Pleasant Pond

Pleasant Pond, which is about 43 acres in size, is one of five ponds in Wenham. It was formed by a glacier carving a pocket, in the area’s sienite-rock shelf. (Sienite is a coarse-grain igneous rock of the same general composition as granite, but with only a small amount of quartz) During the 1700s, there apparently were two Pleasant Ponds, in Wenham. Over in the Neck, the Pond, that we now call Coy’s Pond, also was called Pleasant Pond, on many early Beverly and Manchester deeds.1 Although Pleasant Pond was the original name, it was, for a brief period of years, called Idlewood Lake. In the early 1900s, Reverend Will C. Wood, pastor of the Wenham Congregational Church, often went to the pond, to write his Sunday sermons. He fondly called the place "Idlewood Lake," in appreciation of its inviting quiet and beauty. 2 (Not aware of when the name went back to Pleasant Pond.) But, there may be more to the story: I’ll get to another possible reason, later. Pleasant Pond primarily is located in Wenham. But, at the north end, there are about two acres of the pond in Hamilton. However, neither town owns the pond: it is controlled by the State.