Just across a winding road is the town's historical museum and public library. A century ago it was a brackish salt marsh, fed by the tidal waters of the Kennebec River estuary and a couple of small streams. The marsh became a pond when a dam was built to harness the waters for what was then a flourishing ice trade. Since the invention of refrigerators, things have been quiet at Center Pond. Each summer the shallow waters grow giant crops of pretty water lilies.
Swimmers use the dam as a diving board on hot muggy days.
Each fall brilliant red maples and oaks, mixed with the giant white pines, reflect in the placid waters. In winter the pond blooms with skaters, ice fishermen and snowmobiles. People concerned about such things from time to time worried that this oasis of wildness in the heart of this small town would join other wild places in the crush for development at any cost. Concerns heightened when the planning board reduced the protection zone around the shores from 250 feet to 100 feet. That's why when in the fall of 1993, some 250 acres of forest land along the eastern shoreline was listed with a real estate agent, the Phippsburg Land Trust began pondering its possible courses of action.