History

Established 2002

The First Pond

In 1991, Dave Blocksom built his first pond in the front yard of his home, not knowing the effect it would have on so many people or how it would change his life. It became an outdoor classroom that taught him all the wonders of water gardening and koi ponds. It was the catalyst for the start of his dream-building a company that educates people about “ponds done right”. A mantra he stands by to this day.

Everyone who came to Dave’s house enjoyed the pond he had built. They loved watching the fish swimming, lilies blooming, and the peaceful sound of the slow moving waterfall. One person especially enjoyed it – Dave’s sister-in-law Pam Saunders, who lived in Denver CO.

Pam's Pond

Pam fell ill in the early 2000s and Dave wanted to help her in any way he could. She asked him to come to Denver, CO and build her a pond that she could sit by and recover. Dave’s natural artistic talent and using Aquascapes systematic approach to building water features would make building her pond possible.

Dave traveled to Denver and in three days built her a beautiful stream and pond. A place she would spend many hours reflecting.

The motivation...

Pam would often call Dave to tell him how much she loved sitting by her pond. She said, “You need to start a business and share what I have here with more people”.

Time would pass…..

On another call with Pam, she shared how that day she was spending time by her pond and noticed it was time to go inside and watch her soap opera on TV. She said to herself, “Why would I go in and watch a soap opera when I could just sit here by my pond?”

That was the moment Dave realized that creating water feature had the ability to impact people in a personal and profound way.

Established 2002

With the inspiration from Pam and the support of his wife Sally, Pondscapes of Charlotte was officially open for business in 2002!

Dave’s first step would be to rebuild his original pond!

Rebuilding His First Pond

With two ponds under his belt and not much business coming in, Dave decided to hone in on his skills by creating a display pond in his front yard. From what he learned from his first two ponds he built, and with the help of a new company called Aquascape, he started work on his third pond. This pond would be left unchanged for over 18 years and serve as the source of many sales over the course of its life.

His Big Break...

Dave was featured in a Charlotte Observer article which served as his big break. His story of being laid off by a struggling airline, U.S. Airways, and going full time in his passion of building ponds and water features was enough to get his name out in the Charlotte community. After hearing his story, multiple families came out of the woodworks and purchased ponds from him. Some are still our customers to this very day!