Just want to set the record straight about something I erroneously posted here about Mirror Lake, Devens originally named Shabokin by Native Americans, then Hell Pond by the first settlers, and finally the generic Mirror Lake by the U.S. Army that took over the land it sits on by eminent domain in 1917. In the book
Weird Massachusetts by Jeff Belanger, he states that a Native American said the pond came about overnight, by the collapse of a hill, stemming from a massive earthquake one to two centuries before the first settlers showed up.
I found the original passage Jeff refers to in book titled
The History of the town of Harvard Massachusetts 1832 - 1893 by Henry S. Nourse A.M. In the book it states that the so called Native American legend was fabricated by some Harvard residents (the town not the university) that found the name Hell pond not to their liking, and wanted to get the name changed to Hill Pond.
Here is the passage:
Hell Pond was leased by the town at the same date with Bare Hill Pond. Some attempts have been made by those who lament that so f^rim a title attaches to this beautiful lakelet, to rechristen it HillPond; and a "tradition" has been invented to justify the innovation. An Indian, a true son of the soil, is made to tell as a legend of his tribe, that a century or two before the pale-faced strangers came from beyond the seas, a lofty hill rose where the clear waters now mirror the sk)' in the Sliabi- kin woodlands; one night the earth trembled, and in the morning the hill was not, and in its place slept this little lake overshadowed by the gloomy pine forest, its depth equaling the height of the vanished hill. But the pioneers aluaws called it Hell Pond, and so it is recorded in the worn and yellow documents of their day that have come down to us.https://historicharvard.
