Skating at Puffer’s Pond

Skating at Puffer's Pond, near sunset, 1/4/2013

With the thermostat registering 42°F a few hours ago – and with above freezing temperatures to follow over the next few days - it’s unlikely that anyone will still be skating “on” Puffer’s Pond for much longer. But the skaters were out yesterday, taking advantage of North Amherst’s natural skating rink, the result of days of frigid temperatures earlier this week. Two children, Linus and Silas, and their watchful dad, Sam, were the last people to depart yesterday as the sun was setting. Sam didn’t know who had cleared the snow to form the makeshift rink, but there had clearly been a good deal of traffic earlier in the day. At an average depth of 5’, with a maximum depth of 20’, Puffer’s Pond (and particularly South Beach) has become a magnet for skaters and people ice fishing once the surface is well frozen. As I’ve mentioned in other postings, I am no expert on when the ice can bear weight, and though I’ve lived on or near New England lakes for many years, I have never been one to go out on the ice myself. (In other words, don’t take my word for the safety of going out on the ice - proceed at your own risk.)

Someone or some animal left tracks going all the way from the skating area, across the south side of the pond, and continuing on to the edge of the waterfall. I was too far away from the waterfall to see what happened to the tracks once they reached the edge, but given that the water was audibly crashing over the dam (in other words, not frozen), it strikes me as a somewhat risky route. Even animals don’t necessarily have a sixth sense about these things, as yesterday’s sad news about the rescue of a deer who had fallen through the ice at a Waltham pond reinforces.

From about 1912 to the early 1940s, the Puffer family harvested and delivered ice from an ice house on South Beach. 

Skating at Puffer's Pond, 1/4/2012 (South Beach, where
the ice house and ice elevator once operated, on the right)

Indeed, the whole area has a rich history, first as a village of the Norwottuck natives, thought to have been located in North Amherst adjacent to Mill River (MHC Town Survey: Amherst 1982). And later, in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, Puffer’s Pond was called “Factory Hollow Pond,” and the surrounding area was known as “Factory Hollow,” a manufacturing center that hosted a succession of water powered commercial businesses, including gristmills, saw mills, paper and textile mills, and a hat factory (to name only a few). All that remains of that era are a few stone foundations scattered in the underbrush along the Robert Frost Trail. And, of course, the ice still returns to Puffer's and South Beach every winter.

For those of you who still want to experience skating or ice fishing at Puffer’s Pond and fear you may have missed the cold temperatures, take heart – advanced forecasts are suggesting a VERY cold second half of January.