The Creation of Falmouth's Inner Harbor (Part 1)

Falmouth is a town full of beautiful places to be seen and be seen, but being the seaside community that it is, the biggest draw is often the water. Every summer, people come from miles around to lay next to it, immerse themselves in it, and pay other people to take them across it. One of the centerpieces in Falmouth's aquatic crown is the inner harbor, an extensive artificial construction that without a doubt ranks as one this town's chief nautical highlights.

These lofty heights have, naturally, roots in very humble beginnings. Until 1908, no one had much to do with the land where the inner harbor is now, as it was just a tiny pond separated by the Clinton Avenue Causeway. The land on either side of the dividing line made by the Causeway was owned by the Bowerman family—Abram and Louis—which caused the pond to be known in the area as Bowerman's (or Bowman's) Pond.

The Bowerman clan held the land until 1804, which was then purchased by Joseph Davis Jr. and his son Nymphas. The first major change this brought about was the transformation of the pond from Bowerman's Pond to Deacon's Pond, due to the fact that Davis Jr.'s father was a deacon in the Congregational Church. Indeed, the name Deacon's Pond is still present in the name of an avenue and a park that encompass the harbor's Falmouth Heights side.

Despite the name change, the land stayed more or less as it had been until the year 1906, when momentum began to build up for a proper harbor to be built in town. This was a long-running issue with the town, as many attempts had been made to correct this problem but were either unsuccessful from the outset or, in the case of the Old Stone Dock, now inadequate.

At the 75-strong meeting, the idea was hit upon of using Deacon's Pond as the starting point for the new harbor, an engineering initiative that was assisted by a man who would later become a legend in the engineering community. It was none other then the future Major General George W. Goethals.

The plan was that the pond would be dredged to a level of six feet at low tide, and jetties made of stone would be built out into Vineyard Sound, whereas the entrance to the harbor would come directly through the Clinton Avenue causeway. The cost was fixed at $36,000, which would be split; $25,000 would come from state funds and the rest would come from the town via the raising of bonds.

Coming up on Monday: the problems encountered in building the harbor.