This swimming pond just over the state line in Copake Falls at Taconic State Park is actually a flooded, open-pit, iron mine. Covering three acres and almost 50 feet deep, it provided limonite iron ore for more than 40 years to a charcoal iron blast furnace along Bash Bish Brook just southeast of the mine. Ore Pit Pond is one of three flooded open pit mines located in Taconic State Park. It is also one of more than a dozen historic mines found nearby along the base of the Taconic ridge, where veins of iron ore formed more than 450 million years ago were found hidden just below the shallow glacial till.

Ore was first mined here in the 1830s and hauled by horse cart to Herman Livingston’s blast furnace in Ancram. In 1845, the Pomeroy family of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, purchased the mine and nearby lands along Bash Bish Brook and established the Copake Iron Works. The area soon became a dusty and noisy industrial site as ore was blasted from the bedrock, washed and crushed by large machinery, and then hauled to the furnace for smelting.

Mining stopped here in 1888, possibly because tunnels following ore veins encroached on neighboring property. The pit was allowed to fill with water from underground springs, creating an attractive recreational resource that soon became popular with both local residents and summer visitors. Almost 40 years later, the cool and exceptionally clear waters of Ore Pit Pond became the centerpiece of the active recreation area of Taconic State Park when it first opened in 1927. It has since been enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of visitors.

Western Mass Hilltown Hikers Visit the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts Massachusetts Office of Outdoor Recreation  Explore Western Mass #hikethehilltowns with the #westernmasshilltownhikers #hilltownhistory  #hilltownhikersadventures #discoverthehilltowns    #intheberkshires #hiking #visittheberkshires #hilltownhikers  #hikingwithdogs @topfans
SEE MORE and  become a member at www.hilltownhikers.com Support us at –> https://hilltownhikers.square.site/ Text HILLTOWNHIKERS to 707070 to donate!
Venmo @hilltownhikers