Early morning at Wildlife Pond
A Brief History of Wildlife Pond
Beaver Brook Association consists of 2,187 acres of protected open space located in Hollis, New Hampshire, on both sides of Route 130.
Wildlife Pond, located in the northern section of Beaver Brook Association, is a special place; it offers anyone rambling the path that circles it or those that radiate from it, an exciting experience during any season of the year.
Over the past few years, I’ve had the pleasure of rambling in the vicinity of this large pond. It’s rare in New England to have a pond not controlled by a few cottages, a pond to which anyone has access. Wildlife Pond is a significant body of water with open, protected access on all sides and surrounded by a variety of wild habitats. There are many wonderful views of the Pond from Wildlife Pond Loop Trail, which circles it; but, there’s a lot that’s interesting to see along trails that lead away from the Pond as well.
How does Wildlife Pond and those habitats that surround it change throughout the year? This is the question that I posed to myself a few years ago. To find the answer, I visited this property several times each month of the year to experience what it had to offer. This book shares my experience of this unique and beautiful place and how it changes through the seasons. I simply share the beauty of Nature reflected in this lovely pond and throughout the surrounding woods, marshes, swamps and smaller ponds; this property has great depth as an outdoor natural history museum for us to enjoy at any month of the year.
O Earth, thou hast not any wind that blows
Which is not music; every weed of thine,
pressed rightly, flows in aromatic wine
And every humble hedgerow flower that grows
And every little brown bird that doth sing
Hath something greater than itself, and bears
A living word to every living thing,
Albeit it hold the Message unawares.
All shapes and sounds have something which is not
Of them: a Spirit broods amid the grass;
Vague outlines of the Everlasting Thought
Lie in the melting shadows as they pass;
The touch of an Eternal Presence thrills
The fringes of the sunsets and the hills.
- “Symbolisms” by Richard Realf (1834-1878)
What did the area that now contains Wildlife Pond look like in 1850? In 1900? Farming was a waning industry by 1850, but still, most of New England was open land. Extensive farming on much of this property would have been impractical due to the rocky ledges. But, there was enough lowland for quality meadow grasses to grow.
The prominent trees on this property, if any were found, would have been white pine, American chestnut, oak, maple, beech and birch. Apparently, there were some large American elms and maybe tupelo (black gum) here as well. It’s likely that by the early 1800s, we’d see only second growth trees, the large ancient trees having been felled by the original settlers of Hollis to build their homes, and to warm those homes during the winter months.
Rocky Pond Brook flowed from Rocky Pond, south and then southwest. Some old maps (1892, for instance) show Rocky Pond Brook continuing in a southerly direction under what we know of as Route 130; but, I’ve been lead to believe that this was a mistake, that Rocky Pond Brook was never diverted and always flowed south and southwest as it does today. But, instead of flowing through swampy land, it now flows through Wildlife Pond before continuing on its way to the so-called Duck Ponds.
The steep, rock ledges rising above what is today known as Otter Pond along Old City Trail (formerly, Old City Road) would have been bare of trees, and it’s been written that rattlesnakes lived in the caves on this south-facing hill. According to “Old City” by Bertha M. Hayden (d. 1948), whose family was one of the first to settle in Hollis,
“When the first settlers came to this section it was infested with snakes. Hogs and pigs running wild killed a lot of them. Moses Proctor was bitten by a rattlesnake. Saved by cauterizing the wound and attentive care, Mr. Proctor used all means in his power to exterminate the pests. Each spring for years he and his neighbors would go to the Den and ledges where the snakes wintered and built fires to smoke out and warm out the snakes. Many snakes were killed by Mr. Proctor and his associates.”
Just south of Rocky Pond Road, a saw mill that had burnt down was purchased in 1892, rebuilt and operated by the Worcester brothers. The mill pond and mill site can still be seen just off Old City Trail, along with descriptive signage. In 1998, an 11½ acre lot including the Worcester Mill site was donated to Beaver Brook Association by Marth Rogers and Nancy Bliden, creating this wonderful outdoor museum.
There were actually several sawmills along Rocky Pond Brook throughout the history of Hollis, but, as wood grew scarce, these mills were shut down. While the Worcester Brother’s mill was in operation, and most likely well before that, an old road cut straight through from Worcester Mill, across what is now Wildlife Pond and south toward what is today, Route 130. This main thoroughfare became our Old City Trail.
