Pond project completed before the 175th Club anniversary is thriving
Today, the success of the 2019 New York Yacht Club Foundation-funded restoration of the fish pond at Harbour Court can be documented in terms of flora and fauna.
As of fall 2022, a sampling of the varieties afloat over the roughly 5,700-square-foot body of water on the grounds of the former Brown estate on the waterfront of Newport, Rhode Island includes the enormous Queen Victoria Amazon water lilies, pink water lilies, yellow iris, white lotus and pink lotus. Lotus is trimmed back as part of an ongoing maintenance plan executed by Barney Webster of Nelumbo Water Gardens of Wickford, RI.
Then there’s the goldfish. They’ve adapted to an environment of predators and have gone incognito. Now predominantly black, schools numbering in the thousands of three- to four-inchers thrive there, with a few good-sized exceptions.
As for the pond overall, thanks to the restoration, it functions in a more environmentally sound way. In rains, the water seeps out through the Aquidneck Island fieldstone and Newport granite placed by Tom Quick and his company, QMW Masonry of Portsmouth, RI. Quick also completed the formal garden restoration at Harbour Court.
Project Completion Date: 2019
