Duck Pond
Well before 1926, when Mr. King lived in the property’s original house near the corner of Linden Road and Park Avenue (then called Market Street), he had a large shallow pool that, judging from the photographs, was used for ice skating, raising ducks, and as a reservoir.
He kept the pond when he and his second wife, Luise, discarded their old house and built the grand estate we see today. Photographs reveal domestic ducks and swans on the pond, a small hut adjacent to it and Mr. King ice skating. Perhaps Mr. King liked to ice skate due to growing up with the cold winters in Maine.
The duck pond has become such a revered institution for Kingwood that when master planners suggested removing it, the idea was swiftly dismissed. Perhaps the most common single tale of memories of Kingwood visits involves the pond, and sometimes falling into it. Fortunately, the pond is only 18 inches deep, so children are easily retrieved. Unfortunately, the pond is only 18 inches deep, so the sun and the birds combine to cause the water to foul quickly. An unwanted dip into the pond is often a smelly experience.
Children seem to find feeding the ducks the highlight of a trip to Kingwood and a source of nostalgia as they age.
We know that Mr. King had white domestic ducks, and over the years Kingwood has become home to many varieties of waterfowl. Currently, the duck population is a mix of domestic ducks, wild mallard ducks, Rouen, Indian Runners, and, alas, Canada geese.
The pond is over 100 years old, so plans are being considered to reinvent it, with the strict stipulation that the classic Kingwood experience of feeding the ducks not be compromised, but with hopes the periodic odor issue might be resolved.
