Sandy Pond

By Timothy J. Pauldine

Natural beauty, abundant game, and a sandy lakeside location: these are the reasons people have come to Sandy Pond for hundreds of years. Sandy Pond's fascinating history includes Native Americans, early entrepreneurs, bootleggers, and even a vice president of the United States. Formed by retreating glaciers that carved the landscape, Sandy Pond is located on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario. More a lake than a pond, it is protected from Lake Ontario's wind and waves by a barrier dune system and a sandy beach, with an outlet to that Great Lake. This has made Sandy Pond a safe harbor for vessels during dangerous weather. As far back as 1675, when he marched against the Iroquois, Samuel de Champlain wrote of traveling "over a sandy plain" where he found "a very pleasing and fine country, a number of ponds and prairies, where there was an infinite quantity of game, a great many vines and fine trees." Sandy Pond's natural and man-made treasures continue to make it a year-round destination for nature enthusiasts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: May 18, 2015
• ISBN: 9781439651407

Timothy J. Pauldine

Timothy J. Pauldine has been enjoying Sandy Pond since 1965. His extensive collection of images and memorabilia, along with contributions from other residents, formed the basis for this remarkable work

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INTRODUCTION

Other than Samuel de Champlain’s documents and notes from his march against the Iroquois in 1675 with a group of French warriors, there are no early written records of non–Native Americans around Sandy Pond. The eastern shore of Lake Ontario, which includes the Sandy Pond area, was a favorite fishing and hunting ground for the early Iroquois (Haudenosaunee). The first white settlers arrived in the summer of 1803, when Stephen Lindsey, William Skinner, and the Noyes families came to the area. The earliest structures on the Sandy Pond shores were farms and the simple homes of sailors and fishermen. Later, in the 1800s, a few boathouses and camps were built on land leased from farm owners. In the late 19th century, and more so in the 20th century, the area started to become a favorite recreational area for hundreds of people. The Sandy Pond area includes both the larger North Pond and the smaller South Pond; the two are connected by a small but navigable channel.

By the late 19th century, Lysander Learned housed fisherman and hunters at his home, known as the Outlet House, located near an outlet from Sandy Pond into the lake. Others also accommodated summer visitors before the turn of the 20th century—Bertram Bert Ostrander developed the Wigwam on the southern shore, and Will Parsons made guests feel welcome at his Renshaw Bay farm on the northernmost shore.

In the late 19th century, the winding outlet that gave Outlet House its name was becoming narrow and shallow due to shifting sand. The difficulty of navigating the channel called for a solution, and New York dug a new channel in 1896. The new outlet to the lake was much farther north, nearly opposite Seber Shore. The new channel greatly improved navigation and also freshened and improved the quality of water in the pond.

Around this time, the earliest residents built cottages on the southern and eastern shore in the area then called Ontario Bay; others built on the sandbar on the west shore. By 1910, cottages stood at Ontario Bay, Seber Shore, Blind Creek Cove, Sparks Point, Greene Point, and Renshaw Bay—all on Sandy Pond shores. By 1925, an estimated 175 cottages bordered the North Pond. Today, over 1,000 cottages stand on the shores of the North and South Ponds. The increased property values have greatly enhanced the financial welfare of the town of Sandy Creek.

Sandy Pond’s popularity as a recreational spot began to grow as transportation improved in the early 20th century. Sailboats and rowing skiffs were gradually replaced by powerboats, and the automobile became more popular than horse-and-wagon transportation. By 1924, the Fernside Boarding House had expanded into the Ontario Bay House under the ownership of George W. Ackerman and the management of his son Harma W. Ackerman. That same year, the hotel served 13,000 meals from Memorial Day through Labor Day. The Wigwam hotel, owned and managed by Bert Ostrander, also expanded many times to accommodate the huge increase in guests seeking room and board.

The May 26, 1910, edition of the Sandy Creek News stated, Our popular boarding house keeper, Bert Ostrander, has been making some very desirable improvements. The article mentioned lengthened verandas, a boathouse with gents’ waiting and reading room and a new cook room equipped with a gas burning cook stove of modern construction. Ostrander also added an acetylene gas plant for the manufacture of gas to use for fuel and to illuminate the buildings and grounds. In 1926, Joseph Sniper built the Hotel Comfort not far from the Wigwam, and the Sniper family managed the Hotel Comfort for over 25 years.

The summer of 1933 saw greatly improved access to Sandy Pond when County Route 3 opened to the public. Business expanded as more people had access to Sandy Pond for summer recreation. At the junction of the upper and lower lake roads (now County Route 15), a camp owned by a Mr. Houck, of Syracuse, was used as a small restaurant and bakeshop. In 1936, the camp was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. J.F. Gunsalus and Rowena Richardson, who operated a small six-room hotel, the Gun-Rich, that served fine food. The business expanded with a boat livery and five new cabins. In the 1940s, R.C. Ames converted the Jenkins cottage—located between the Hotel Comfort and the Wigwam—into a small hotel known as Sandy Lodge. In September 1950, the Gun-Rich burned to the ground; the Wigwam had burned down three years earlier. The Hotel Comfort was lost to fire in 1969, and the Bayview Hotel went down in flames in 1979. Only the Wigwam was immediately rebuilt, and it still stands today.

At the northern end of Sandy Pond, Capt. Lindsey Greene was developing the Greene Point area on land once owned by early settler Stephen Lindsey. He also had a moving-picture business that traveled to different towns around the area to show the latest silent films. He created a floating marine life exhibit by traveling around the southern waters of the United States in winter months and collecting specimens to display. The Pirate Ship, Capt. Greene’s Floating Museum of Marine Curiosities, was full of examples of marine life, including a deep-sea monster—a 45-foot-long whale shark that surrendered after a 39-hour battle.

Marinas began to appear to accommodate the increased number of boats coming to Sandy Pond. Perry Bartlett’s marina was on the northern shore of Renshaw Bay, with others on the creeks and channels that fed the pond. Dock space, gas pumps, and service were on the rise.

The Sandy Pond Sportsmen’s Association formed in 1939 to serve the needs of local sportsmen and their families. The association purchased an old Civilian Conservation Corps building for $1 to be used as a clubhouse. They dismantled, moved, and rebuilt the structure on County Route 15 at Sandy Pond. Stores—like Golding’s on Route 15 and Wyman’s General Store on Lake Shore Road—were welcome additions as the numbers of cottagers increased.