Generations of Westporters have swum in, skated on or otherwise enjoyed Nash’s Pond.
The “modern” pond was formed in 1879, when the Nash family erected a dam and 3 icehouses. Workers harvested ice each winter. It was stored through summer, sawed into blocks, then sent to New York for sale.
In 1937 — after the ice business, but before most homes were built along “Nash’s Woods and Pond” — it looked like this:
(Postcard courtesy of Seth Schachter)
What are your memories of Nash’s Pond? Click “Comments” below.
In the 60’s there could be three hockey games going at the same time at different sections of the pond. Toughest games were close to the dam where I played. .
Do you know if the pond freezes over these days to the point where kids can skate and play hockey? I vaguely remember a game back in the day on the pond by Signal Lane.
Used to ice skate there when I was 13…remember that the socks were thin in those days and my feet would nearly frostbite!!! Fun with friends.
The pond by Signal Lane was Erickson’s Pond. I have fond memories of wearing the stiffest, most painful hand-me-down figure skates and having a great time!
Hi, Connie! I remember you from Hillspoint Elementary School.
I lived on Wake Robin Road, and I ice skated many times on Erickson’s Pond. In the summer friends and I would play there, although my mother would always tell me not to. She was afraid I’d drown (I understand her sentiment now).
Erickson’s Pond was formed as a result of an excavation that was used as fill to build I95. My sisters (all older by 8, 9 & 10 years) remember it as a small hill with a lot of native wildlife.
Hi John – of course I remember you, we went through Hillspoint, Long Lots and Staples and probably always rode the same bus. So they filled in for the thruway – which is interesting because I think the Millpond is on the other side of I95.
This is a different memory of Nash’s Pond and not pleasant. I was riding my bike along Woodside Ave. one afternoon when I was about 10 and saw a crowd of people down by the water. I went down there and was told someone had drowned. Two men in a rowboat were trying to find the victim and soon they pulled a tall black kid up from the water. That sight has been a lasting image.
Great pond and wonderful surrounding neighborhood(s). But also the scene of some horrific incidents. I was the first cop on the scene that is mentioned above by Mr. Barlow. Awful day.
I have some great memories skating, playing hockey and ice-fishing on Nash’s pond in the early 1970’s. I also rode my bike there to catch frogs a few times. On a more tragic note: In the spring of 1975, when I was 15, a 7-year old boy named Michael McCarthy capsized in a canoe and drowned in the pond.
So many memories starting the summer of 1953. My first date with my future bride. She lived in the house below the dam. 66 years have passed and next month we celebrate 62 years of marriage.
Caught the biggest yellow perch of my life one night at the upper end of the pond.
As a police off icer I was there along with Dave On the afternoon of the tragic drowning. There was a later drowning of a young boy from Norwalk who was swimming there with friends.
Cobby Tedesco teamed up with actor Kirk Douglas to run a boxing program in the barn for Westport kids.
Another year they opened up the dam to drain the pond 2 weeks before the fishing season started, delighting area youngsters with great fishing in the brook below the dam.
One of my brides favorite memories was a winter when Ebby Nash drove his Model A onto the ice and gave neighborhood kids rides up and down the pond.
As teen agers, we also had a great rope swing just above the dam.- Dick Alley
I’ve lived on Nash’s pond since 1986. Actually our house is where one of the original ice houses used to be. But in 1986 the kids used to skate on the pond all winter. Now they are lucky to get one or two days all winter to skate.
That’s my best example of Global Warming!
I lived across from Nash’s Pond and have fond memories as a young girl in the 60’s and 70’s skating on the pond after school. During the winter skaters’ cars lined the length of Pequot Trail. The pond was filled with skaters. I remember taking a sheet from home and using it as a sail with friends. We were blown from one side of the pond to the other, quickly dropping the sheet when we got close to the dam.
Now I believe you can only have access to Nash’s Pond if your property abuts it.
Wonderful times skating on the pond. There was no public access but the home owners were very hospitable and allowed Westporters use of the pond when it froze over. My husband played hockey with the kids. Happy memories.
There was a rope tied to that tree & we kids used to swing out into the water to swim. That was one way to dive in Beverly Breault (an old timer of Westport) from the good old days!🤗
I remember skating there in the 50’s. The ice could be perfect and smooth or bumpy and difficult if there had been a windy storm when it froze. We walked over and accessed the pond from a vacant lot (still empty!) on Woodside Rd.
Thanks Dan! So many Nash’s Pond memories. The countless sunnies that sacrificed their lives as I learned to fish and importantly, remove a hook. Or better yet, set the hook before they could swallow it. The rope swing on the Olshan’s property that dropped you in the deep end and then swimming across to sit on the rocks in front of Michael Bolton’s house. Wandering around the old stone foundations when they drained it in the late 70s. It was my backyard playground.