Billington Sea (also Billington's Sea) is a warm water pond located in

Plymouth, Massachusetts Plymouth ( ; historically also spelled as Plimouth and Plimoth) is a town in and the county seat of Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. Located in Greater Boston, the town holds a place of great prominence in American history, folklor ...

. Morton Park lies on the pond's northern shore. The pond is fed by groundwater and cranberry bog outlets. The average depth is seven feet and the maximum depth is . The pond provides the headwaters to Town Brook. Seymour Island is located in the center of the pond. Billington Sea was named after Francis Billington, one of the passengers on the '' Mayflower''.

Description

Billington Sea is located southwest of the center of

, west of Massachusetts Route 3 and south of U.S. Route 44. It is 269 acres in surface area with depth averaging 7 feet, with an 11-foot maximum depth. It is a warmwater eutrophic pond with extensive aquatic vegetation and a mostly mud bottom, though with sandy shorelines. Apart from a town park on the northern shore, most of the shoreline is occupied by private residential property.

History

Billington's Sea was spotted in January 1621 by fourteen-year-old Mayflower passenger Francis Billington, son of John Billington.Billington Sea
(information from Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs) According to tradition, Francis Billington climbed up a tree and spotted what he called a "great sea," believing it to be the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. He and one of the Mayflower's crew members went to explore the sea, but became alarmed when they saw some abandoned Native American houses. They were alone with only a single gun. In memory of Billington's error, the pond has been called "Billington's Sea" since.A Guide to Historic Plymouth
James Baker, The History Press, 2008 142 pages, page 103

Recreational uses

A single public boat launch site is located at Morton Town Park on the north shore. The ramp is sandy and suitable only for small craft that can be launched by hand like canoes and kayaks. Recreational fishing is allowed in the pond, with largemouth bass being the primary target species.

Fish populations

In addition to largemouth bass, the pond also contains pickerel, smallmouth bass, brook trout,

black crappie The black crappie (''Pomoxis nigromaculatus'') is a freshwater fish in the sunfish family ( Centrarchidae). It is endemic to North America, one of the two types of crappies. It is very similar to the white crappie (''P. annularis'') in size, s ...

, yellow perch, sunfishes such as

pumpkinseed The pumpkinseed (''Lepomis gibbosus''), also referred to as sun perch, pond perch, common sunfish, punkie, sunfish, sunny, and kivver, is a small to medium–sized freshwater fish of the genus ''Lepomis'' (true sunfishes), from the sunfish fami ...

and

bluegill The bluegill (''Lepomis macrochirus''), sometimes referred to as "bream", "brim", "sunny", or, in Texas, "copper nose", is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and wetlands ea ...

golden shiner The golden shiner (''Notemigonus crysoleucas'') is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Leuciscidae. This fish occurs in Eastern North America. It is the sole member of its genus. Commonly used as a bait fish, it is pr ...

, banded killifish, white perch, white sucker, and brown bullhead. A seasonal alewife run enters the pond from Plymouth Bay through Town Brook.

Surrounding area

''Billington Sea'' is also the name of a small village on the southern shore of the pond along Black Cat Road, northeast of Micajah Heights and northwest of Lout Pond. Briggs Reservoir is located within the village south of Black Cat Road.

References

External links

MassWildlife Pond Map and Info
{{Massachusetts lakes and ponds Neighborhoods in Plymouth, Massachusetts Ponds of Plymouth, Massachusetts Ponds of Massachusetts