There would have been a causeway over what is today the Pond, but what at the time was known as Proctor’s Long Swamp. According to Pete Smith, who has worked for Beaver Brook Association for forty years, fine meadow grasses grew in the vicinity of this swamp, and, cows would have been seen grazing alongside Rocky Pond Brook where it cut through this swamp.
By 1750, beaver populations were wiped out throughout the east. The change in the landscape following their disappearance must have been dramatic.
“Beavers are abundant all over North America, and they are one of the chief articles of trade in Canada. The Indians live upon their flesh during a great part of the year. It is certain that these animals multiply very fast; but it is also true that vast numbers of them are annually killed and that the Indians are obliged at present to undertake distant journeys in order to catch or shoot them. Their decreasing in number is very easily accounted for, because the Indians, before the arrival of the Europeans, only caught as many as they found necessary to clothe themselves with, there being then no trade with the skins. At present a number of ships go annually to Europe, laden chiefly with beavers’ skins; the English and French endeavor to outdo each other by paying the Indians well for them, and this encourages the latter to extirpate these animals.”
- Peter Kalm, describing expeditions in 1750 in his Travels into North America (1780)
Without the beavers, Rocky Pond Brook flowed unmolested from Rocky Pond south, and south and southeast, through Proctor’s Long Swamp. The lowland sections alongside Rocky Pond Brook, east of Old City Trail, were white pine swamps, most likely with red maples mixed in.
What is today known as Old City consisted at the time of several houses on either side of today’s Old City Trail. These included some original settlers of Hollis. According to Hayden, the “Old City” residents chose this spot for its prime meadow hay. At least one foundation hole is still visible along Old City Trail, just north of Wildlife Pond.
Imagine, this section as open meadow bounded by stone walls, a small group of old homes and barns, pastures with grazing cattle, logs being carried by oxen along the old road to the saw mill, the open flowing brook and the exposed rocky ledges rising steeply to the east. It wouldn’t have been prime farm land by any means with the rocks and swampland surrounding the Brook, but apparently, it was good enough for the residents of “Old City.”
According to Jonathan Coddington, in his “Survey of Habitats at Beaver Brook” (1977), beavers returned to Hollis in 1925, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that they began to influence the area surrounding Proctor’s Long Swamp (Wildlife Pond). Interestingly, C. F. Jackson, in the 1922 Journal of Mammalogy article, “Notes on New Hampshire Mammals,” identifies only “Two colonies in the northern part of Coos County.”
Coddington witnessed, in 1977, a battle between the beavers and encroaching white pines at Rocky Pond Brook. The white pines are distasteful to beavers, and so the beavers must flood their roots.
“This is the most dramatic ecological balance at Beaver Brook today [1977]. If the beaver continue to visit the brook every few years, the red maple swamps they maintain will probably stay much as they are now. It is a delicate balance. If beavers raise the water level past the endurance of alders and red maple, emergent and truly aquatic vegetation moves in, such as sedges, bur-reeds, or pondweeds and water lilies. If the water table falls the area will probably return to the mixed pine forest still existing in remnants along the higher unflooded banks.”
Rambling on Old City Trail, it’s easy to see who won the battle.
From 1964, donated and purchased properties were pieced together, beginning with twelve acres, to form Beaver Brook Association Conservation Land. But, because beavers were long extirpated from the area, there was no standing water for migratory waterfowl and other creatures. So, in 1968, the Association sought and received PL 566 grant funds from the Soil Conservation Service to build and maintain a dam to create a wildlife pond that would attract migrating birds and other wildlife. This dam was built at the southwesterly end of Proctor’s Long Swamp. The resulting pond was first known as Proctor Hill Pond and then Wildlife Pond.
According to Pete Smith, trees were cut after the first ice formed on the new Pond. There were more dead trees on the pond than we see today; and, according to Smith, at least one heron built a nest in one of these trees on the north side. More people fished for bass during the Pond’s early days, before pond lilies filled it. A simple causeway existed where the Road to the Old City (today’s Old City Trail) cut across Proctor’s Long Swamp, and soon after the Pond was created, the current bridge (Center Bridge) was built.
