Spotlight on Middlebury Land Trust properties – October 2016

#MIDDLEBURY

Send in your guess identifying the October “Can You Guess The Location?” mystery Middlebury Land Trust property. (Curtiss Clark photo)

By JANINE SULLIVAN-WILEY

Nobody guessed the September mystery photo – it was Turtle Pond. This Middlebury Land Trust (MLT) property is just over eight acres, two of which are the pond itself. The pond is in the southwest corner of the property formed when Route 188 makes a 90-degree turn south, and Tucker Hill Road begins. Immediately adjacent to it, on Wheeler Road, is the Miriam Camp Tract, which has another 9.9 acres. This will be described in a future article.

Turtle Pond is not a place for hikes as there is only one small trail linking the two parking pull-offs. It is a pretty stretch, though, moss-covered for much of it and bordered by mountain laurels that are beautiful when they bloom in spring.

The first small pull-off is right by the “Crossing traffic” sign. The second, larger one is just before Wheeler Road branches off and Whittemore Road (Route 188) makes another 90-degree turn. At that point there are large boulders and a bench that overlooks the pond. The water lilies are still in bloom, and you are likely to spot a turtle slipping into the water from a rock. The pond itself and its wetlands are part of the headwaters that drain into Hop Brook. Fishing is not allowed.

In 1930, Turtle Pond and its surrounding land were granted by Gertrude B. Whittemore to Westover School, and thereafter by Westover School to the MLT in 1981. Westover School still owns the wooded land to the west.

The pond has long been a favorite for winter skaters. Curt Clark shared some Turtle Pond memories with us.

He said, “I grew up on North Street back in the mists of time (50s and early 60s) when parents pretty much let their kids go feral in the summer. My neighborhood pack ranged freely over an area that stretched from the Middlebury Cemetery and Fenn’s Pond to the candy counter at the Middlebury Store (now Pies and Pints), across the forbidden precincts of Westover School, where we did our best to avoid detection and inevitable ejection, down to Turtle Pond, where there were proper diversions for free-range boys, like catching frogs as our shoes filled with water and muck. In the winter, of course, there was skating at Turtle Pond for those not quite so hockey-hardened as the Fenn’s Pond puck fanatics … It was a different time.”

Here are some clues for the October mystery photo. For help, use the map on the MLT website, middleburylandtrust.org. The mystery location is very near the border of a neighboring town and a main road. The MLT does not own the property but has a conservation easement on it.

Email your best guess of the location to mbisubmit@gmail.com, and please put “Guess the location” in the subject line. Next month we will name the correct email respondents; the first respondent is the winner. Good luck!