Home Renovation Gone Right: The Astonishing Find Beneath the Patio!

So, picture this. I’m helping a friend make a place for his patio extension — just another regular old Saturday, not enough snacks and too much sweat — and we hit this weird chunk of concrete. Not the kind of thing, if you will, where you’re like “eh, just toss it.” No, this one had  tile. I mean, actual multi-colored mosaic

 tiles clinging on despite the grime and the decades. We looked at it for a full minute before one of us muttered, “Wait… this was a pond?”

And, boom, just like that, rabbit hole.

For while buried goldfish ponds are not just landscaping oddities. They’re time capsules. Tiny watery glimpses of a world where people had actually made their gardens …delightful.

When the Past Was Paved Over

In the early 1900s, backyard ponds were commonplace. They were more than just status symbols. They were somewhere to wind down, chill, maybe even daydream a bit. Just picture sitting out on it in the evening, with those goldfish flitting just below the surface, lily pads floating and little ones hanging around the edge watching it all like magic.

No phones. No screens. Only frogs, fish and the occasional mosquito.

Next came neat lawns, concrete patios and charcoal grills. The ponds? Buried and forgotten.

But they’re still there. Just below the surface. Waiting.

A Concrete Clue

That concrete ring we found? Had levels. A slope. There was a depression there, bowling-ball-size — maybe where water burbled up. Maybe a pipe once fed it. It was handmade, probably from reclaimed tile. To this day, the colors still shine through.

Makes you wonder what else is down there with the weeds and dirt.

Goldfish and Lilies. A Backyard Fairy Tale

I’ve never been big on fish. But goldfish in a pond? That’s a different story. In the sunlight they flash like living jewels.

Throw in some lily pads and you have something that feels lifted from a painting. Quiet. Still. Alive.

Goldfish used to be symbols of luck. Families cherished them for their beauty, their grace, their quiet. Add a couple of water lilies, and suddenly your backyard seems like an entire universe.

Why We Covered Them Up

Over time, trends changed. New “clean and functional” aesthetic didn’t jibe with Ponds. They obstructed sprinkler systems. They were messy. So people filled them in.

But I think we miss soul now. Stories. Texture. And excavating a buried goldfish pond? That’s how to bring it back.

Found One? Here’s What to Do

If you uncover something strange in your yard — don’t throw it away.

Check: is it round? Concrete? Any sign of tiles? A slope or bowl-like base? If so, you might have a neglected pond. A piece of someone’s past.

You could leave it. Or you could bring it back. Patch the concrete. Add new tiles. Let the fish return. Let your children — or kid self — sit and do nothing.

Let the Stories Continue

Homes have histories. We don’t always listen, but they’re there. A buried goldfish pond is more than landscaping scrapple. It’s a memory. A quiet kind. One that can be lived again.

Perhaps one day — after the pond’s been cleaned up, the lilies are blooming and goldfish are darting about — along will come someone else who’ll find what you planted.

And feel it, too. That quiet magic.