Until 1923, Mirror Lake in Devens was known as Hell Pond. Since then, attempts to return the lake to its original name have been resisted, and perhaps by now those advocates are long gone. The origins of both names are lost to written history, but that hasn’t stopped an abundance of explanations from making their way into lore.
In the mid-18th century, Shabikin was one of nine districts in Harvard, each with its own schoolhouse and superintendent of roads. It was characterized by three ponds, two of which were Hell Pond and Little Hell Pond. Shabikin was part of the land owned by Harvard residents that, in 1917, was first leased and then bought by the United States government to establish Camp Devens.
One theory about the name comes from translations of Shabikin. There is agreement that it is a Native American word, but there are differing opinions as to its translation. One meaning is “the jumping off place,” and according to the late Harvard historian Elvira Scorgie, there was a Native American village on the shore of Hell Pond, a 27-acre body of water known for its extraordinary depth and the abrupt slope of the terrain near the shore. (By comparison, Bare Hill Pond is 321 acres with a maximum depth of 22 feet.) “I think ‘the jumping off place’ signified hell to the Indians,” deduced the late Mario Barba, who once lived in Shabikin. “When you wanted to tell someone where to go, you probably said, ‘Go to Shabikin.’”
Another translation is “notable hill.” Supposedly, and Henry Nourse in “History of Harvard” treats this with skepticism, Native American legend claimed that a lofty hill once rose in the woodlands. One night the earth trembled, and when the sun rose, the hill was gone. In its place was a seemingly bottomless lake. It is this translation that prompted efforts to rename the pond Hill Lake.
Both the Hell ponds are large kettle holes, deep cavities left by late-melting blocks of ice in surrounding glacial deposits. The ponds’ waters have no visible inlets or outlets and are the exposed waters of a major aquifer in the glacial deposits underlying the Nashua River. Peter Whitney’s “History of the County of Worcester, 1793,” describes the pond as “commonly called Hell Pond from its amazing depth, being ninety-five feet in one place, by measure, and between eighty and ninety feet in general.” Nourse writes that “several entirely credible citizens” have reported soundings at 85 and 90 feet.
These geological truths are what probably gave birth to another legend: When strangers to the area would ask,”How deep is the pond?” the stock answer would be, “As deep as hell.” (An online article puts the depth at 80 feet.) It may also be possible that the early settlers used “hell” to mean “a yawning depth, an abyss,” a definition from 1620 the Oxford English Dictionary lists as now obsolete.
During the summer, the people of Harvard would hold picnics near Hell Pond and pick berries in the pastures. On the banks of the pond was an ice house, and a few cottages lined the shore. In 1900 many cellar holes could be found throughout the area, marking former homes. Scorgie reported that there were many crossroads where one could easily lose one’s way. (Some things don’t change.)
In 1878 the town leased both Bare Hill Pond and Hell Pond from the state’s fish commission for the term of 15 years to stock the ponds with fish. Nourse writes that on April 6, 1872, through the “enterprise” (apparently not yet legal) of Warren Hapgood and a few Harvard residents, Hell Pond was stocked with black bass. A man named Thomas Pierce came on the train from Wareham to Ayer, with 16 large bass in tanks. He was met by Jonathan Hapgood with an ox team, and the fish were carried that same day to their new home.
A wife’s objection?
In September 1921, the War Department declared Camp Devens surplus to its needs and ordered it closed. It was then decided to use it during the summer months for the training of New England-based National Guard troops, Reserve units, and also for ROTC units. During the second year of the summer training camps, 1923, Brigadier General Malvern Hill Barnum was the camp’s commander, and with him came the change from Hell Pond to Mirror Lake. (Apparently he also got to have a road named after him.)
There has been continuing conjecture as to why the name was changed; newspapers at the time say Gen. Barnum approved of the renaming but don’t spell out the reasons for the change. It has been said that the general’s wife requested the name change because “hell” was considered an objectionable word. Scorgie expressed her view of this: “The pond was renamed Mirror Lake by some general’s fastidious wife.” The writer (self-acknowledged to be an “older inhabitant” of Harvard) of a January 1976 newspaper article suggests it might just as well have been a chaplain who had the general’s ear, suggesting the name was too horrible for a beautiful place. Or, the writer continues, it could have been Barnum himself who felt it should be Mirror Lake because it reflects the beauty of its natural surroundings.
It is probable that Harvard kids who swim in Mirror Lake this summer and adults who accompany them will have no idea that the lake has ever been anything but Mirror Lake. But because of local input, the Government Land Bank plans (1994) for the Devens Enterprise Zone boundaries recognize both Mirror Lake and Hell Pond names.
Author’s note: Some information for this article can be found in the archives of the Harvard Historical Society.
