50 NATURAL HISTORY AND TOPOGRAPHY OF GROTON, MASS. 



inhabitants of the town. It lay north of the road from Groton to 

 Forge Village, very near the Westford line, and is represented 

 by a piece of low land, out of which a brook runs into Forge 

 Pond, which in early times was called Stony Brook Pond. 

 This little stream was formerly known as Swan Brook, and is 

 referred to in the record of James Knop's land-grant, made 

 by John Morse, town-clerk, on January 3, 1669. See "The 

 Early Records of Groton " (p. 165). It is also mentioned by 

 Captain James Parker, William Lakin and James Knop, in a 

 report made by them April 25, 1682, on Jonas Prescott's 

 land lying near his mill {ibid. pp. 73, 74). Swan Pond is 

 laid down on a manuscript plan of Sergeant John Parker's 

 farm " on the South of Groaten Towne," which was made by 

 Joseph Danforth, surveyor, in the year 1664. The writing is 

 to be found among the Massachusetts Archives, in the first 

 volume (p. 31) of "Ancient Plans Grants &c." 



The pond undoubtedly took its name from the swan {^Cyg- 

 niis ferns), which formerly, at particular seasons, frequented 

 this neighborhood. Thomas Morton, in his " New English 

 Canaan " (Amsterdam, 1637), writes: — 



And first of the Swanne, because shee is the biggest of all the fowles 

 of that Country. There are of them in Merrimack River, and in 

 other parts of the country, greate store at the seasons of the yeare 

 (p. 67). 



Wattle's Pond — three miles north of the village, on the 

 road to East Pepperell, with no outlet. The origin of the 

 name is unknown, but probably it goes back to the time of 

 the early settlers. 



Way Pond — In the town-records, as early as the year 

 1670, and in the Proprietors records, occasional reference is 

 made to Way Pond, a name which has now passed entirely 

 out of the public memory. It lay thirty or forty rods south 

 of the road to the Ridges, a little less than two and a half 

 miles from the P^irst Parish Meeting-house. All that now 

 remains of the pond is a mud hole, covering half an acre, 

 more or less, through which a brook runs, crossing the 



