BRONX SCENE
Indian Pond in Crotona Park is again popular
REPRINTED FROM 4-28-2011
Ice skating on Indian Pond in Crotona Park goes back to the days when the Bathgate family
had the estate and the family allowed area residents free recreational use of the pond.
Thomas X. Casey provided this postcard view of area skaters and their apparel (note the
knickers on the young men) will give you an idea of the year the photograph was taken. The
pond’s popularity is quite evident by the crowd.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER,BTR JANUARY 10-16, 2020 49
Before there was an Indian Lake,
also referred to as Indian Pond, in
Crotona Park, it was a great place to
hunt for birds or gather nuts and berries.
The area was referred to as either
Hunt Woods or Bathgate Woods.
The land was owned by the Bathgate
family who always allowed the public
free use of it. Perhaps it should have
been named Bathgate Park instead
of Crotona Park since the family was
always so generous in allowing the
public the free use of it.
Water coursed down from Reynolds
Pond into the Bathgate property
creating another pond. When
the Parks Department took over the
property under the New Parks Act in
1888, they trenched out the pond area
to develop a grand lake and created
a concrete rim around it to provide
safer access. Many other improvements
and amenities were added over
the years including a boat house for
rentals and facilities for ice skaters.
Eventually the pond dried up
again due to the construction of an
athletic fi eld further north that effectively
shut down the spring-fed
Reynolds Pond, which fed into Indian
Pond.
The dried up Indian Pond was now
simply a dry gully fi lled with dried
up mud, old bottles, and junk of every
nature.
The underground springs that
arose from the old Mill Brook that
fed Reynolds Pond simply seeped into
the forests and marshland as it made
its way south to the kills of the East
River.
It was a mess and people fl ocked to
the park just to witness the disaster.
Complaints started coming in to the
Parks Department and some enterprising
workers tapped into the New
York City Water Main to once again
fl ood the area.
The Water Department found out
about the ruse and rushed in to shut
off the water, once again drying up
the pond. That action created a torrent
of complaints to local politicians.
Political pressure was put on the upper
echelon of the Water Department
and the tap was reopened once again
fl ooding Indian Pond.
After a while, the Zeltner family
leased the pond for ice-cutting for
their brewery which was located on
the southeast corner of 170th Street at
Third Avenue. They were sure, however,
to leave room for ice-skating
and all was well once again. The only
thing that changed was the name. It
was now called Zeltner’s Pond. It is
now, obviously, called Indian Lake or
sometimes Indian Pond by some oldtimers.
It is still a very popular spot
in Crotona Park and covers three and
a quarter acres.
Knowing that Hunt Woods, also
known as Bathgate Woods, was once
a premier site for bird hunters, I can’t
help thinking about Bob Cratchit in
the fi lm about Scrooge by Charles
Dickens called “A Christmas Carol.”
Bob brings home a fatted goose for
his wife to prepare for their Christmas
dinner. Those early bird shooters
who frequented Hunt Woods
would have a fi eld day with all the
geese now occupying the area and no
one with a shotgun would go hungry.
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