< PREVIOUS

Mill Pond 

NEXT >
Last Updated: 5/2018
NO PUBLIC ACCESS AVAILABLE

  (The following was taken from: HOUSATONIC RIVER WATERSHED 2002 WATER QUALITY ASSESSMENT REPORT)
HUBBARD BROOK (Segment MA21-15) 
  • Location: Source, northwest of Townhouse Hill Road, Egremont, to confluence with Housatonic River, Sheffield (thru Mill Pond, which was formerly reported as Segment MA21068). 
  • Segment Length: 9.4 miles. 
  • Classification: Class B, Cold Water Fishery.
 
         This segment is listed in Category 5 of the 2004 Integrated List of Waters. This segment requires a TMDL for pathogens (MassDEP 2005a).
      Mill Pond (MA21068) will no longer be reported as a lake segment since the retention time of this 97-acre waterbody was estimated at 8 days.  It will be considered a run of the river impoundment (McVoy 2006).  The retention time estimate was based on the annual historical mean discharge from two stream gages in the Housatonic River Basin (01197500 and 01197000) and the normal storage volume of the dam reported by MA DCR in their Massachusetts Dam Safety Program Database (Socolow et al. 2004 and MA DCR 2002).
      Although this segment is classified as a cold water fishery, there are no records of young of year brook trout, brown trout, or slimy sculpin occurring in this river (Richards 2006, MA DFG 1971).  One long nosed sucker, a cold water fish species, was observed in Hubbard Brook during a 1984 survey (Richards 2006).

Mill Pond (Gilligan’s Pond) -
      Located near Sheffield Center on Hubbard Brook, this privately owned 108-acre impoundment was historically used for power by local mills.  As a Great Pond, it has limited public access (from Miller Avenue and Cook Road), and only experiences moderate recreational use. The pond is developed only on the western shoreline primarily with first and second-homes. Mill Pond has good wildlife value and serves as a staging area for waterfowl in migration.

Our Notes
      I contacted town by phone and was informed that the pond was technically public but there is no public access.  I also found the minutes from a meeting in 2011 that indicated a possibility of adding a town beach but no action was ever taken.  This leaves confusion.
    
STATISTICS
 
Skill Level:           Class 1 - Flat water
Estimated Time:  1 hour
Total Distance:    5.7 miles
USGS Map:          Egremont, MA, Ashley Falls, MA (7.5’x15’)
Launch Address: 
Boat Launch: Car top launch.
Position:  42-07.21 N 73-21.75 W (near dam)
 
Physical Features:
  • Area:                 acres
  • Max depth:          feet
  • Average Depth:   feet
  • Transparency: 
  • Terrain Type: Wooded, Homes
​​
Fish Population
  • Unknown
   
 Access
      We have found only two possible places that would be legal access:
  1. Enter Hubbard Brook off of Lime Kilm Road where the road passes over it the brook.
  • Address: 891 Lime Kiln Rd Great Barrington, MA 01230
  • Position:  42-08.44 N 73-23.31 W
  1.  Bow Wow Road passes with in four feet of the pond. Use this as an access point.
    • Address: 161 Bow Wow Rd, Sheffield, MA 01257
    • Position: 42-07.15 N 73-22.14 W

The Dam at Mill Pond