on the right is now the
Minuteman Bikeway.
Geological history Fifty thousand years ago, the area of Arlington where Spy Pond now sits was covered a mile deep in ice by the
Wisconsin Glacier. Fifteen thousand years ago, the ice began to
recede, leaving depressions or "
kettle holes" in its wake. Initially filled with water from the receding glacier itself and then by natural runoff, the kettle holes eventually formed small lakes and
ponds throughout the area. Spy Pond is now fed by a combination of
groundwater and
surface runoff from the surrounding area. Spy Pond currently has an average depth of 12 feet (3.7 m) and a maximum depth of 36 feet (11 m). The pond has a two-acre (0.8 ha) island, Elizabeth Island, which was privately owned (but undeveloped) until 2010, when Arlington Land Trust (in collaboration with the
Massachusetts Audubon Society) agreed to purchase the property and set it aside for
conservation.
Cultural history On April 19, 1775, Mother Batherick, an elderly woman who liked to gather
dandelions by Spy Pond, managed to corral and take prisoner six
Revolutionary War Redcoats who were fleeing their captured supply train. In 1850, the Spy Pond Water Company began piping water to West Cambridge. The Spy Pond Water Company changed its name to the Arlington Lake Company when West Cambridge was renamed Arlington in 1867. Spy Pond itself was also renamed to Arlington Lake (sometimes Lake Arlington) circa 1867, but the Spy Pond name persisted. at Spy Pond, from an 1854 print During the
Civil War the
Union Army conducted training at
Camp Sheppard near Spy Pond and following the war civilian rifle matches were conducted by the
Massachusetts Rifle Association from 1875 through 1876 before their move to
Woburn, Massachusetts. The 19th century also saw Spy Pond become an industrial center as
entrepreneurs sought to harvest the benefits of this
natural resource for export. Spy Pond became a source for ice in the winter, cut into huge blocks for
shipping, and pure water for nearby
Boston in the summer. Businesses shipped Spy Pond ice as far away as
India, installing huge amounts of
infrastructure and equipment in the Arlington area in the process. This led to the development of the local
railroad and large-scale manufacture of
ice tools. In the 1970s, the Wetland Protection Act was passed classifying Spy Pond as a
great pond under Massachusetts law. Despite this classification, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts uses Spy Pond for drainage from
Route 2, resulting in what Cori Beckwith, administrator of the Arlington Conservation Commission, describes as a "slightly hazardous" sandbar and states that "its costly" to remove. ==Wildlife==