Vibrant History of Kennedy’s Pond
Around 1850, the Hayward family owned significant land in the Second Division area of Concord. This family dammed 16 acres of water, creating what is known today as Kennedy’s Pond. Henry David Thoreau’s journals refer to this area as mill pond and it was later used by the Concord Ice Company for harvesting ice.
Nearly 50 years later, the Musketaquid Club was formed; this sportsmen’s club built dams forming an additional two ponds in 1900 and 1920. Kennedy’s Pond is part of this chain of three ponds on the Second Division Brook watershed.
Local residents John and Elsie Kennedy, who operated the South Bridge Boat House and owned property on Old Mill Road, purchased the pond in 1948. The Kennedy family revitalized the pond to demonstrate boats and to run a children’s camp. In 1975, the U. S. Geological Survey officially changed the name to Kennedy’s Pond, recognizing the family’s use of the pond and surrounding land as a community summer camp in the 1950s. Learn more about this history directly from Elsie Kennedy!