Coles Pond
East Dennis
Coles Pond is an 11-acre shallow pond located in the northeast portion of Dennis, east of Coles Pond Road and approximately an eighth of a mile from Cape Cod Bay. Its shoreline is sparsely developed and much of its southern shoreline is part of the Town’s Crowes Pasture Conservation Area.
Access
The southern shoreline of Coles Pond is part of the Town’s Crowes Pasture Conservation Area. View the area’s trail map to access the pondshore, or to visit a hillside overlook with interpretive signage and a bench provided by the Dennis Conservation Land Trust.
Status
Coles Pond is a Great Pond (>10 acres) according to reported acreage but does not appear on the State’s list of Great Ponds in Dennis. The pond has a shallow maximum depth of just 5 feet with a relatively low water clarity of about 4 feet.
According to the 2016 Dennis Ponds Report, Coles Pond is impaired based on its high average chlorophyll levels with algae blooms evident and total phosphorus concentrations well above Cape Cod guidance levels. The depressed summer levels of dissolved oxygen also suggest an impaired ecosystem. However, relatively low levels of shoreline development and relatively intact vegetated shoreline and surrounding forest buffer suggest the seemingly impaired status may be more reflective of the natural state of this coastal plain pond.
Ecology
Information coming soon.
History
The earliest mention of Coles Pond is from 1875 when it was reported that the Tornado Mill, then recently erected at the pond, “lends an air of improvement” to the surrounding uninhabited territory.
A State survey from the early 1900s reported that the pond had yellow perch.
In 1975, voters approved an article to expand the area in Crowes Pasture authorized for purchase in 1967 by including 15 acres (five of them bog) southeast of Coles Pond.
In 1977, the Dennis Conservation Commission reported that of seven kettlehole ponds in town, only Coles Pond had a ten foot right-of-way for public use.
In 1978, the Dennis Conservation Commission received $117,750 from the Office of Environmental Affairs as 50 percent reimbursement from the state to the town for the purchase of an 18 acre parcel with access to Coles Pond. The land borders Crowe’s Pasture and is adjacent to at least 70 more acres of town conservation land.
