A Rare, Frozen Treat: The Duck Pond

Notice anything unusual about the Duck Pond? Yes, that’s a rare sight.

If Fords had any doubt that the air is brain-freeze cold on this Friday, just take a gander at the Duck Pond. Yes, the surface is frozen over, making for a lovely ice-skating rink, for the ducks, anyway! This is a rarity, according to an article in a Haverford College Arboretum Association newsletter.

Back in the 1950s and 1960s, the article says, Haverford College students skated on the three-acre pond as “healthful recreation.” Even President Samuel J. Gummere, up to the last year of his life in 1874, would show off his ice skills. But nowadays, the pond rarely freezesand certainly not to a depth thick enough to hold a crowd of skaters. So sadly, no skating, unless you’re a duck. But, hey, enjoy the views. The frozen pond is still, well, very cool.

—Lini S.Kadaba

Photos by Patrick Montero