Leg 37, from Birger Youngquist's former residence to the head of the'Swimming Pool' 10-04-10

The tide has made its way in and around, creating its own paths of least resistance, for so long that little environs have evolved in its path, places where nourishment is sure to be found by one creature or plant or another. In areas where the incoming tide, just as it turns, pushes its front waves into tiny watercourses, lush clusters of things are found, populations that peusumably benefit from the concentration of goodies, delivery of which can be relied upon so regularly.

The reverse is true too; the little channels that reveal themselves at low tide bringing fresh water from the uplands, before they become the conduit for the incoming tides, bring a different diversity to the same perfectly situated inhabitants.

The oaks certainly do like a challenge. They can be found up in the woods, where they might be more comfortable, but give them an impossible place to grow and they seize upon it. There are areas around the shore where they just flourish. This area in particular, part of the west shore of Mill River, is
certainly one.

When I was in high school my dad was hired to restore the wood portion, including the sluiceway, of the old dam here at the Swimmming Pool. The Swimming Pool was, I think, owned or perhaps leased by the North Haven Casino and around 1960 they made a real effort to restore not only the facilities here but also the interest in using it as a recreation area for its members. It had been thus ealier in the century but interest was, as I recall, waning. They hired Dad to not only rebuild the dam but to build two bathouses, one for men and one for the ladies, one on the north shore and one on the south and a float or two. I remember one had a diving board. He did the work asked of him but the hoped for revitalization fizzled. During this work all that remained of the bath houses were the eight concrete posts upon which each once stood.