As you head farther out on the Point, you come to the northern land bridge at Eagle Pond; across the Pond is the southern land bridge. Tod created both to connect the two islands. Midway on each land bridge, notice the Pond fill or empty, depending on the tide. In 1996, the Audubon Society and others restored the tidal water exchange for $100,000.
Tod considered himself a naturalist and built the Pond as a bird sanctuary, populated by swans, pelicans, and ducks.
For the record, the Coastal Zone Management Act was passed by Congress in 1972, which severely limits the kind of coastal development engineered by Mr. Tod.
Investigations at Eagle Pond determined that people inhabited Greenwich Point during the Woodland Period (1000 BCE to 1000 CE). Ceramics from that period, recovered during a 1955 excavation of this site, have contributed to the understanding of regional archeological chronologies.
The Pond takes its name from the eagle sculpture that Tod installed in 1905 on the small island on the southern side of the Pond. Local Stamford sculptor and New York hotelier James Knowles created a new bronze eagle for the island in 1979 through the generosity of Helen Binney Kitchel.
Ospreys build a stick nest on top of the 14-foot wingspan of the eagle each year from which they can easily see their enemies approaching.
The sculpture – and nest! – are best viewed from the southern land bridge.