Bunnell's Pond, Texas Township,

Wayne County, Pennsylvania

The following information was provided by Gloria McCullough, Research Librarian for the Wayne County Historical Society. You can visit their beautiful website at http://www.waynehistorypa.org/.

"Our Research Library collection includes a typewritten notebook of information on lakes and ponds in the county. The material has been in our collection for many years and the author is unknown, as is the date of the information. The mention of ice houses and ice harvesting and the State Highway Dept.certainly indicates this was written soon after the turn of the 20th century.

The information on Bunnell's Pond is as follows:

Location: Northeastern Texas Township, central Wayne County on Carley Brook Creek
Type: Artificial
Drainage area: approximately 12.3 square miles
Elevation: 980 (Bar.) referred to State Highway Dept. level from U. S. G. S. datum
Shape: Long and narrow, regular, maximum length 3,300 feet; maximum width 890 feet
Area: 46.3 acres
Capacity: 174 acre-feet or 57,000 gallons
Depth: Prevailing to 10 feet, maximum 14 feet
Dam: Stone masonry, 180 feet long, 12 feet high. Concrete spillway, 60 feet by 5 feet and flume 6 feet by 3 feet, provide regulations
Topography: Surrounding country under cultivation, rising rapidly from water edge to maximum height of 80 feet. Public road parallels one side 4 feet above water's edge. Slightly marshy at inlet. Three ice houses, six dwellings and other buildings near shore.
Inlet: Carley Brook; 10f feet wide, 1 foot deep, flowing through open channel.
Outlet: Carley Brook, 13 feet wide, 1 foot deep, flowing through open channel.
Utilization: Ice harvesting. Originally used as water power for the mill.
Navigation: Rowboat
Opportunity for storage: Could be increased high banks at outlet
Ownership: Honesdale Milling Company, Honesdale, claims control.

There is a clipping attached to this material that says that the Henry Bunnell farm, consisting of 136 acres and Bunnell's Pond was sold in 1909 by Fletcher W. Bunnell to John Decker for $5,000.

The Bunnell family were early settlers in the county and the Bunnell name appears on the 1800 census records. This was the first census record for Wayne County after it was established from Northampton County in 1798."

In 1839, Henry, with his father David and brothers Zebulon and John, bought 750 acres in Dyberry and Texas Townships. It is likely that this land was part of that purchase and that the pond was named for the family that owned it. I don't know if they were the original owners and builders or not. Henry Bunnell (1811-1872), is No. 320328 in Claude Bunnell's database (http://www.williambunnellfamily.org/) and Fletcher William is his son. Henry's lineage is William, Benjamin, Benjamin, Solomon, Isaac, David, Henry.

In 1896 John Henry Bunnell, 4 year old son of Fletcher William Bunnell drowned in the pond.

If you have information about or a photo of the pond and would like to share it please contact Charlie.

Updated 9 June 2005