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Vassar Lake Once Popular Among Students

June 7, 2010 by admin

MillCove Lake 1880

On May 16, 1928, the Miscellany News, Vassar’s student-run newspaper, featured on its cover an 1880’s print of Vassar Lake, then known as Mill Cove Lake. The print had been found in a bookshop in New York City and submitted to the newspaper for its historical value. Subtitled “Old Print Recalls Former Balmy Days When Row Boats Dotted The Water”, the accompanying article explains how the lake had once been much prized by Vassar students as a source of exercise and recreation. Boatclubs were established at the lake as early as 1867, boasting names such as Maid of the Mist and Water Witch (W)reckless and sponsoring rowing activities on warm days. During the winter months, skaters took over the frozen surface, which explains why the lake appears in some early maps simply as “skating pond” (see The Rise and Fall of “Brickyard Hill” ).

Never again has the lake been as popular as it was during the late 1800’s, when the absence of movies or automobiles, and the close monitoring of Vassar ladies’ activities meant that they relied primarily on Mill Cove Lake for recreation. In 1891, students petitioned college authorities for permission to build a promenade from Main building to the lake, along which they could walk with their gentleman friends. The request was refused and it was suggested that the promenade instead be built right in front of the college, where it could be adequately supervised. Still, the 1928 Miscellany News article speculates that:

it must have been about this time that the Vassar tradition was originated whereby any girl who has walked her man three times around the lake without having him propose is privileged to throw him into the water.

For better or for worse, this tradition has fallen out of favor with Vassar students.

With the onset of the 20^th century, Vassar Lake began to fall into disuse. In 1912, another lake was built at the junction of the Casperkill and Mill Cove (Fonteynkill) brook, following Matthew Vassar’s 1868 recommendation to create a dammed pond along which bathing houses could be erected and willow shade trees planted to screen the buildings from public view. Neither the bathing houses nor the willow trees were ever realized, but Sunset Lake did come to replace Vassar Lake as the students’ preferred recreational spot.

By 1933, Vassar Lake continued to be used only as a backdrop to a biennial lantern festival, during which seniors would sing songs and send lanterns across the lake to sophomores on the opposite shore. Today, sadly, Vassar Lake is completely unutilized by students and community members alike. The overgrown paths preclude any possibility of a leisurely walk along its shore, while the occasional mats of algae on the surface rob the lake of its once idyllic appearance.