Steve Fagin's column, “Bringing alewives back into Alewife Cove,” (Oct. 11), was off by a century regarding the origin of the Hammond Pond Dam on the north side of Niles Hill Road. It was built by Gardiner Greene Hammond soon after he purchased the property from Nathaniel H. Niles in 1873 for $100. The pond was created to supply ice for Hammond’s estate (now the Eugene O’Neill Memorial Theater Center). Development of the nearby apartment complex effectively destroyed what was in my youth a popular ice-skating pond.

Also, it’s difficult to imagine Fagin’s description of the lower cove as “the scene of a pitched naval battle” during the War of 1812. Apparently, the reference is to the three-hour naval engagement off Goshen Point in May 1814. The Rogers farm (now part of the Harkness Memorial State Park) and the saltworks on the cove received heavy cannon fire from the British frigate Maidstone.

Robert Nye

Waterford Municipal Historian

Waterford