Preserve Coffin’s Ice Pond
Coffin’s Ice Pond is a jewel of the Brunswick community, a place of living history, a haven for wildlife, and a site for public recreation, contemplation, and relaxation. It has been part of Brunswick’s culture for over a century, and it is under threat.
Help save this unique part of our local landscape!
Scroll below to learn more about the Pond, its history, and the threats facing it, then click “Take Action” to find out what you can do to help!
WHERE IS THE POND?
Tucked away in the woods behind the Bowdoin College fields and the Maine Pines Tennis facility on Harpswell Road, Coffin’s Ice Pond lies along the Brunswick trail system that connects our community from downtown, across campus, to the Town Commons and ultimately to the ocean. Coffin’s Ice Pond is part of the Mare Brook Watershed, a space where the creek opens into a wider plain and creates a magical ecology so rare in our community.
Coffin’s Ice Pond in summer before siltation problems began (Source: Brunswick Topsham Land Trust. 2015. Brunswick Topsham Land Topsham Land Trust A - Z Guide to Parks and F arks and Facilities).
Here, reflected sunlight shimmers on the water, shaping an ecosystem that offers refuge to a wide array of species that rely on these bodies of water: belted kingfishers, brook trout, great blue herons, great egrets, mallards, mergansers, and bald eagles find a home here. Throughout spring and summer, the pond is filled with a cacophony of song emanating from hundreds of peepers, leopard frogs, wood frogs, and gray treefrogs. Turtles bask in the sun, and deer, porcupines, raccoons, fishers, and gray foxes frequent the flats near the water year-round.HISTORY OF THE POND
As its name suggests, Coffin’s Ice Pond was first created in the second half of the 19th century by the Coffin family, who used a sluice system to create an ice pond: a place where blocks of ice could be cut and extracted and then shipped to warmer locations across the country. Brunswick thus became part of a mighty industry, rivaling even gold mining in California, and Maine ice cooled many a kitchen pantry in the US. Ice was cut from Coffin Pond from at least 1890, and the Coffin family’s red brick house from 1864 still stands on nearby Harpswell Road. After mechanical refrigeration rendered ice cutting obsolete, the Coffin family’s pond remained, transforming into an ecological sanctuary and recreational spot, also acting as a retention pond and an important water reserve for the towns of Brunswick and Topsham during droughts. Today, the pond is Town property, and according to conditions under which the pond was transferred, it is the Town’s responsibility to maintain the pond. 
Ice cutting in the early 20th century. (Source: Archives of Ontario).
THE THREATS TO THE POND
Part of the Mare Brook Watershed, the pond has been part of the Town’s economic and natural landscape and history for well over a century, but sudden changes are now threatening its existence. While the pond’s water quality is already suffering from urban run-off and pollution, the most serious and drastic impacts have come in the form of silt and soil deposits, largely from construction activity upstream, that are filling in the pond. With startling speed, local residents have witnessed the changes in water flow and, with it, the disappearance of flora and fauna.So many have loved this place: runners, bikers, and walkers of all ages have looked forward to this enchanting bend in the trail, lingering on the foot bridge, observing the wildlife, and watching the pond change with the seasons. Generations of families have fished and boated here, taken their children here on a nature escape, or have spent winters ice skating on this historic pond. But the silting up of the water is not just making life hard for the long-established communities of plants and animals, it is also destroying recreational possibilities -- and their cultural significance for this community -- as the water becomes shallower and the pond continues to shrink.
The waters are silting up due to heavy sediment transport down the stream, choking Coffin’s Ice Pond of life. Compared to this satellite image from 2018, the sediment islands today are larger still, and they continue to increase in size every year.
A ground-level view shows that in some places the pond has become unrecognizable, having shrunk to a little rivulet. Here we see ferns on the shore in the foreground and the overgrown mounds of silt in bright green in the back. (Source: Clare Moss)
YOUR RESPONSE MATTERS
In 2021-2022, the Town and its partners completed a study of the Mare Brook Watershed, of which Coffin’s Ice Pond forms part, to help improve the brook’s water quality and overall ecological value. Concerned community members are organizing as the “Friends of Coffin’s Ice Pond” to retain this habitat and Brunswick asset. Inspired by ecological and cultural restoration activities elsewhere in Maine, we envision the pond as an important part of our townscape, and we want to urge local officials to join us in thinking of ways to save the pond. Join our movement! Sign our letter or email us to join in our mission to save Coffin’s Ice Pond.
Coffin’s Ice Pond in the fall. (Source: Paul VanDerWerf)
Take Action
Ready to take the next step? You can become a contributor to our cause, or participate yourself.
Contact Us
Ask about our mission, methods, and desire for change.
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