough to even accommodate a makeshift diving board.  The smaller discs made excellent sunbathing spots.  In those days, men were jack of all trades.  Uncle Steve Martin could do carpentry, plumbing, electrical work, pur and smooth cement like a professional.  He would think up ideas/improvements and the go about completing all aspects of the construction and the finishing touches.  The ladies of the family began the reclamation of this harsh wilderness into a fine landscaped paradise.  Trees were strategically positioned, flowers planted and arranged to complement their surroundings, and with a healthy supply of cow manure, grass growing and was in need of mowing by summer.

The Pond was spring fed from underneath as well as a small creek towards the Northwest corner.  By summer’s warmth, the pond was full and approximately 10 feet deep in its deepest parts.  It remained this way for over twenty years.  The Pond became our swimming and skating recreational area.  In the mid seventies, muskrats had dug into one of the retaining walls and water began to leak out and significantly reduce the level of the water.

A slab of cement was poured to fit the size of an Army surplus tent my Mother purchased.  This became the first “camping” site at The Pond.  Aunt Harriette found an old “ice box”, which used a block of ice to keep food fresh.  Uncle Steve Martin had built a fireplace for cooking and makeshift picnic tables were saved, hammered and put into place.  Mom arranged for a truck of dead sand.  Behold, we had our own beach.  My old swing set was moved to The Pond, along with excess pieces of outdoor furniture, (some of which was made by Uncle Steve, Pete and Ed Wanciak), Sundays became The Healey Family day at The Pond.  Steaks cooked on an open fire, French fries, fresh corn-on-the-cob, garden tomatoes and lettuce ball made for a succulent feast every Sunday.  At the time, The Pond was secluded from curious eyes by the surrounding farmland.

Uncle Steve would eventually design and construct a 9-hole miniature golf course.  Badminton nets, Frisbees and an old croquet set supplied everyone with something to do, for all ages.  Uncle Steve also added a horseshoe pitching area (we used real horseshoes at first), which was a very popular spot on Sunday afternoons.  Later, Uncle Steve would replace the older icehouse with a wooden, four-stall changing room, complete with a screened-in porch; a wooden bunkhouse was built, complete with bunk beds, to replace the tent.  The “Hut” or “Bunkhouse” had storage chests and eventually, electric lights replaced the kerosene lamps.  The icebox was retired for a refrigerator with freezer section and finally Uncle Steve built a larger fireplace so two families could cook at once.  Uncle Steve poured more cement and built a proper diving board area and a fiberglass slide was installed for everyone’s enjoyment.

Family and friends came from miles to celebrate Sundays at The Pond.  Summer vacations were cost effective, close and within distance from home in case of emergencies.  After the farm was sold in 1966, my Mother and family planted trees to isolate the view from the pending apartments looming on the hill from the Balance Rock Apartments.  The Pond still remained private, fun and a great place for family gatherings on Sunday afternoons.  In the late 1960’s and very early 1970’s, The Pond became a gathering place for the Bungay Hill Freaks, an assortment of my friends and a close circle of still more friends.  During the summer, when we were off from college and working summer jobs, we lived at The Pond.  We bathed in its cool waters using ivory soap (because it floated!) and cooked simple foods for ourselves.  We held mini-parties with recorded music, lights and summer’s innocence.  Most of those summers were spent on the back of motorcycles, so it was not uncommon to hear a group of bikes leave the pond between 6:30 and 7 a.m., as we left for our jobs.  At night we would gather at Bungay School, let the evening happen and drift slowly back to The Pond for our night’s rest.  Fred Gryca, Ben Stochmal, Gene Atkas, John Atkas, Ron Atkas, myself; sometimes Mike (“Barney”) Schultz, Pete Schultz, Nick Halko, Owen Spargo, Bob Ulrich, Joe Macchio, Ron Macchio, Brian Barrett and an assortment of other friends would be staying at the Bunkhouse.  The weekends were the busiest times with the most guests.

Some of the Bungay Hill Freaks.  Photo Courtesy of Randy Stone.

After the summers of 1970 and 1971, many dynamics changed within our group of friends.  There would be no further parties, sleepovers or swimming for our group at The Pond.  Most of my family had moved away to different parts of the United States.  Every once in awhile, Aunt Harriette and Uncle Steve would host a social event at The Pond.  But its glory days had passed.  encroachment of the apartments, its tenants, vandalism and time took their toll on the buildings and retaining walls.  The water level changed dramatically after the completion of the Balance Rock Apartments.  The water table shifted and lowered the water level.  No one wanted to spend money to repair the retaining wall.  It became an eye sore, a place of curiosity for those who might discover it for the first time.  Vandals broke into the buildings, threw the furniture, swing set, diving board, and slide into the  pond.  Silt again reclaimed its former level; swallowing the water to a depth of a few feet at its deepest part.  The lawn was no longer maintained; trees fell during storms and this once family paradise was slowly returning back to the nature from which it came.

In the 1990’s, my Mother and Aunt Harriette donated The Pond to the Seymour Land Conservation Committee.  The town was going to let the Boy Scouts reclaim some of The Pond’s glory and make it a miniature campground.  Even the best of plans or intentions are lost in today’s economy.  The Pond remains in its dilapidated state of neglect.  Vandals have further destroyed any remaining history of this once proud, great family place.  I can remember one of the local kinds remarking at Bungay Field to me one day when I said I was going up to the pond for lunch.  This boy resented the fact that my family had a “this place”.  He thought it affluent, arrogant and “aren’t you special”.  What the lad failed to realize was the time, effort, money, family and love that went into making The Pond what it was.  We were not rich, affluent, or arrogant.  We were special.

WE, as common people, family, put out minds to a task and worked hard for our pleasures. No one gave us The Pond.  The Ice Pond was reclaimed back from nature by a lot of sweat, teamwork and good old-fashioned Yankee know-how.  It’s memories will live in the the 8mm movies that Mom converted to VHS video for those not yet born during those great years.  Our future generations, grandchildren and great grandchildren can share our vision and the result of our determination to make something out of nothing.  These grandchildren can see their Grandparents doing what The Healey Kids did best: work together to make their dreams come true.

(If I could get my hands on those videos I would happily digitize them and add them to this post for posterity!!) WWH

As for me, this little story is dedicated to my Mom, Uncle Sonny, Aunt Dot, Aunt Alice, Uncle Steve Service and Steve Martin, Aunt Harriette, Pete and Ed Wanciak, Flo Sponheimer, and to Mr & Mrs Harry A Healey, Senior.  Of this list, as of this writing, only four people remain alive to give their first hand account of this accomplishment.  “Thanks for the memories”!

Please add your memories in the comments!!  Do you remember The Pond?  What did you do?  Who was there?  What did you eat?  What did you wear?  Does your memory match Randy’s?  What additional details would you add?