Interview with Phil Edmonds

Title

Interview with Phil Edmonds

Description

Phil Edmonds is a long time resident of South Providence. He lives about a mile away from Mashapaug Pond and has worked with the Urban Pond Procession in organizing workshops in middle schools to raise awareness about the pollution in the pond. He is also a musician and gardener and spends his time doing "Phil Things."

Date

October 23, 2011

Transcription

Phil Edmonds: Mashapaug is a natural pond. And I’m pretty sure, it’s the last one. In the 1800’s there were loads of ponds all over Providence. Even Elmwood Avenue area there was where St. Joe’s hospital is. All the area around Fortes Elementary School, Bucklin Street that was all swamps and ponds. And ponds in the other areas of the city were filled in for roads and houses.

Well, this pond it’s a very hidden pond. Most folks in Providence, except for the neighbors of the pond, don’t even know it’s there because it isn’t very visible at all. When I first found the pond, it was the areas which where there wasn’t houses, all over grown.

When you’re close to the pond, you often hear, I mean, traffic. There’s always some hum of the city noise because it is right in the city. But when you go to the edge of Mashapaug pond. You are just amazed at how huge it is. I forget the length of it. But, it’s a huge pond and even though the waters are very polluted, it’s a beautiful pond.

Well I hope someday, before I die, to swim in that pond and not come out with a rash on me.

Interviewer

Aditi Pinto

Interviewee

Phil Edmonds

Location

J. Walter Wilson Building, Brown University, Providence, RI

Files

Citation

“Interview with Phil Edmonds,” Reservoir of Memories, accessed March 28, 2024, https://reservoirofmemories.omeka.net/items/show/27.