From Ice Pond to Community Haven, Chris’s Pond Prepares for Improvements

By Carrie Jones

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Birch Bay Retirement Village.

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SOUTHWEST HARBOR—Tucked behind the bustle of town, Chris’s Pond has long been a place of community, conservation, quiet respite, and joyous skating. Now, a $20,000 grant from the Maine Coast Heritage Trust (MCHT) will help the town improve access to the historic pond and make it more welcoming to visitors.

MCHT had previously granted three acres to the town at the site.

This new donation will allow for improvements to parking, public access, and visitor amenities at the public space tucked away in the middle of Southwest Harbor proper.

“The biggest news for the pond is that Maine Coast Heritage Trust has, they finalized all of their land sales and transactions related to the pond, and subsequently they were able to offer the Town of Southwest Harbor a grant for improvements to the pond of around $20,000,” Conservation Commission member Ann Ratcliff told the Select Board at its Tuesday, November 10.

One of the goals is to improve accessibility to the pond.

The former access will be a pedestrian path that will be granite dust. They also hope to put in a driveway on the other side of the Harvard Insurance building. They’ve contracted with an engineering company and the money for improvements will go into and come out of a town reserve fund. Greg Johnston will do all the permitting for the project.

“This milestone reflects years of collaboration, community input, and a shared vision to enhance public spaces and preserve natural beauty for generations to come,” the MCHT press release had stated in 2025.

But it was more than that.

Misha Mytar, then associate director of land protection at MCHT, had said, the pond’s current iteration came “through a really amazing process that was led by children in the community to bring us in to start the conservation story of this place.”

Chris’s Pond is a gathering place and a respite. Irises grow along the edges, ducks float on the water, deer peek through the trees. Frogs croak from the liminal spaces between water and land.

The pond itself is one of those liminal spaces: an ecological moment tucked behind the often busy main street of Southwest Harbor.

The town and the Maine Coast Heritage Trust have worked together to protect the area.

“The additional land and the expanded conservation easement will ensure that generations of townspeople will be able to enjoy Chris’s Pond,” Ratcliff had said in April. “The Conservation Commission and Friends of Chris’s Pond will begin working with town officials and the public to plan improved access, as well as small enhancements like a picnic table and informational kiosk.”

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HISTORY OF THE POND

“The Conservation Commission of Southwest Harbor is pleased to be a part of the land transfer from MCHT to the Town of Southwest Harbor to expand the Conservation Easement around Chris’s Pond and add additional acreage for improvements,” Ratcliff said in April. “The pond has a rich history—it began as a man-made ice pond in the mid-1800s and, until the 1920s it actively produced ice for homes and businesses on this side of the island. Since then, it has served as a valued natural and recreational resource.”

The pond was initially created in 1860 when it was dug out for an ice delivery system and business. An ice business existed at the site for approximately 90 years. It was owned by Christopher Wendell Lawler from 1921 to 1947. The pond was drained in 1939 to put out a large fire in town. In 1947, transients started a fire in the ice barn, burning down the barn and everything within it. This was the end of the business.

“It started well before us,” Ratcliff had said in June 2025.

The pond was sold to another man who owned it for just about a decade. That owner sold it to the town, asking that it be called Uncle Bill’s Pond with a provision that it be used for skating with night lighting installed. In March 4, 1957 it was acquired at town meeting. For 30 years, people skated and took care of the surface. It hosted hockey programs throughout the 1970s.

In 1987, people blocked a proposal for a parking lot at the site. The town voted down a plan the next year that would have drained the pond for that lot.

In 1995, a group at Pemetic Elementary School called the “Problem Solvers” worked with Maine Coast Heritage Trust to put a conservation easement on the pond. That same year, the eighth grade class built the warming hut. The entire school came out to watch the hut moved from the school to the pond.

That is what a good community does.

Select Board member Noah Burby attended via Zoom.

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LINKS TO LEARN MORE

MCHT fact sheet

MCHT website

Expansion project details

Southwest Harbor’s Conservation Commission

The Commission is looking for new members or associates who would be willing to help with any of our current responsibilities. No experience required, just an interest in preserving our Town’s natural resources. Please call the Town Office at 207-244-5404 if you are interested.

To read the Select Board’s packet

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Photos: Carrie Jones/Bar Harbor Story