Stories From the
Turtle Pond
ELIZABETH PAMPERIEN WITH TWO TURTLE
FRIENDS, 1931
In
this 1931 photo taken from the side yard of her family cottage at the south end
of
In
the April 2010 newsletter, we published a photo of "The Turtle Pond"
at the
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From
"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. "
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From
"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."
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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."
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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
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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."
The painted turtle (Chrysemys picta)-Complements Wikipedia
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"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