Follins Pond facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Follins Pond |
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from Yarmouth Port
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 Follins Pond
Location in Massachusetts
Follins Pond
Location in the United States
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| Location | Dennis / Yarmouth, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States |
| Coordinates | 41°42′15″N 70°10′45″W / 41.70417°N 70.17917°W |
| Type | brackish |
| Primary outflows | Bass River |
| Basin countries | United States |
Follins Pond is a cool lake on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It's special because its water is a mix of fresh and salty water, which we call brackish. This pond sits right between two towns, Dennis and Yarmouth. It's also connected to the ocean, specifically Nantucket Sound, through a river called the Bass River.
The Mystery of Vinland and Follins Pond
Follins Pond is famous because some people think it might be linked to a very old story about Vikings. These brave Norse explorers sailed across the Atlantic Ocean long before Christopher Columbus. They tried to set up a settlement called Vinland in North America.
Frederick Pohl's Viking Claims
In the 1950s, a researcher named Frederick J. Pohl explored Follins Pond. He believed he found clues that Vikings had been there. Pohl said he saw holes drilled into rocks along the pond's shore. He thought these holes looked like "mooring stones" that Vikings used. Vikings would put iron pins into these holes to tie up their ships, called knarrer.
Pohl also claimed to find old wooden posts buried about a foot underground. He thought these posts were arranged in a way that looked like a Viking shipyard or a place where they could fix their boats. Around the same time, someone even claimed to find a "Viking horse bone" near the pond. Pohl believed the Vikings might have brought a few horses from Greenland on their journeys.
Pohl wrote a book about his ideas called The lost discovery: Uncovering the track of the Vikings in America in 1952. However, most professional historians don't agree with his claims. They say there isn't enough strong evidence, and no major archaeological finds have been made there since.
Road Names and Local Legends
Even though historians aren't convinced, the idea of Vikings at Follins Pond is a fun local story. You can see this in the names of some roads around the pond!
- On the eastern side, there's Norsemans Beach Road.
- On the north side, you'll find Norse Road.
- Near the south shore, there's Valhalla Drive and Erik's Path.
Near a smaller area called Kelleys Bay, which connects to Follins Pond, you can find even more Viking-themed names:
- Vinland Drive
- Skerry Road
- Saga Road
- Fiord Drive
- Freydis Drive
- Lief Ericson Drive
Further south, along the Bass River, there are roads like Lief's Lane, Legend Drive, Old Saga Drive, Rune Stone Road, Viking Rock Road, Keel Cape Drive, Erickson Way, and Mooring Lane.
Sometimes, local newspapers like the Cape Cod Times still publish articles about the interesting stories and theories surrounding Follins Pond's past.
