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History Of The Pond.
My family and I own a little over 40 acres in the small town of Cortland,Ohio

My parents bought the property in 1968 for the sum of 1000.00 per acre.

The property was originally used as a fish farm.
Started by the Casterline brothers Stanley and Jack in the late 1800s' and in operation until the mid 50s'.

There were 23 small ponds on the property used as fish nurseries and breeding ponds.

Several species of fish were raised in these the small ponds.
Large and small mouth bass,bullhead and channel catfish,crappie,
bluegill and sunfish.

Some of the ponds were used for the sole purpose of holding minnows and crayfish as feed for the growing sport fish.

Once the fish were large enough they would be sold to the public.

The Casterline brothers decided to expand their business by creating a pay to fish lake.

In 1935 the brothers started digging the pond by hand and by horses pulling drag scoops.

I remember Stanley telling my father it took more than 2 years to complete the digging because at around 15 feet they started hitting artesian wells and underground springs.

During the past few years my brother and I have done a major renovation of the pond and surrounding property.

The east side of the pond was completly overgrown with thick briars,scrub grass,dieased and rotting trees making that side of the pond useless.

Once we cleared the land we had the pond dredged and used the the material to build up the banks.

Last year we built the patio and we'll continue to develope and make more improvments as we go.

I have to give my brother Paul most of the credit for what's been accomplished.

It was his planning and vision created something beautiful that we all use and enjoy.

So if you're ever in this part of the world you're always welcome to stop by for a visit,do a little fishing,shoot a few pictures or just hang out on the patio doing nothing.