PUBLISHED by The Cambridge Chronicle
Cambridge —
Fresh Pond means many things for Cambridge: a source of beauty, a playground, a water supply, an escape. For U.K. native Jill Sinclair, the pond meant a graduate studies thesis.
Sinclair’s new book, “Fresh Pond: The History of a Cambridge Landscape,” grew out of her work at Harvard University Landscape Institute in 2001 and is the first book chronicling the pond’s noteworthy history. She is currently working on a master’s degree in Paris about managing historic gardens more sustainably, but she arrived back in the U.S. last week.
Sinclair recently talked with Katrina Ballard in an e-mail interview.
How did you come to know Fresh Pond?
I lived for 4 years in a little historic carriage house on Brattle Street — we came over from the UK when my husband was posted to the British consulate in Boston. I used to visit Fresh Pond with my baby daughter to walk around the paths and later to go sledding.
Why did you write this book?
I studied landscape history at Harvard's Landscape Institute, and Fresh Pond was originally the topic of my academic thesis. It's a landscape that interests me for all sorts of reasons; Fresh Pond has such a rich past but this is the first book to be written about it.
Why is Fresh Pond such an important landmark?
As landscape architect Charles Eliot said, it is "the largest open space that Cambridge can ever hope to possess." Its size in such a tightly packed city makes it a special place. And then, its history is remarkable.
Two things I would particularly highlight are the pond's role in the 19th century natural ice industry. Local businessmen and women made fortunes cutting ice from the pond and shipping it around the world for sale. At its peak, the industry spread to many lakes in New England and beyond, but Fresh Pond was really the first site of commercial ice cutting, and remained the heart of the industry for decades.
The second thing is the 1897 park design by landscape architecture firm Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot. This was such an important firm — and all three partners were heavily involved in the work at Fresh Pond. And of course it has been the source of the city's water supply for almost 150 years.
How did you conduct your research and find all the photos? How long did it take?
The original thesis took seven months of fairly intensive research. I spent a lot of time digging around in archives, libraries, historical societies, reading old journals and newspapers, finding books that were long out of print.... Turning the thesis into a book took about another 18 months.
What is your favorite memory of Fresh Pond?
Enjoying the leafy shade on Kingsley Park, imagining some of the things that have happened there — working out where the resort hotel stood for most of the 1800s, imagining the fruit trees that once grew there, walking on the paths designed by the Olmsted firm.
What is your favorite part of the pond's history?
As a Brit, I found the ice industry an extraordinary episode. But there are other elements that proved fascinating: the First World War soldiers who dug trenches and practiced trench warfare on the northern shores of the pond; the Catholic schoolgirls who for a time were educated on Kingsley Park. All the memoirs of Harvard students, for whom Fresh Pond was a major source of recreation in the 1700s and 1800s. There are great stories of the students feasting, swimming and skating at the pond.
What do you see for Fresh Pond's future? How should it be used?
The city produced a master plan in partnership with local people in the year 2000 which planned for the future management of the pond. Lots of work has gone on to implement the plan, and I hope that continues. It's great to see the landscape being considered as a whole.
What is the central message you wanted to get across to your readers?
I think that learning about the past helps us better imagine the future; and hope that people will find some of the pond's stories fascinating and inspirational.
Why do Cambridge residents love Fresh Pond?
I think because of its size… it offers such opportunities to people, for sport, for enjoying nature in the city, for escaping some of the pressures of city life.
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