GREENFIELD — Rick Horton is known as “the snow artist” to many around Greenfield — for creating elaborate snow sculptures in his front yard along State Street — but he’s found a new way to brighten up the community this summer.
The Greenfield native has been spending his weekends bringing a historic well house and pond in Riley Park back to life.
The well house was installed in 1932, fed by a spring with two drinking fountains inside.
The pond was also fed by a spring and had a fountain and a waterfall surrounded by plants and flowers.
Somewhere through the years, it was shut down, the water drained and the spring capped.
“It was filled in with dirt and mulch and forgotten about,” said Horton, who is on a mission to restore the structure and spring to their former glory.
Horton fondly remembers visiting Riley Park as a kid in the 1970s and asking his mom, Martha, what the aging stone structure and empty pond was all about.
“She told me it used to be nice and that the pond used to have goldfish and lights, but that vandals tore everything up,” he recalled.
Horton, who is collaborating with the Greenfield Parks Department, said security cameras will be installed to deter future vandalism.
Restoring and preserving the well house is a labor of love for Horton, who has fond memories of visiting the park with his mom.
“When I started doing this a couple months ago, I had her in mind. She passed away about a week ago (on Aug. 10), so now I’ve really got her on my mind. Now I’m doing it in her memory,” he said.
His mother loved flowers and trees, so he’s transplanting some flowers from her house over to the well house area.
Horton has taken to Facebook to update the public on his progress.
Over the past few weeks, he’s been able to reveal stone paths leading to the well house and has revealed the once-overgrown pond for the first time in decades.
He’s also been able to reveal more of the flagstones that were installed to create a waterfall back when the pond was functional, fed from an underground spring.
Horton said there’s still much work left to be done, as the pond will need a water source and some repair work to become functional again. He’s hoping a sponsor or two will contact the parks department to bring the project to fruition.
Josh Gentry, maintenance operations manager for the Greenfield Parks Department, said anyone who wants to make a monetary donation toward the project can contact the parks department.
“We’ve had a couple people want to donate because they’ve seen what’s happening on Facebook,” said Gentry, who has been thrilled to have Horton spearhead the project.
“He’s amazing and a pleasure to work with. He’s passionate, driven and we’ve got real momentum now, which is huge,” said Gentry. “We’re trying to keep that momentum as we seek out volunteers while diverting park staff time when available.”
Gentry also commended the city’s water department for bringing an excavator to clean out the mud that gradually filled the pond over the years.
“Nobody seems to know why or exactly when the spring was capped and the pond was covered up,” said Gentry, who hopes to one day replenish the spring and restore the pond to its former glory.
“A lot of the infrastructure is gone. There used to be an old electric pump that’s no longer there, and some of the connections tend to go nowhere at this point,” he said, “so we will be reaching out to (the Department of Nature Resources) to find a path forward with the intention of hopefully someday adding water back to the feature.”
The first step after cleaning up the pond is to investigate how viable the remaining infrastructure is, including the concrete pond bottom, “but so far what we’ve found is really promising,” he said.
Both Gentry and Horton have been thankful for the numerous volunteers who have helped remove weeds, dirt and debris from around the pond and well house.
“Riggs Construction has donated their time and repainted the ceiling of the well house, and did a fantastic job. The (city’s) water department dug out most of the pond” with the help of volunteers from Home Depot, said Horton.
“I have a vision of green grass surrounding the pond with wildflowers and plants, the sound of water flowing into a blue sparkling pond, beautiful stonework and drinking fountains inside the well house, and people sitting on stone benches taking it all in,” Horton shared on Facebook.
“It’s going to be the focal point of the park. People have already come down while I’ve been working on it to say how much better it looks,” he said.
Horton loves hearing people’s memories of the historic local landmark.
“One person told me they had their first kiss there, and I’ve heard of at least one proposal. There’s a pretty neat history there, so it’s fun to hear,” he said.
For Horton, putting in the work to bring the well house and pond back to life is a fun way to give back to the community he’s called home all his life.
“When I make my snow sculptures, people stop to tell me what a great thing it is for the community, so I thought this would be another way to give people something to enjoy,” he said.
