Make A Splash This Season At Sand Springs Pool, A Truly Unique Spring-Fed Swimming Pool In Massachusetts
By Meghan Byers|Published January 23, 2023
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Meghan Byers
Author
A New Jersey native, Meghan is passionate about travel and enjoys finding off-the-beaten path destinations. You're most likely to find her at a coffee shop, or hitting the trails with her dogs. She graduated with a creative writing degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University and has been writing professionally for over a decade.
When the summer heat hits, there’s nothing like cooling off in the pool! Sure, there are plenty of natural swimming holes in Massachusetts worth exploring, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a swimming spot with a history as long and fascinating as that of Sand Springs Pool and Recreational Center in Williamstown. The pool itself may be man-made, but it’s fed by natural spring waters, and people have flocked to the area to bathe in these waters since at least the mid-1800s.
Sand Springs Pool and Recreational Center is located in Williamstown, in the beautiful Berkshires – well-known for its outdoor recreation opportunities.
Williamstown shares a border with Vermont, where the water that flows into Sand Springs originates. These waters are naturally warm, around 72-74 degrees.
In 1827, a letter in the newspaper the Pittsburgh Sun claimed that Sand Springs had been known for curing disease for over a century, and it’s been a landmark for many years.
Before Sand Springs Pool and Recreational Center, there was Greylock Hall in the 1800s, and later the Wampanoag Inn & Bathhouse, built in the 1900s. People bathed in the spring waters, seeking their claimed curative properties.
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Today, people mostly visit Sand Springs Pool for a fun day swimming in a bucolic and historic setting.
The center now has the pool itself, a toddler wading pool, and a hot tub – all of which are fed from the natural spring waters that drew so many people to this area years ago.
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A popular summer spot in Williamstown, the pool offers season passes and daily passes in a friendly and welcoming community gathering space. There are even swim lessons for kids, and “aquacise” for adults.
The toddler pool has play stations for kids to enjoy, and there are pool noodles available for the bigger kids to use in the main pool. Lounge chairs allow swimmers and non-swimmers alike to relax and sunbathe at the pool’s edges.
In the past, Sand Springs Pool has held movie “swim-a-long” nights – featuring Jaws, of course – where attendees could swim in the pool while enjoying the movie on a giant projector screen.
And the fun’s not over in the wintertime! Sand Springs Pool and Recreation Center has also previously hosted ice skating in its very own backyard skating rink.
The setting is beautiful, the atmosphere is welcoming, and the pool itself is fed by warm spring waters…what more could you want in a summer swimming spot?
