Kathleen Kouril Grieser/Special to the Tab
Covid restrictions have made simply going outdoors for a change of scenery a treat, so even more people than usual have been enjoying Bullough’s Pond, located at Walnut Street and Commonwealth Avenue, this past year.
The pond is a pandemic respite, but it’s been a precious resource for residents for more than three and a half centuries.
In 1664, Capt. John Spring built an earthen dam across Laundry Brook to power his gristmill. The brook spread across an area almost twice the size of today’s pond. City Hall and the Newton Free Library sit on land that was once pond. Bullough’s Pond Dam, still intact, has never been breached nor over-topped, and is known as Massachusetts’ second-oldest, working colonial dam.