Ice skating on a former prep school pond

Once in a while, a Berkshire Beacon editorial will get one of its readers to absorb a thought, consider it and, a couple of days later, pick up the telephone and suggest an alternative idea.

In this case, it is an idea for a community ice skating rink.

This happened this week when George L. “Gige” Darey, former Lenox selectman, called to suggest that perhaps the ice skating rink was a good idea, but noted he was worried that snow and ice on the tennis court behind the Lenox Community Center could cause damages due to the water and constant temperature changes. The tennis courts were a $45,000 gift to Lenox by Canyon Ranch.

Mr. Darey acknowledged that he attended The Lenox School for Boys for a year. He did not elaborate as to whether the idea of putting back an indoor ice skating rink in the old BPAC building was good or bad.

If the commonwealth was going to participate financially, it would be the Department of Community and Recreation (DCR) an outgrowth of the old Metropolitan District Commission (MDC), which was a Greater Boston operation except for being responsible for the Quabbin Reservoir. They built a number of community ice rinks.

“Gige,” as he likes to be called by his friends, suggested the pond on the old Lenox School for Boys campus, later the Bordentown Military Institute and later The Bible Speaks campus before it was forced to close in a civil bankruptcy case. It was later turned over to The National Music Foundation and sold to Shakespeare and Company, which, a few years back, split the campus to raise monies.

James Jurney bought part of the property, including Springlawn, which he plans to turn into a high-end scale hotel. Part of the property encompasses the pond, which, according to Mr. Darey, would require permission of the owner.

In the site plan, it calls for the “pond to be improved to allow for public ice skating.”

Mr. Darey was instrumental, before the sale to Shakespeare & Co., to have DCR install public walking trails through the property, which today remain in the public domain.

Perhaps taking a natural body of water near the center of town and converting it to public use in the winter time might make the old Lenox School for Boys original campus come alive for young and old alike. Now this is an idea worthy of pursuit.

Posted by George C. Jordan III on March 7, 2013. Filed under Editorials,Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry