Stories from New Mark’s 50 Years: Ladies of the Lake

Ardis Fisher, who has lived in New Mark since its earliest days, recalls when the community undertook the first dredging in the late ‘70s.  The first step was to let all the water run out.

“Someone called me at 3 AM and said, ‘Those damn vandals have drained the lake!’” Ardis recalls.  As a member of the Board of Directors at the time, Ardis was a logical person to contact, and she had to reassure the caller that all was in order.

Ardis said the Board had decided it could not afford a true dredging. So it engaged bulldozers to “plow” the lake and “push the slush into trucks.”  The haulers left a trail of mucky lake water as they left the community.

Some residents recalled that the bulldozers even got stuck in the mud and had to be hauled out.

Sally Guardia, another long-time resident who along with Ardis is an ardent photographer of Lake New Mark birds and other wildlife, recalls that there was a time when residents were allowed to take boats onto the lake. There were also metal ladders imbedded in the concrete foundations that form the banks of Lake New Mark along the 100 NME Block.

It’s not clear when or why sailing and rowing was prohibited. But Sally believes she knows one reason – a youthful prank to steal somebody’s dinner!

One resident had been indulging in a favorite past time of the lakeside residents – grilling dinner on the deck. When the resident, who no longer lives here, stepped inside after putting the meat on the grill, a boatful of kids anchored their boat to the ladder, climbed up and made off with the goods.

It’s not known if the griller ever got his dinner back. But if you go and look closely, you will see rusted marks at intervals along the concrete that show where the ladders were taken down.