Eastman Living Online Magazine

By Judi Platt

Fall is peaceful in West Cove. You can almost hear the leaves cascading from the trees. An occasional kayaker or trawler may drift through the mosaic of foliage on the placid surface of the cove. Walkers and runners, now fewer in number than in the summer, pound the gravel of the fire lanes, their shadows in a golden hue as the sun fades behind the hills of North Grantham. Some may stop along the way, hopeful to catch a glimpse of the loons or the camera-shy heron before they leave for the winter. Fall is the denouement of its livelier predecessor.

Between the close of schools in June through Labor Day, West Cove pulsates with activity. Residents and guests of all sizes, ages, and gaits walk the fire lanes on their way to the beaches or favorite fishing spots. Parents haul wagons full of beach paraphernalia; teens carry soccer balls for pick-up games on the condo association lawn. Cyclists peddle by, enjoying the safety of the lanes free of vehicular traffic. And there are dogs. Longlegged labs and little lap dogs, all pulling their owners along as they sniff the grass or eye the chipmunks and squirrels frolicking among the trees.

Stretching from the community gardens and tennis courts on Draper Road to just beyond the beach parking lot past the pedestrian covered bridge on Road Round the Lake (RRL) and Anderson Pond Special Place, West Cove Special Place is a microcosm of Eastman. With houses, condos, and vacant lots, it is one of only two Special Places to have all three types of private properties. In the early days of Eastman’s development, West Cove Special Place was intended to be a village with a commercial center, restaurant, post office, and even a professional building. The plans also included space for RVs, mobile homes, a campground, and a ski hill. Those plans did not materialize, and over 200 condos were built in the late 1970s and early 1980s, accelerating cash flow for the developers and creating a density of properties that makes West Cove the largest Special Place by population.

Mary Cohn, who purchased property in Eastman with her now late husband, Tom, recalls the early days of Eastman. She and Tom bought the condo that Mary still occupies before the buildings were completed. The Cohns, who then had a house and boat on Long Island Sound in Connecticut, spent their time in Eastman mostly in the winter months. Their children would ski at Snow Hill and at other small ski areas nearby. Mary fondly reminisces about the closeness of the families who gathered in warmer weather for croquet on the lawn across from the West Cove B Beach or played tennis on the now-abandoned courts on the corner of Road Round the Lake and Cove Drive.

The condos have long been Eastman “starter homes” for Eastman residents. But more than a few owners have reversed that trend, electing to downsize from larger homes within Eastman to the condos. Two of them are Nan Parsons and her husband, Larry Kirkpatrick. Nan, a second generation Eastmanite, has owned and lived in three different houses in Eastman—two in West Cove—before moving to a condo in 2016. With a 7-year-old in their dual-career household, Nan says that the proximity to the beach, boat launch, and fire lanes for walking and biking, and the extra free time that condo living affords them is ideal for her family.

Remnants of the town of Grantham’s history are found in the West Cove area. Tucked away to the north of the bridge on Cove Drive is Mill Pond. In the mid-1800s, a sawyer dammed Stony Brook that flows from North Grantham to create this pond. This area bustled with activity in the 1920s as the Draper Company from Massachusetts operated a mill that produced bobbin blanks. The mill village was replaced long ago with houses that rim the pond.

Travel down the fire lanes from Cove Drive toward the lake, and you round a curve near the area that locals call “the point,” as its rocky promontory juts out a bit in the direction of South and East Coves. The gentle lapping of the waters here lure residents who vie for a coveted spot in this sanctuary to read, fish, or simply soak in the serenity of the lake.

Ice fishermen drop their lines not far from this point in a “good winter.” With adequate snow cover on a frozen lake, it is a short snowshoe to Heron Island where a blue-blazed trail loops
through the trees.

West Cove Special Place is home to four of Eastman’s nine condo associations; each of the four has its own traditions and social events. There are also 89 houses in the Special Place. In mid-summer, the annual social event, the Bridge Party—West Cove’s version of a block party—takes place on its signature landmark, the covered bridge constructed by Yankee Barn Homes in 1982.

The foot traffic and activity in these 150 acres faze neither woodland creatures nor waterfowl. Ducks weave their feathered conga line between beachgoers in summer. A heron swoops along the cove seeking perches. Red fox and a brazen coyote romp through yards, and there’s an occasional black bear sighting. With its diversity in housing, variety of recreational opportunities, shorelines and woodlands, and abundance of wildlife, West Cove Special Place has it all.

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For more about the history of this area of Eastman, read Draperville Centenary by Craig McArt (Eastman Living Summer 2016) and Mill Pond Mystique by Craig McArt and Renée Gustafson (Eastman Living Spring 2014).

Judi Platt has been a West Cove resident since 2011. She is the editor of Eastman Living.

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