Geographical Naming Committee Takes 11 Years to Name a Pond, Pond Dries Up During Deliberations

The Grafton County Geographical Naming Committee has completed its eleven-year deliberation on the name for a small body of water in northern New Hampshire, arriving at the unanimous recommendation of 'Patience Pond' — only to discover that the pond dried up in 2024 due to changing hydrological conditions and no longer exists as a geographical feature. 'We are aware of the irony,' said committee chair Dr. Eleanor Datum, presenting the committee's 340-page final report at a public meeting attended by three people. 'We named it Patience Pond because the naming process tested the patience of everyone involved. The pond, apparently, ran out of patience before we did.' The naming process began in 2015 when a local hiking group requested that the unnamed pond, approximately 0.3 acres in size, be officially designated on USGS maps. The committee solicited public input, receiving 47 name proposals ranging from 'Crystal Lake' (rejected as too common) to 'Dave's Pond' (rejected because nobody could identify Dave). Deliberations stalled in 2017 over a dispute about whether the feature qualified as a 'pond' or a 'pool,' which required a subcommittee consultation with the state hydrologist. The subcommittee met four times over two years and concluded it was 'probably a pond but possibly a vernal pool, depending on the season.' The naming process was further delayed by a 2019 objection from a resident who argued that the proposed name 'Clearwater Pond' was culturally insensitive, though no specific culture was identified. This objection triggered a cultural review that lasted eighteen months. 'By the time we finished the cultural review, half the committee had retired,' Dr. Datum noted. The dried pond bed is now a meadow that the hiking group has requested be named. The committee has agreed to consider the request and anticipates a decision 'within the decade.'