I love the Coonamessett Pond in Falmouth.
As a longtime Coonamessett Farm member, I’ve watched many a sunrise, sunset, and that almost unearthly full sun that lights it up like a spectacle midday. I’ve canoed with my kids on it, daydreamed staring at it, and recently took 40 people over 2 days for a walk around the edges of a portion of it. The mission was to think about plants and flowers all around us as opportunities for making medicine and color.
As I got everyone to stop talking, I asked them to smell the air there in the cool morning sun, to look at how the light moved slowly through branches above to allow light to play on the ferns below, covered in dew. Did they hear the Red-Winged Blackbirds calling each other in the overgrown briars? If they closed their eyes, what else could they tune in to?
We “know” a pond in the way we’ve interacted it but it’s always interesting to know the facts on the pond. I was happy to see there’s a Coonamessett Pond Association and that they had plenty of information that I never knew. The non-profit organization, founded in 1985, was created to provide stewardship for the Coonamessett Pond and the surrounding area.
From the site:
“At 164 acres, Coonamessett Pond is the largest pond in the area and one of the clean watersheds for Falmouth. It is a natural kettle hole pond with a maximum depth of 34 feet and an average depth of 19 feet and is located in the Hatchville section of Falmouth. Transparency is only fair during the summer, extending to about 6.5 feet. The pond stratifies during the summer at about 20 to 25 feet. The shoreline is 2.9 miles and is moderately developed with the Cape Cod Country Club golf course, cottages and year-round homes. Public access to Coonamessett Pond is provided by the town of Falmouth through the Souza Conservation Area on the southwestern end of the pond. It is located off Hatchville Road which runs between Sam Turner Road and Sandwich Road, roads that run south from Route 151. The pond receives water from groundwater and small inlets from Round Pond and former bogs to the north and drains into the Coonamessett River.”
So about getting to know your pond, what do YOU know?
For more ideas about how to save your pond, go to State of the Waters Action Plan.
And remember, always check with your local conservation office before undertaking any projects around a pond so that you don’t run afoul of local and state wetlands protection regulations.
Pond Stories are a collection of writings and other media from Cape Codders and visitors who love the almost 1,000 local ponds that dot the Cape. We hope this collection of stories awakens your inner environmentalist to think deeper about our human impacts to these unique bodies of water.
Send us your favorite pond photo, story, poem, video, artwork–we want to share with everyone why the Cape’s ponds and lakes are so special! Email your pond connection to [email protected]
