QUESTION?
After dropping Ryan off at work, I had to make a choice, take the lawnmower on its maiden voyage or take a ride with Alissa. It was a great ride. First through the Ten Mile River Watershed along Oak Hill Avenue and then south on 118 to Bad Luck Pond. Do you know the story behind the name? BEN C.
ANSWER
From my understanding Bad Luck Pond within the Palmer River Watershed is a manifestation of Bad Luck Swamp which is part of a series of large north-to-south swamps naturally arraigned along Rehoboth’s eastern border.
In my youth, I fished during long summer evenings on toward dusk for large catfish. One had to expect the loss of a good amount of fishing tackle due to snagging on the many submerged tree stumps the result of flooded forest to help create the impoundment which is Bad Luck Pond.
I once had the pleasure of knowing Peter Chalmers before his passing. He was a neighbor to Bad Luck Pond and had a vintage print works housed in an old building on his property called Thistle Brae Press. I still possess some of the tiny gifted Rehoboth history books he edited, home-printed and self-bound.
Peter was Scottish in origin and still had his Scottish accent connecting back to Glasgow, but never had the chance in later life to return to his native homeland. Before his passing, Peter faithfully cared for his wife at home due to her own failing health. God bless their memory as they now reside in a better situation.
Don Doucette
“Ten Mile River Rambles”
Friends of the Ten Mile and Bucklin Brook
Citizens of the Narragansett Basin