To most people, winter in Maine means sub-zero temperatures, shoveling driveways and being cooped up in the house for days on end. To the kids of Chebeague Island, winter means sledding on Thompson’s hill, a little snowmobiling and, most importantly, skating on Sanford’s Pond.
For nearly three decades, the pond has been a part of winter life on Chebeague. Parents who now drop off their kids for an afternoon of pick-up hockey or figure-eights learned to skate here, too, slipping and sliding across the ice while hanging on to stacked milk crates.
The pond is located at the west end of the island, near the Chandler’s Cove Wharf From the ice, you can watch the sun setting over Bennetts Cove. After sundown, skating continues thanks to lights mounted on poles around the perimeter.
A wooden warming shed offers a roaring fire and everything a young (or old) skater could want. Inside, several benches are the perfect height for skate tying. A phone is available for calling friends to come join the fun. Packed in every corner are banana boxes full of well-loved skates in all sizes. There is a barrel stuffed with hockey sticks, a shelf full of helmets, and stacks of hockey pucks.
Sanford and Mabel Doughty, who have been married for 66 years, live in the white house next door. The pond would still only be a marshland if not for Sanford’s diligent work to clear the area of brush. A retired commercial fisherman, he sold his boat Sirius in 1982 and began building the shelter, putting up the boards and the lights and working to achieve his dream of having a real skating pond on the island.
Sanford Doughty, who was born on Chebeague, started fishing with his father at age 11, so he loved the winter when he could spend time with his friends. “When we were growing up, most people had skates,” he says. These “clamp-on” skates were little more than metal blades that were fastened to your winter boots with leather straps. They would go out into Parker’s Woods and play hockey in the frozen wetland, using hewn birch for sticks.
Work on the pond began slowly, “improving on things every day,” says Sanford. He designed a means to empty the pond in the summer to keep the mosquitoes at bay, getting it “down to a science” according to his wife, Mabel. She remembers going out in their leaky dinghy to fix the siphon hose that has since been replaced by a white pipe. When asked about this messy part of the job, Sanford simply says, “You know how kids like to play in the mud? That never stopped.”
A modest man, Sanford refuses to take credit for all the work that has gone into the pond over the years. His son-in-law, George “Bud” Trask, built the frame for the fireplace in which Sanford and Mabel laid the bricks and Mabel reminds him of the book they checked out of the library with the instructions for how to build a Benjamin Franklin-style fireplace. Sanford recalls going over to the mainland in his dory with friend Bob Parker to inspect other outdoor rinks with shelters. John Rich helped put up the lights and Mark Dyer put in some hours too. Doughty continues naming people, projects and dates from the long list of helpers. Indeed, just about every islander has contributed something.
“It was a community effort all the way,” Sanford says. Money for new equipment came from recycling bottles on the island, which Sanford and Mabel collected in banana boxes stored in the shelter. A lot was simply donated.
Ralph Munroe, who has been skating since childhood, remembers the hard work and sweat, but also the fun they had and the sense of accomplishment when they’d completed a project. As an adult, Munroe is happy to keep the pond’s traditions alive. “Sanford is such a nice guy, who does this for all the right reasons, we like helping,” Munroe says of the volunteer efforts.
At 90, Sanford is no longer involved with the pond, although he still works with his tractor in the middle of January. The Chebeague Recreation Center has taken responsibility for the maintenance of the pond, and programs like Teen Center often take place at Sanford’s Pond. At Teen Center, the island youth can hang out with the adult supervision of recreation center volunteers. Sam Birkett, a mother of three, is the recreation center volunteer who oversees the pond operation. She is also quick to say that the pond is very much a community effort.
“When I want to find out if the ice is safe, I call Stephen Todd or Ralph Munroe,” Birkett says, referring to a fisherman and firefighter who are also island residents. “It all works out with people pitching in.”
When asked about the role of the pond in the island community, Birkett says the annual skating party is the “big event of the winter,” drawing “tons of people” to practice their figure skating or play some hockey or simply sip hot cocoa from the shelter and watch. Of course, everyone hopes to see Sanford and Mabel there.
Just this weekend, Munroe and the Chebeague fire department were at the west end with their trucks, flooding the pond to make it ready for some pond hockey soon.
As of mid-January, there looked to be plenty of skating time left. That’s good news for Rueben Olney, 9, who can be found at Sanford’s almost every day skating around with his friends.
“If it weren’t for the pond, I would be spending a lot of time inside.”
Anna Maine is a resident of Chebeague Island.