Recent History of Spring Down Open Space
Back in 1948, the land that is now the Town’s Spring Down Open Space was in partial agricultural use. A small orchard occupied the southeast corner of the six-acre parcel, but most of it was grassland. One wonders where lies the evidence of water that fills today’s pond and carves a creek bed along the western edge of the parcel.
- Spring Down Open Space Parcel in 1948. South is at top. The solid line at the far left delineates the approximate current Portola Road alignment.
Twenty years later in 1968, Myrl and Ruth Stearns built a 62–horse boarding stable on the entire 11.7 acre parcel that included an additional 5.7 acres immediately to the west of the open space. The Stearns’ goal was not so much to train and breed horses as it was to provide a place for locals, both young and old, to enjoy their horses.
The Stearns named the stable Spring Down Farm after a horse belonging to their daughter. The name was derived from the horse’s sire, Spring Count, and its mother, Downey, a naming custom for thoroughbreds. Thus came Spring Down, the name of the horse, the stable, and now the open space.
The property changed hands in 1976 and again in 1984 when Stan and Carol Goodstein purchased the property and renamed it Spring Down Equestrian Center. Over the years, the Goodsteins made several improvements to the equestrian center and conducted many horse shows and schooling shows. Carol continues to run the Center today. In 2000, the Goodsteins and the Town entered into a contract whereby the Town purchased the front six acres as open space and leased the property to the Equestrian Center to continue to use the horse facility on the property. In 2008, the Spring Down Equestrian Center removed their horse facilities and the Town began to turn the parcel into today’s Spring Down Open Space. Many town folks remember the spectacular wildflower display in the spring of 2010 following the clean up, grading, and wildflower seeding the previous fall.
When the Goodsteins built the horse rings on the western half of their property, they soon realized an accumulation of water during the winter seasons. In the mid 1980’s they excavated a roughly 30 feet square 10 feet deep “pit” to trap the winter water. For safety concerns, the “pit” was fenced and a pump house built to water the rings during the summer. As years went by, the “pit” softened to a deep pond. Willows and dogwood soon lined its edge. By the time the Town took full ownership in 2008, willows had overwhelmed the pond and left its waters anoxic, littered with refuse, and its periphery surrounded by the imposing chain link fence.
The restoration of the pond is a story of its own. In 2012, the Town embarked on a lengthy journey to obtain permits from the U.S. Corps of Engineers, which claimed jurisdiction over the pond area as a wetland, and to obtain approval of other agencies dealing with environmental quality. After five years of work on the open space; site clean up and grading of the horse ring area, the long ordeal of obtaining Federal and State permits, biological assessments, non-native plant removal, and the 2017 pond restoration project, the Spring Down project was completed and winter rains of 2018 filled the pond. A trail connection or two to existing trails needs to be established and repair of the old fence needs attention. A few non-native trees along Portola Road will be removed to enhance the view of the open space and of the hills beyond and the challenge to control non-native grasses and other invasive species continues. For the future, our Conservation Committee will assume responsibility for oversight of the yearly maintenance of this open space.
Spring Down Pond – Spring 2018