After 1977, Rocky Pond Brook, east of Old City Trail, was dammed by beavers, and the red maple swamps were flooded to create today’s Merganser and Otter Ponds. One can still see the old dead white pine snags that fought but lost a good battle.
These beavers and their relatives then went to work on Wildlife Pond, patching the outlets at the man-made dam and building dens and canals. I can imagine the beavers thinking, “these incompetent human engineers left holes in this dam. We’ll show them how to dam a brook!”
Another interesting feature of this area was the cranberry bog, south of Wildlife Pond. Long known as Lawrence Meadow, this bog was located north of what is today an extensive cattail marsh. According to Pete Smith, the sluiceway and splash-boards that backed up the water to flood the cranberries were still visible in 1980. Today, it’s flooded over.
There have been many changes to the landscape even over the past several decades, but there have also been changes to the flora and fauna. It’s easy to see that the creation of Wildlife Pond fulfilled expectations. Today, mergansers, green-winged teal and ring-necked ducks replenish themselves here on their way north or south, mallards and wood ducks rear their young here and great blue heron fish here. Painted turtles lay their eggs alongside the Pond, snapping turtles hunt here, otters and beavers feed here, coyotes have returned, and many species of fish and insects call this place home.
The composition of its flora has also changed. Pete Smith told me that during the 1970s, hepatica was abundant at Beaver Brook. Today, I haven’t seen one plant anywhere near Wildlife Pond. Tupelo or black gum isn’t as common as it was in the past. When Coddington wrote his “Survey,” there were more numerous stands of tupelo along Jeff Smith Trail; and, of course, along Tupelo Trail. Lady’s slippers are certainly more numerous today, however. I believe there’s more trailing arbutus, and I wonder if there was any sweet white water-lily or pickerelweed at all before Wildlife Pond was created.
Beaver Brook Association gave us a beautiful gift. The great teacher of myths, Joseph Campbell, once said in an interview…
“And it comes to one great statement, which for me is a key statement of the understanding of myth and symbols. [Black Elk, a young Sioux Indian] says. ‘I saw myself on the Central Mountain of the world, the highest place. And I had a vision, because I was seeing in a sacred manner, of the world.’ And the sacred Central Mountain was Harney Peak in South Dakota. And then he says, ‘But the Central Mountain is everywhere.’ That is a real mythological realization.”
And, so, Wildlife Pond, might be seen as a sacred place; and, this pond, is everywhere. But, the true Central Mountain or the true Wildlife Pond, and this is Campbell’s main point, is found within ourselves. Our relationship to water is so vital, so urgent that it’s impossible to separate ourselves from it. And, so, beyond merely accepting this, imagine the spiritual satisfaction we might gain from embracing it, even cultivating it.
“According to the Greek philosopher Thales, everything is water, and water is the basic element in life. With our modern ears, we may hear that statement as a scientific fact, but over the centuries many philosophers have understood that water is not just H20 but also an element of the soul – fluid, deep, changing, tidal, cleansing, amniotic, nurturing, and threatening. To know water intimately is to know something about ourselves and to appreciate its presence as a means for increasing the life of the soul.”
- From Thomas Moore’s The Enchantment of Everyday Life (1996)
Though it’s already enjoyed by many people, I hope to highlight aspects of this gift that might have been overlooked, to reveal this spectacular place as an outdoor museum, reflecting both our natural and social histories, and to leave a record, so that one-hundred years from now, anyone interested might be able to note further changes. Let’s hope they find far more and not far less than what we see here today.
“Gentlemen, the providing of what I call country parks to distinguish them from squares and the like is as necessary for the preservation of the civilization of cities as are sewers or street lights. As our towns grow, the spots of remarkable natural beauty, which were once as the gems embroidered upon the fair robe of Nature, are one by one destroyed to make room for railroads, streets, factories, and the rest. The time is coming when it will be hard to find within a day’s journey of our large cities a single spot capable of stirring the soul of man to speak in poetry. Think of what this will mean for the race, and start to-morrow to secure for your children and your children’s children some of those scenes of special natural beauty which I trust are still to be found within a reasonable distance of this hall. For the purposes of the country park a tract of land upon which Nature herself has framed a scene of beauty is always to be desired.”
- From a speech given in 1891, “The Need of Parks,” by Charles Eliot, a Landscape Architect who fought for the protection of our most beautiful Open Space Properties in New England.