Every Lake
Fresh Pond
Cambridge cut ice from this pond and shipped it as far as Calcutta.
- 5 ft · first step
- 10 ft
- 15 ft
- 19 ft
- 24 ft
- 29 ft · bottom
About Fresh Pond
Fresh Pond sits in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a kettle pond left behind after the last glaciers retreated from New England. Unlike a river-fed lake, it has no significant inlet or outlet, filled instead by groundwater and rain collecting in a depression carved by melting glacial ice. The city took it over as a public water supply in the 19th century, and it still functions as an active reservoir today, closed to swimming and boating to protect the drinking water.
Before it supplied tap water, Fresh Pond supplied ice. In the 1800s, workers cut blocks from its surface each winter and packed them in sawdust for shipment by rail and ship, part of the regional ice trade that sent New England ice as far as the Caribbean and India. The pond is now ringed by the Fresh Pond Reservation, a paved loop path used daily by Cambridge and Boston-area residents for walking and running, with the Alewife MBTA station a short walk from its northern edge.
- 53 roads engraved around the shore, 9 of them labeled
- 6 depth layers, each step engraved with its depth in feet
- Compass rose, title block with coordinates, max depth and area; keyhole hanger on the back
Turn it in your hands
Live 3D of the actual cut files — drag to orbit, pinch to zoom. Every road you see is engraved on the real thing.
Viewer not showing? Open it full screen.
Fresh Pond depth chart, in wood
This is a Fresh Pond depth chart you can hang: 6 stacked layers of birch, each one a depth contour — 5 ft, 10 ft, 15 ft, 19 ft, 24 ft and deeper, down to the deepest hole at about 29 ft. The lake covers about 0.2 square miles, and 53 shore roads are engraved around it. The shape of the bottom is the real one from published soundings, so anglers recognise their drop-offs and points.
A Fresh Pond map for the wall — or a gift
Most of these go to a cabin wall, a lake house entry, or a home office; a lot are gifts — the family that has been on Fresh Pond for three generations, the retirement move, the first boat. The 12-inch is the desk-and-shelf size; the 24- and 30-inch boards read across a room. Add a line under the title and star your place on the shore, and it becomes the map of your Fresh Pond.
Fresh Pond map — the details
How big is the map?
Four sizes: 12, 17, 24 and 30 inches on the long side, from $149. Every size is cut from the same depth data of Fresh Pond; the bigger boards carry more shoreline roads and place names.
Is it made from real depth data?
Yes. Fresh Pond is cut layer by layer from published bathymetric soundings — each layer of birch is a depth contour, so the shape of the bottom is the real one, not decorative.
Can I add my own place on it?
Yes. At checkout you can add a line under the title (a family name, a cabin name, a year) and star the spot on the shore that matters to you.
How long does it take?
Made to order in Waterford, Pennsylvania and shipped in 7–10 days; shipping is free in the lower 48.
Can you make a lake that isn't listed?
Any lake in the United States — we hold depth data for 104,419 of them. Search for yours; if it isn't built yet we build it when you order.
- 6 depth layers down to 29 ft
- 0.2 square miles of water
- 53 shore roads engraved, 9 named
- Title block, compass rose and depth markers
- Birch plywood, keyhole hanger, made in Waterford, PA
