The recent decision to remove the dam at Bowen’s Pond has placed an entire community into a new era. While we witness the daily dismantling of a structure that had been in place for over 250 years, everyone now waits to see what actions will be taken regarding the future of this significant part of Wendell’s history.
The dam and resulting pond reflected the technology of a time when natural resources were used to create equipment and machinery. Early New England settlers built wood mills on stone foundations primarily near rivers, brooks or streams — wherever water was available — to help construct homes and run farms. There were grist mills, cider mills, fulling mills and sawmills. With timber an abundant resource in this area, sawmills became important in local trade and commerce. Early Wendell settlers like Jonathan Crosby (1746-1807) and Josiah Ballard (1762-1837) produced lumber, shingles, staves and firewood from local sawmills.
The Millers River was the ideal location for all kinds of mills. With its shallow and rapid currents, the Millers turned water-wheels that powered mills from Ashburnham to Montague and contributed to the development of industry, economic growth, housing and municipalities. Clark Stone (1757-1828) operated a sawmill in what is now Wendell Depot in the late 18th century. In the 1830s, William Putnam operated a saw and grist mill that was by powered by a dam built on the Millers River around 1835.
Aaron Osgood was the first setter in the northern part of Wendell in 1754. The dam at Bowen’s Pond is said to have been built by his son Luke Osgood in 1768 to power a sawmill and gristmill. For generations, the dam and pond were passed down to relatives of the Osgoods, including the Bowen and the Hartjens families. In 1936 Edith Bowen Hartjens and her husband Joseph repaired the earth and stone buttress of the dam, a task that was covered by the local press. By this time, the dam was no longer providing a head of water to drive a mill, but it was preserved to maintain the beauty of Bowen’s Pond. All that remains of this legacy today is acres of ice where the pond once stood and a single millstone, now part of a memorial on the town common.
It will probably take a decade to understand the real impact of the decision to remove the dam and drain Bowen’s Pond; the hard work has only just begun. It will take time to understand the real effect of suddenly exposing the existing wildlife and environment to the ravages of the long polar vortex of early 2026. It will take time to see if life in Osgood Brook returns to its native conditions. It will take time to evaluate the effectiveness of controlling glossy buckthorn, knotweed, barberry and multiflora rose, invasive plants that for years have wreaked havoc in our area. If through hard work and persistence the brook is miraculously restored and the pond is replaced with wildflowers and pollinating plants, then history will be the judge. On the other hand, if the area is overrun with invasive plants and fish do not return — or worse — if the 18th century technology of the Osgoods is replaced with 21st century development, then history will also be the judge.
Edward J. Hines is president of the Wendell Historical Society.