Ponds of Washington, New Hampshire

Appendix C of Portrait Of a Hill Town by Ronald and Grace Jager, Washington NH, 1977;

In 1934 the State Planning Board issued an inventory entitled ``Area of Water Bodies in the State of New Hampshire.'' Most of the following data on elevation and acreage of Washington Ponds are taken from this inventory. The answer to the question, ``How many ponds does Washington Have?'', depends on whether private ponds, mill ponds, ponds partly to mostly outside the town are counter. In Let Me Show You New Hampshire, E.S. Bowles remarks that Washington has more ponds than any other New Hampshire town except Pittsburg which is six times as large (p. 95). The following list includes what were once mill ponds, and also all ponds partly or wholly within the town (the acreage given is the acreage within Washington), and excludes private manmade ponds, though some of them are larger than Barney Pond. The order is from the largest to the smallest, and the total acreage is 1478.71.
elevation acreage
Ashuelot Pond* 1445 428.52
Island Pond 1407 202.20
Highland Lake (part)1295 191.69
Millen Pond 1582 148.41
Half Moon Pond 1432 129.86
May Pond* 1603 102.65
North Pond 1645 53.18
Butterfield Pond 1603 30.00 (approx)
Smith Pond 1075 26.59
Ayers Pond 1750 24.73
Frog Pond 1610 23.50
Mill Pond (Pillsbury) 1639 23.00 (approx)
Barrett Pond 1570 16.70
Fletcher Pond 1632 13.60
Bacon Pond 1650 12.37
Barden Pond 1690 9.28
Russell Pond 1470 8.66
Hedgehog Pond 1670 6.80
Freezeland Pond 1410 6.18
Philbrick Pond 1390 6.18
Vickery Pond 1610 5.57
Mill Pond (East Wash.) 930 3.09
Bear Pond 1720 2.47
Long Pond (part) 1548 1.24
Mud Pond (part) 1250 1.24
Barney Pond 1420? 1.00

* DHHS advises everyone to avoid eating all bass and pickerel from May Pond and Ashuelot Pond due to mercury levels

Return to Information about Washington, NH