Sailing students cruise along the water on a windy day at the pond. From left: Tristan Currie (hidden), Rowan Connelly, and Graham Whitley. (Photos by Hannah Taylor)
The pond is a magical place in the summer. Between the view of the sun glistening off the water to the instant, uncoordinated playdates for kids of all ages, the sandy shores of Bare Hill Pond provide a retreat for residents and their guests. It’s a place that changes every year, and yet remains the same.
Young children learn to swim from instructors that worked their way through the same program just a few years earlier. As they age out of the swimming program, kids transition to the sailing and paddling lessons offered by the beach staff, enjoying their journey via wind or manpower to Blueberry Island, a rite of passage for Harvard youth. Tweens and teens sunbathe and dangle their feet in the water at the boat docks. High schoolers take turns in the lifeguard chair, finally old enough to work at the place they’ve spent their youth.
While so many things look the same from year to year at the town beach, subtle changes keep things fresh. This season, one of those changes is a new beach director: Jorgen Johannesen (See profile below). Another update is the introduction of paddleboards to the boating lessons, which previously only included canoeing and kayaking. The Park and Recreation Commission purchased five new paddleboards for lesson use, based on the popularity of the watercraft in the rental program.
During Summer Fun, Luna Magnuson jumps into the water off second raft as lifeguard Adrian Brady (center) and James Manero watch.
A new system is underway for boat rentals at the pond. Memberships were first introduced in 2021, in response to the pandemic, offering residents the opportunity to explore Bare Hill Pond in ways they may never have tried before. The first system used a kiosk with a password that was given to rental program participants, giving them access to keys that unlocked the kayak, canoe, paddle board, or pedal boat of their choice. Unfortunately, users kept losing the keys, making the system unsustainable.
In 2023, an app-based rental membership was deployed that required the installation of Wi-Fi at the town beach, something many work-from-home residents appreciated. The app was difficult to navigate, and users complained of finicky locks that often malfunctioned. During this past winter, many of the locks stopped working with the software altogether, rendering them useless.
Back to ‘old school’ rentals
The Park and Recreation Commission discussed solutions at its latest meeting, held on June 30. They voted to revert to an “old school” rental system in which sticker checkers will have a list of membership participants and master keys for locks securing the boats. Renters will check in with sticker checkers, obtain a key, and return it, the way transactions like these were performed for decades before the advent of smartphones. McWaters hopes to have membership registration available on the MyRec website by July 11.
Teddy Gowel kayaks around the pond during a paddling lesson.
While the Summer Fun youth program is not new this year, having debuted in 2024, the program was revamped and includes theme weeks for 2025. Beachgoers may notice amateur sleuths wandering the pond shores looking for clues to solve a mystery, swashbucklers searching for treasure, and there is even talk of a runaway dinosaur that may make an appearance.
The beach program will still hold the annual bonfire in August. The date is not set, but typically falls during the last session of swimming and boating lessons, according to McWaters, which would be the week of Aug. 4.
A friend from out of state once asked me, while we were sitting on the town beach, if Bare Hill Pond was the reason my family chose to move to Harvard. It’s funny, I had no idea, more than 12 years ago, that Harvard even had a pond. And now, I now have the youngest of my three kids in paddle lessons, already asking to sail next summer. Nieces and nephews, family friends, my mom (who only lives in Boxborough) all make annual summer vacation plans to come to Harvard. It’s a destination, even if the residents all plan trips away from here throughout the season.
Just knowing that when we are home, we have an idyllic natural resource right in our backyard, makes this town that much more endearing.
Meet Jorgen Johannesen, beach director
Jorgen Johannesen. (Photo by Hannah Taylor)
Jorgen Johannesen is a Harvard resident, Bromfield Class of 2024, who just finished his first year at Syracuse University in New York state. He has held various positions at the beach since 2019, where he started as a sticker checker, became a lifeguard, then head guard, and now fills the role of beach director.
Johannesen was recommended for the position by Harvard Harbormaster Ben Baron. “Before the beach opened,” Johannesen said, “I was asked to take care of some maintenance tasks. I was building a canoe rack and doing some work on a boat. [Baron] told me he thought I’d be a good fit for the beach director role, so I decided to take him up on the opportunity and reached out to Anne McWaters to set up an interview.”
Johannesen is navigating the shift from lifeguard to leadership. His main responsibilities right now include handling parent questions and concerns with regard to beach activities and swim tests, managing staff, and helping implement town rules around beach access.
“Coordinating things can be a challenge,” said Johannesen. “For example, today someone asked about boat rentals. We’re switching from electronic locks to key locks, and I didn’t have all the answers. Making sure I know who’s responsible for what can be tricky. I like the added responsibility. It’s been good.”
