Weevil Pond: A Tradition at UAM

Weevil Pond is over 100 years old. Its history stretches back to the time when the grounds now occupied by UAM served as plantation land owned by Judge William Turner Wells. Wells’ family came to Monticello sometime between 1835 and 1846. In 1855, at the age of 20, he became a lawyer and set up a law office in Monticello. He married Miss Pattie Phenton Burks, a local resident, in 1858, and started a family. After he began practicing law, Wells purchased land for a farm about three miles south of Monticello. Around 1868 he moved his family to the property, and he remained at that residence until a few years before his death in 1906 (Ball, 16-19).

According to the 1985 Boll Weevil, sometime during Judge Wells’ residence at the plantation, a group of Irish immigrants worked on the construction of a railroad on his land. When the railroad construction company employing the immigrants went bankrupt, they were stranded in Arkansas without the means to move elsewhere. Judge Wells provided the immigrants with temporary employment until they could find other jobs. The men dug the pond as a sign of appreciation for Wells’ kindness, and possibly as one of their temporary jobs on the plantation.

Part of the pond is an earthen dam which helps to regulate the water levels. On May 24, 2006, after Weevil Pond had been drained, Dr. Marvin Jeter and his assistant Bob Scott, of the Arkansas Archeological Survey’s UAM Research Station, cleaned off and “profiled” one side of the backhoe trench that had been dug through the earthen dam. They exposed a 1.8 meter (nearly 6 feet) vertical cross-section, from the present ground surface downward, but were unable to reach the base of the dam due to standing water at the bottom of the ditch. They found eight distinct “strata” of more or less flat-lying loads of soil, indicating that the group which constructed the pond had brought in separate loads of variously colored (tan, brown, dark reddish-brown) and textured (silt loam and clay) dirt from digging different depths of the pond, and built up the dam by spreading the loads nearly flat on top of each other (UAM Archives, Ready Reference Box 1, File Folder Weevil Lake or Pond).

The pond was first called Sunnyside Lake. As we can see by the variety of trees gracing the campus in the early twenty-first century, the Wells plantation was covered with different types of trees including oak, magnolia, and cedar. In fact, a long driveway lined by cedars led up to the Wells’ farm house (Ball, 17). Early yearbooks from the 1920s feature photos of the many trees casting shadows on the walkways through campus. The first catalog published in September of 1910 boasts that “the one-time home of the late Judge W. T. Wells, occupies an eminence from which one can view vast acres of virgin forests and alluvial fields, and among many other attractions, the beautiful Sunny Lake, whose waters abound in game fish, and whose surface affords excellent bathing and boating” (5).

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From these descriptions, one can imagine that the area cleared of trees immediately around the pond did afford a uniquely sunny place to spend the day.

According to an article in the Advance Monticellonian from July 4, 1932, titled “W.T. Wells”, after Judge Wells death in 1906, his sons established a real estate company in Monticello called Wells Brothers Realty company. This company managed the Wells plantation, along with other land in Drew county. On April 4, 1909, the Arkansas General Assembly passed Act 100 (also known as the Bellamy act) forming four district agricultural schools (Brewer, “Living History”, 9). Three towns competed for the right to locate the Fourth District Agricultural School in their township. After Pine Bluff dropped out, the contest was between Fordyce and Monticello. The Wells Realty Company offered the Wells plantation as the land for the Monticello bid. Monticello outbid Fordyce, although the final deciding factor was thought to be the greater value of the Wells property (Holley, “Hail to the Chief! . . .”, 7).

With the establishment of the school, the pond took on a new role as a gathering place for students. They enjoyed the pond from the beginning. Photos in the yearbooks show students boating, wading, and fishing in the pond.

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According to the 1945 yearbook titled Log of the U.S.S. Arkam, during the 1940s, a Navy V-12 Unit conducted training on campus. While at ease during their “hitch” at the college, the trainees took “a trip to the lake” and some of the men received a dunking.

During the 1950s, students celebrated Sadie Hawkins Day by dressing up as country hicks. The fun sometimes also included pitching someone into the pond (Holley, “The End of an Era . . .”, 7).

The Forestry Club developed a tradition called Forestry Field Day. It celebrated excellence in the mastery of forestry skills with contests, including chopping wood, sawing logs, and tug of war. As all of the students in the competition were men, one contest involved growing the best beard. Forestry Club students who had not grown a beard would be dunked in the pond as “punishment.”

Over the years, the students claimed the pond as their own. Although the first catalogs referred to the pond as Sunnyside Lake, it soon was referred to simply as “The Lake” or “The Pond.”

The 1954 yearbook is the first to dub the pond as “Weevil Lake.” Students in the 1950s made efforts to beautify the pond. The Class of 1951 placed benches around the pond for the relaxation of visitors to the pond (Lampkin, 1B). The Class of 1952 decided to relocate the 80-year-old courthouse bell to the shore of the pond. With the aid of a 1940 green pickup borrowed from the college, several students helped move the bell from elsewhere on campus to the pond's shore. The class constructed a concrete base for the bell and placed a plaque under it inscribed with the words “Class of 1952” (Lampkin, 1B).

The Campus Master Plan includes a project to continue the process of developing Weevil Pond. In May 2006 the pond was drained in order to dredge it out and create new walkways around the shore. (Brewer, “The Draining of Weevil Pond . . ., 1A). Private donations are continuing the tradition started by students from the beginning of the university’s history to enjoy the pond during their stay and to leave it more beautiful and remarkable for generations to come.

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Exhibits

The Big Oak

Weevil Pond

Related Links

Arkansas Resources on the Web

Government Documents on the Web

Sources:

Ball, William K., and Walter Moffat. “A Country Lawyer.” Drew County Historical Journal 8 (1993): 16-19.

Brewer, Jim, ed. “Living History.” UAM Magazine Winter 2002: 8-11.

---. “The Draining of Weevil Pond . . .” Advance Monticellonian 17 May 2006: 1A.

Holley, Donald. “Hail to the Chief! Frank Horsfall and His Campus of Controversy, 1910-1925 Part I.” Drew County Historical Journal 11 (1996): 7.

---. “The End of an Era: Claude H. Babin and the Merger of Arkansas A & M College with the University of Arkansas.” Drew County Historical Journal 17 (2002): 7.

---. “Years of Growth and Turmoil: Arkansas A & M College in the Postwar Era.” Drew County Historical Journal 15 (2000): 11.

Lampkin, Sheilla. “From the Museum.” Advance Monticellonian 18 Jan. 2006: 1B.

“W. T. Wells.” Advance Monticellonian 4 July 1932.

Additional Sources:

Boll Weevil for the years 1925 to 1956, 1985

Bulletin of the State Agricultural School, Fourth District. 1910 to 1926

UAM Archives, Ready Reference Box 1, File Folder Weevil Lake or Pond

UAM Archives, Photographic Collection, Buildings and Grounds

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