2023.10.403

In the April 2010 newsletter, we published a photo of "The Turtle Pond" at the north west corner of the "new Bridge". Readers were asked to send in their memories. Here is some of the input received. From Kit Lane: "I hope you are aware that the existence of Turtle Pond dates only from the new highway in 1936. Prior to that there was a long low stationary bridge from the Saugatuck side of the river to the island (where the East Shore Condominiums sit today) the road went across the island, and then there was a bridge over the water to the Douglas side. It was first a lift bridge and in 1903 or so was replaced by the swing bridge. "When the new highway was built by Lamb Inc in 1936 they filled around the island to make it bigger, and then built the causeway replacing the long bridge on the Saugatuck side leaving the depression that caused that part of the river to be commemorated in Turtle Pond. "It IS aptly named, more than once I have discovered a turtle trying to cross the highway to open river and had to help him along before he got smushed. You seldom see anyone fishing there. "Before the village started building an ice rink every winter it was often used for ice skating and the Lions Club even built a little shelter house about 1970. " From Art Lane" "One day in about the 1970s I was driving from Douglas to Saugatuck and spotted a big turtle ambling across the Blue Star bridge in medium traffic. "In front of me, a gray Porsche stopped on the bridge. As the other cars stopped or slowed down, the driver got out, picked up the turtle, and carried it to the bank of Turtle pond. Then he got back in his Porsche and drove on." From Marsha Kontio- "When the condo's were built there was a big to-do in the paper about the threat to turtle pond. Until then, I didn't even know it existed." From R J Peterson- He owned turtle pond at one time and it had been a dumping ground for the city, a "real trash bin". There were refrigerators and other trash in it. At one point he had a permit to fill it in, but ended up not doing so. When he sold it to the people who built the condos there was a lot of public outcry. One fellow even lay down in front of a truck. He reports that there is storm drainage into it from the uphill side of Lake St, and at the other end, drainage which runs out between the condos to the river. From Jack Sheridan: "A pond in that location was kind of mysterious in the first place. As I remember the turtle pond there were few trees and bushes surrounding it - so there it was - this pond below the roads and sidewalks in a very unlikely place. The logs on the edge were clustered with turtles sunning that would scuttle into the water upon approach. The waters were a murky brown. I wish we could find a photo that captures the turtle pond essence." "I remember the turtle pond, though I did not know its name and remember it more as a frog pond. I used to go there with Steve Chadwick and catch frogs and tadpoles. It was fairly common for me to take the tadpoles in an old plastic baby bathtub back to Arlington Heights, raise them into frogs, then release them back into the turtle pond upon our next trip to Saugatuck!" - Scott Schultz, Raleigh, NC

Nature, ecology, the landscape

Winthers, Sally

01/11/2024

04/20/2024