About Spy Pond and Spy Pond Park

Spy Pond was formed 12,000 years ago from glacial ice. Its water provided the town with good trade in ice, shipped as far away as India, until 1870 (when refrigerators were invented). From the 1880s until after World War II, vegetable farms thrived on the area's naturally fertile soil. The pond, with a hotel on its southeast shore, offered year-round recreation. Over 102 acres, the pond is home to many types of water birds and fish.

Image of poster designed by Artist-in-Residence Kari Percival.
Poster designed by 2022 Artist-in-Residence, Kari Percival, to support our local organization working on the community cause of protecting the environment.

Today, people continue to enjoy the pond and the park. They picnic, fish, boat, and bring their children to the playground. On the nearby Minuteman Trail, runners, strollers and bikers enjoy the lovely view.

Recent Town efforts have improved the water quality, but continued vigilance is needed to combat invasive weeds, algae, and other ecological problems. Solutions can only come about through the efforts of people like you who care about the pond. We invite you to join Friends of Spy Pond Park and support our efforts to help protect this precious natural resource.

The Friends of Spy Pond Park successfully advocated for a 2006 park renovation, the 2019 edge protection and erosion control project, and the 2022 playground and boat ramp upgrades. The organization monitors the need for repairs and additional equipment and makes contributions towards these improvements. Volunteers groom the park and remove massive amounts of invasive plants that can strangle the shore ecosystem. Also, they install native plants to stabilize the shoreline planting beds.

The following is a timeline and summary of recent Spy Pond Park shoreline rehabilitation efforts:

  • 2020-2023 Revegetation Project - The current round of work at Spy Pond Park started in 2020 with the Conservation Commission obtaining Community Preservation Funding to secure the Spy Pond shoreline and curb erosion. Read more about this project.
  • 2023 - In the spring of 2023 the renovated playground re-opened for public use with improved accessibility. Young children up to 8 years of age enthusiastically explored the colorful equipment. Parents can now bring strollers into the playground enclosure and watch older children while sitting on the many new benches there. People in wheelchairs can get closer to the water's edge via the ramp and the children enjoy playing in the sandy beach.
  • 2021 - Design began for renovation of the tot lot playground and the handicapped ramp at North Beach. Conservation Commission funding enabled Parterre Ecological, a contractor, to treat and remove invasive plant growth at the water's edge of Spy Pond Park, continuing maintenance begun by the Erosion Control Project. FSPP also began a more involved invasive plant removal on the upper planting beds along the shoreline with the help of many FSPP members and adjunct volunteers. The Stewardship Team also started to add native plants in areas where they removed the invasive species.
  • 2019 - Work began and coir fascine was installed at the water's edge to prevent shoreline erosion, also:
    • Invasive species were removed mostly in the lower half of the planting beds and replaced with native plant slugs.
    • Fences were erected to prevent destruction of new plantings and new unauthorized path development.
    • Additional funding enabled the construction of an outlook with disability access and a porous path throughout the park.
  • 2017 - Based on the discussions with the advocacy groups, the Commission applied for and received 2017 Community Preservation Act funding for a Spy Pond Edge Protection and Erosion Control Feasibility Study (i.e., Phase 1 of this project). The study includes an assessment of the existing shoreline condition, alternative preservation and protection strategies that address shoreline stabilization and erosion control, and a final concept plan for the four Town-owned parcels. The Spy Pond Stabilization Project began in 2017 with an application by the Conservation Commission for CPA and Community Development Block Grant funding to preserve, stabilize, and strengthen the pond’s banks to control erosion; protect and enhance wildlife habitat, prevent unauthorized paths; broaden and strengthen constituency groups; increase water quality and recreational opportunities; and improve stormwater infiltration.
  • 2014 - The Commission invited the Friends of Spy Pond Park and other advocacy groups to discuss ways of enhancing, protecting, and further stabilizing the shoreline.
  • 2013 - The Conservation Commission noticed that the shoreline edge was again deteriorating and that there was the potential for long-term failure adjacent to public open space.
  • 2005-2006 - The Town undertook a project to restore approximately 1,700 linear feet of shoreline at Spy Pond Park. The existing bank had been severely eroded by stormwater runoff, resulting in compromised water quality, including high phosphorous levels in the pond. The project included surveying the wetland resource areas and sources of stormwater runoff, applying stormwater management techniques, restoring, and enhancing bank and shorefront plantings, and addressing the public's desire for access to the water. The Park reopened in the Spring of 2006. The 2006 Spy Pond Park Renovation was designed by CRJ Associates, landscaping architects, and carried out by Heimlich Landscaping and Construction. They did the following:
    • Replaced crumbling retaining walls and fortified most of the rest of the shoreline with coir logs planted with native shrubs.
    • Created erosion-proof access points with impressive boulders.
    • Repaired drainage from Pond Lane and the gullies it had created.
    • Re-graded the middle area of the park so that it drains toward the bike path.
    • Built a boat ramp which provides acceess for emergency craft and allows pleasure boats to be launched without damaging the shoreline.
    • Built a new path which unifies the park, provides access for maintenance vehicles, and is made with pervious materials that allow water to drain through instead of running off.
    • Installed a seat wall, flanked by steps and a ramp, at a small area of the shore left open for the enjoyment of children using the playground, providing easy and non-eroding access as well as seating for the parents who watch them.
    • Removed remnants of old ice-house piers just under water near the Linwood street "beach" which had been a hazard to boaters and bathers.
    • Designed the shoreline to look less inviting to geese swimming on the pond by placing both visual and real obstacles such as shrubs and zigzagging rocks between them and the land.
    • Installed new picnic tables and benches on cement platforms to prevent erosion.
    • Added new water fountains, signs, trees, and flowering plants.

History

  • 2010 - The Arlington Land Trust (ALT), with the assistance of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, purchased Elizabeth Island from its long-time owner, Elaine Sacco.
  • 2003 - The Town completed a preliminary plan for a Spy Pond Park renovation project.
  • 1999 - Pat Loheed Landscape Architects completed an erosion study.
  • 1998 - IRS recognized the Friends of Spy Pond Park, Inc. as a 501 (c) (03) nonprofit in April.
  • 1992 - The Town renovated Spy Pond Park, but the grass, paths, and shoreline deteriorated rapidly. A group first met to discuss concerns about maintenance and possible renovation of Spy Pond Park.