Spring Pond (Massachusetts)


Spring Pond, United States, abuts the three cities of Lynn, Peabody and Salem. In the center of these townships "is a beautiful pond". It is a secluded lake known by residents of the three cities and visitors who come to enjoy the camps, trails and natural environment of the woods. "It is in fact one of the most picturesque and romantic lakelets in Massachusetts". Stretching from Spring Pond to Marlborough Road in Salem, the pond and woods form a microcosm of beauty. On the edge of Spring Pond was once the Fay Farm, an English manor estate in New England. The mansion of Fay Farm was a well-known hotel in 1810, when the springs of these areas were believed to possess medicinal qualities. People visited the springs near Spring Pond to restore health, and worship the goddess Hygeia and drink from the rusty iron-rich water trickling from the foot of a bank. Later, some traveled there solely for fun and frolic. The hotel was then converted into a private residence. The waters of Spring Pond are conveyed by springs from an aquifer lying below Spring Pond through Peabody, Lynn and Salem. Spring Pond is listed as one of the "Massachusetts Great Ponds".

History

In 1669, colonial divisions between townships were drawn using the spring at Spring Pond as the benchmark to create the city boundaries; Spring Pond supplied water to Danvers, Lynn and Salem. In 1669, the spring was used to establish the boundary between Lynn and Salem; in 1793 the borders were redefined based on the spring. The stone benchmark remains in the water of Spring Pond, engraved with the initials of each township: L, P and S. In 1793 Spring Pond was divided among three towns: Peabody, Salem and Lynn. The spring was the boundary of the colonial division line of the townships. The dividing line left valuable, arable land on one side of the town boundary and separated the Mansion House and buildings in Lynn.
"Lo", a Native American, was killed around 1676 by John Flint, a soldier in the war against King Philip by the Wampanoags, near the pond. Legend says that he was the first Native American killed in the area; his body and bones nourished the shrubs and trees near Spring Pond.
Before 1704, early settlement of the area included Jacob and Elizabeth Allen of Salem as recorded landowners near what was then known as Lynn Mineral Spring Pond.
During the Third Plantation of the Massachusetts Bay Colony John Casper Richter Von Crowninshield, a German physician, settled on the hillsides near Spring Pond on land purchased from Elizabeth Allen. Among Crowninshield's descendants were George Crowninshield, who founded the Crowninshield & Sons shipping business and whose family built Crowninshield’s Wharf in Salem. Benjamin Williams Crowninshield served as United States Secretary of the Navy, Representative in Congress, member of the Massachusetts State Senate and House of Representatives, and became one of the first directors of the Merchant's Bank of Salem; he founded East India Trade of Salem, and the USS Crowninshield naval destroyer was named in his honor. George Crowninshield Jr. built and sailed the yacht Cleopatra’s Barge. Louise E. du Pont Crowninshield, wife of Francis Boardman Crowninshield, was one of America's first historical preservationists and a founding member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
In 1810 the Twin Springs Hotel was built near the spring, whose water was rich in iron and believed to possess medicinal qualities. Patients traveled great distances to drink the water and, for a time, to worship the goddess Hygeia to restore their health. This "classical worship" damaged the hotel's reputation, and it was later converted into the private summer residence of Richard Sullivan Fay. From 1847–1865 Fay lived on a estate on the hillsides surrounding Spring Pond partly in Lynn, partly in present-day Salem, growing in his arboretum a variety of rare and exotic trees and shrubs imported from other parts of the world; many arrived here first in the United States, among them the American tulip tree. Some descendants of Fay's trees and shrubs continue to grow near Spring Pond, although most of the rare trees were cut by a lumber company in 1910. In 1862, Fay commissioned an army at his own expense. Officers and members of the 38th Regiment of Massachusetts named the company the “Fay Light Guard”. It was attached to the 39th Massachusetts Regiment and fought at Port Hudson, Cane River, Mansion Plains, Winchester, Fisher’s Hill and Cedar Creek.

Drinking water

The Journal of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers reported that "In 1851 a main in length was constructed to bring water by gravity from Spring Pond in Peabody, one of the present sources of supply of that town. This pond is about above the central portion of Salem".

Spring Pond in literature

Notable residents

Parentator or Remarkables of Dr. Increase Mather, by Cotton Mather, was published in 1724.
In his book, Cotton Mather shares excerpts from the diary of his father, Increase Mather, concerning the latter's recovery from illness due to the healing waters of Mineral Spring Pond. Some excerpts follow: