Random Glimpses of Cobbett’s Pond

William Austin Brooks Diary, June, 1900

June 16, 1990 (Saturday): Last night Howard and I came back to Fairview. He, like everyone else, thinks it is a pretty place. This morning we launched the canoe for the first time on Cobbett’s Pond. Mary and I went out early and she caught a 20 inch pickerel. Later Howard caught one, and John another, 16 inches. I cut a birch and set up cots in the tent with a little stand between them at the head so they look quite shipshape. The children have been on and in the water all day. It has been perfect, clear, cool, with a fresh breeze.

     Yesterday morning I was at the Smith farm at Green Harbor and today I am here. It is nice on the shore, especially in a place like that where you get the country and the ocean but I love the woods and hills the best, and this pond with its clear water, encircles by green hills with the breath of pines is the place for me. John and I saw a small heron with a snake near Tupelo Point. We had pickerel for supper and they were delicious.

Pictures taken today:

The Narrows from the camp.

The children and boat on the beach.

Toward Breezy Point from the Camp.

The shore at the mouth of the brook.

June 17, 1900 (Sunday): Mary and I went out fishing this morning but caught no fish. We have the flags flying in honor of Bunker Hill and they make the place look very gay. Howard hates to go back to school tomorrow. Mary and I walked through the woods to Wyndham Lodge and on the way found a ledge of rocks similar to those at the Camp. The Maple Leaf Viburnum is in blossom, a very pretty shrub. John and Auston have four turtles, on of them they think is a musk turtle. Austin in trying to catch one, sat down in the water all over much to our amusement.

June 18, 1900: Howard and I left the pond this morning. I went to New Bedford and Howard to Cambridge. He swam a two mile race today at Harvard Boat House, a part of the 125th anniversary of Bunker Hill. He won first prize, a gold watch.