FALL RIVER – Dozens of cars lined Meridian Street and a quarter-mile lane, normally closed to prevent violations, leading to Interlachen Saturday morning.
The city Sewer and Water Department opened the usually off-limits area to visitors from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., allowing people to wander the peninsula into North Watuppa Pond, where the ruins of an ice house and what remains of Interlachen, a country house once owned by Spencer Borden and abandoned in the 1930s.
Guided tours of Interlachen are rare. Hundreds of visitors, from children to the elderly, walked through the grounds, once a meticulously maintained 80-acre estate that belonged to Borden and is now a protected forest.
At key stops, guides demonstrated ice harvesting tools and explained the history of the area in the 19th and early 20th centuries, before the land was claimed by the city.
From 2019: Where was Interlachen and what was it like there?
What’s left of the icehouse in Fall River?
In the pre-refrigeration days of the 1800s, ice was harvested from the North and South Watuppa Ponds. What remains of the Arctic Ice and Cold Storage house was built in 1864. It was destroyed by fire in the 1930s; all that remains are the high granite walls built along the shore of the pond.
The walls are visible to motorists along Route 24 north.
Look inside historic buildings: Want to see the historic Fall River Water Tower or the Watuppa Ice House? How to get a tour.
What is Interlachen and what is left of it?
Interlachen – pronounced “INTER-lock-en” and meaning “between the lakes” in German – was the country home of Fall River businessman and inventor Spencer Borden. He was among Fall River’s elite in the late 1800s and early 1900s. was instrumental in bringing electricity to Fall River, a breeder of Arabian champion horses, and an associate of inventor Thomas Edison.
Built in the last years of the 19th century, Interlachen was a country retreat for Spencer Borden and his wife Effie. The grounds included a formal garden, an electrified bell tower, several barns and stables for his horses.
Borden died in 1921 at his home in Woodstock, Vermont; Effie, who was not fond of the house, sold it in 1927. In 1938, the vacant, neglected house was demolished by the city, which actively claimed all the land around the ponds.
The foundation of the house is still present, along with the granite steps and brick used in its construction, and the tiles from the house’s terrace still embedded in the ground.
Why is this area of Fall River off limits?
Nearly all of the land around North Watuppa Pond is owned by the city, to protect the city’s water supply. Visits are not permitted except on rare occasions when the Water Department allows the public to visit.
Will there be another Interlachen tour?
None have been announced yet; Director of Community Utilities Paul Ferland has said the public is welcome to contact him if he is interested in touring historic properties managed by his department, and that he is interested in organizing tours when possible is.
This article originally appeared in The Herald News: Fall River’s historic protected icehouse site is open to visitors
