At White Pond, manageable crowds ease into summer

A sizzling summer brought crowds back to White Pond’s main town beach in recent weeks. 

As of early this month, a feared crush of visitors generated by the state’s closure of Walden Pond’s main beach still hadn’t materialized.

“It has been great, actually,” town Recreation Director Leigh Jackson said in an interview. 

The town sold slightly more passes through late June than it did last year, and there’s been a spike in day passes.

Recent police log entries include two calls for help on June 24 as swimmers strayed into an off-limits area and as drivers parked illegally near the pond. 

Acton police Capt. Brian Goldman said CPD is getting calls, but this year’s activity around White Pond is typical. 

Jackson said staff at the main beach haven’t been overwhelmed, and officials closed the parking lot to new arrivals only twice through June.

Walden worries

The state Department of Conservation and Recreation announced in late May that it would close the main beach at Walden to accommodate construction on a new bathhouse. 

The shutdown raised fears of displaced beachgoers swamping White Pond. Town staff discussed their options and published a summer plan in mid-June, promising to manage traffic and access. 

So far, visitors are still mostly locals. Jackson said she thinks “the word has really gotten out” and that would-be Walden swimmers are heading elsewhere. 

Those who come to White Pond are enjoying a larger beach after crews trucked in 50 tons of new sand. 

Filters first installed in 2022 are keeping bacteria levels in check. As other beaches close due to bacterial plumes, Jackson said, White Pond has avoided that fate.

“It’s a fantastic gem in this community, and it would be heartbreaking to have to close this in the middle of the summer,” she said.

‘A pretty place’

Robert Levers and Peggy Levitt said they’ve been coming to White Pond for 28 years. Their treasured spot was busy one recent evening, but Levitt wasn’t bothered. “You can’t blame people for wanting to have a pretty place to cool off,” she said. 

Levitt said she and her husband like White Pond because it’s calmer than Walden, and Trevor Simmons agrees, telling The Acton Bridge his family never goes to Henry David Thoreau’s old stomping ground.

“It’s a circus,” he said. 

Simmons remembered last year when early-season crowds swarmed White Pond. This year, he said, “It’s been good.” 

“There’s no draconian crackdown,” he said. “It’s just a modicum of vigilance that has kept it manageable.”

Rebecca Crimmin comes to White Pond with her kids and said she had avoided busy days so far this season. “We’ll see what happens,” she said. “It’s still early in the summer.” 

White Pond is staffed with roughly 25 Recreation Department employees, including lifeguards and parking attendants. The pond will stay open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. through August 17. Acton Rec sells season memberships at concordrec.com/253/White-Pond. The town also sells guest passes and day passes for non-members.

Neighbor concerns

On the opposite side of White Pond from the public beach, neighbors have raised concerns about crowds around Sachem’s Cove. The cove is closed to swimming, but residents say they’ve seen more beachgoers entering the water in recent years, especially since the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail spiked foot and bicycle traffic in the area. 

After a comparatively quiet year in 2024 when high water levels made access difficult, area residents Beth Kelly and Josh Galper said crowds have rebounded this summer.

The water level is lower, and Walden has closed. Speaking with The Bridge after the print version of this story was published, Galper said it has been hard to show a direct correlation between Walden closures and White Pond activity. But he reaffirmed that the number of people swimming, making noise, and leaving trash at the cove is up.

Galper, Kelly, and others have pushed for a “people management plan” around White Pond and Kelly said recommended improvements from the White Pond Advisory Committee and the White Pond Task Force haven’t been implemented.

Town Natural Resources Director Delia Kaye, whose department manages land around Sachem’s Cove, didn’t immediately respond to a Bridge inquiry Monday afternoon.