Penny Pond, Berwick, Maine

        Penny Pond is actually a small bog located near the center of Berwick, Maine.  Where its name comes from is a mystery, but this is what locals have called the swamp since at least around 1970 when I first heard the name from kids in the neighborhood. 
      I'm sure a century or two ago this murky area was a true pond, but over time it has given way to many bushes, hillocks, and water plants that have choked it, creating a lushly dense thicket surrounding  four shallow pools.   The bushes have become so entangled that it is now hard to actually photograph the area in summer. 
     The swamp is fed by a languid stream that comes from low hills to the west, and passes under Sullivan Street.   At peak wetness the middle of Penny Pond is only 18"-24" inches deep, though thick mud will suck the unwary foot in even deeper.   It is by no means a dangerous area though, and one would have to be either intoxicated or extremely diminutive to find a way to drown in this bog.

      Penny Pond was a major destination for kids in the neighborhood in days gone by.  In winter, skating on the swamp was tremendous fun, as the various channels through the thickets provided a mysterious labyrinth to blade through.  I recall one year that a certain pathway was declared "Lover's Lane", and some kids claimed to have had memorable experiences there.  I wasn't so lucky, but most of the girls in the area weren't very cute anyway.  Nevertheless, skating around the pond in winter, especially when it was snowing, could indeed be enchanting.   
     Of course, sometimes older kids took over the main pool for hockey games, but there would still be plenty of skating room in the bushes.   Every winter make-shift hockey goals were erected and every spring they sank in to the mire when the ice melted.  There are probably a few dead goalies in the muck as well.
   This leads us to one of the problems that Penny Pond has endured over the decades.  As unprotected public land, this wetland has been polluted, mainly through the careless antics of restless children.  Hockey goals, bottles, cans, and a strange assortment of other junk are all submerged in the dark muck.  Today I discovered the front grill of a car on the edge of a pool, and as it was quite far from the road, someone obviously went to great effort to provide this particular chunk of pollution.  
     Trees have been victimized by the local populace, mainly young boys who decide to chop then down or hack them up, for no reason.  
      All of this is a sad abuse of a pleasant natural resource. There is no Lorax protecting this forest, thus unfortunately anything goes.
     I can attest first-hand to the many creatures that live in this wetland.  On summer evenings it is very common to see muskrats making their rounds through the reeds.  Green herons are regulars too, stealthily hunting in the thickets.   Occasionally ducks stop by as well.
     In the water itself one can see red-spotted newts, spotted salamanders, bullfrogs and green frogs.  Clinging to a tree one may be lucky enough to find a gray tree frog.  There are no fish in the pond, thus it is a haven for many amphibians, who prefer fish-less waters.  

(photo by Henk Wallays)

    Perhaps the most interesting creature I've seen at Penny Pond is the blue-spotted Salamander, a secretive, somewhat rare species.  You won't see it in the water itself, but in the late 1970's I found several of them on the western edge of the bog under logs.  They are quite beautiful, as evidenced in this photo, which I did not take.
     The woods that contain Penny Pond were recently bulldozed, and now approximately half of the fifty or so acres contain houses.  This was a sad development for me after spending my childhood out there, but at least the wetlands were not touched. 

      However, with humans encroaching ever closer, the future doesn't look good for Penny Pond.   The pollution gets worse every year.    ATVs have long scarred the woods as well, and as someone who has watched this area slowly decay over the decades, at times it hardly seems worth walking back there anymore.

      The town of Berwick, never particularly concerned with aesthetics, conservation, and the zoning ordinances that might affect both, could do something to protect this area.   Berwick really has no official town park whatsoever, unless you count the well-worn ball field.  With the Penny Pond wetlands located in the center of town, the chance to preserve a piece of beauty still exists, and Berwick could finally be like most American towns, and have a park.
    What would work best for Penny Pond would be a boardwalk trail that could come in from Sullivan Street, traverse the less saturated swamp to the west of the pond, and then make a circle through the pond itself.  Such boardwalks are common in many Massachusetts towns.   Volunteers or perhaps even an employee or two could monitor treatment of the area.  A clean-up could be conducted, ridding the bog of the needless pollution plaguing it. 
    In the meantime, if any locals have opinions, memories, or especially photos of Penny Pond and would like to post them here, you can email me at:  suchandsuchaperson@hotmail.com.  
Thank you. 

                                Jonathan Donahue

                                                6/24/12