Lake Winnipesaukee
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lake Winnipesaukee is the largest lake in New Hampshire. It is approximately 26 miles long (north-south) and from one to ten miles wide (east-west), covering 72 square miles (186 km²), with a maximum depth of 212 feet (64.6 meters). The lake contains some 253 islands (list of islands) and is indented by several peninsulas, a combination which yields a total shoreline of some 288 miles. The driving distance around the lake is 63 miles. The lake is 504 feet above sea level. It is the third-largest lake in New England (after Lake Champlain and Moosehead Lake), and second only to Moosehead for lakes entirely contained within New England.
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[edit] History
Lake Winnipesaukee has been a tourist destination for more than a century, especially for residents escaping the summer heat of Boston and New York City. The Native American name "Winnipesaukee" means either "smile of the Great Spirit" or "beautiful water in a high place".
Winnipesaukee is a glacial lake and an unusual one at that, since the last glaciation actually reversed the flow of its waters. Draining the central portion of New Hampshire, it once flowed southeast, leaving via what is now Alton Bay toward the Atlantic Ocean. When glacial debris blocked this path, flow was redirected westward through Paugus Bay into the Winnipesaukee River. The latter flows west from the lake and joins the Pemigewasset River in Franklin to form the Merrimack River, which flows south to Massachusetts and into the Atlantic.
[edit] Cities and Towns
The communities that surround the lake, clockwise from the southernmost town, are:
- Alton
- Gilford, home to Gunstock Recreation Area, noted for its skiing and hiking.
- Laconia, surrounding Paugus Bay, is the main commercial city on the lake. Included in Laconia is Weirs Beach, the largest public bathing area on Winnipesaukee.
- Meredith, whose harbor lies on the northwestern reach of the lake.
- Center Harbor
- Moultonborough
- Tuftonboro, which contains Melvin Village.
- Wolfeboro, which bills itself as the "oldest summer resort in America."
[edit] Lakes Region
Along with the rest of New Hampshire's Lakes Region, which also encompasses Lake Winnisquam, Squam Lake and Newfound Lake, Winnipesaukee has been a vacation community for at least a century, particularly drawing people from the Boston region. The area is home to numerous summer theater troupes and offers a variety of land and water recreational activities. There are numerous hiking trails in and around the surrounding mountains which include the Ossipee Mountains to the east, the Belknap Range to the west, and Red Hill to the north.
[edit] The steamship Mount Washington and the Successor M/S Mount Washington
The paddlesteamer Mount Washington, named after the highest of New Hampshire's White Mountains, was launched in spring 1871 to carry mail, goods and passengers on Lake Winnipesaukee, under the flag of the Boston and Maine Railroad. With a hull length of 178 feet and a beam of 49 feet she appeared as a typical representative of the North American sidewheelers around the second half of the century and was the largest steamer on the lake at that time.
The huge paddle wheels were driven by a single cylinder steam engine of 450 HP at approximately 26 RPM. The power was transferred from the vertical single cylinder to the wheel shaft by the walking beam, high above the upper deck, oscillating in the frequency of the paddle wheels.
Known as "The Mount", her kitchen and restaurant service became famous. On December 23 1939, after 68 years of service, a nearby railroad station caught fire from an overheated stove. The fire soon spread to the ship, tied at the dock, and soon destroyed it. Efforts to cut the Mount loose were to no avail as it was a time of extremely low water and the hull was stuck fast in the mud of the lake bottom. Soon after the steamship Mount Washington was destroyed, a local company was formed to build a new ship. Since Europe was already at war, obtaining steel for building a new cruise ship was an impossibility. Instead, an old sidewheel vessel on Lake Champlain, the Chateaugay, a 203 foot iron-hulled sidewheeler, being used as a club house for the Burlington yacht club, was purchased, cut into sections, and transported to Lake Winnipesaukee on rail cars. A new twin screw vessel was designed for the hull being welded back together at Lakeport. Powered by two steam engines taken from another ocean-going yacht, the new steamer Mount Washington made her maiden voyage on August 15, 1940. Two years after her launch, however, the new Mount's engines were removed for use in a navy vessel during World War II. Only after the war concluded, did the Mount Washington manage to return to the water. New owners quickly installed twin, 600 hp diesel engines and made some modifications to the decks and superstructure. The ship was an immediate success in the post war tourist boom overtaking Lake Winnipesaukee. [1] In 1982, the Mount was cut open in the middle, and extended with an additional 20 foot hull section to add larger lounge and food service facilities. Still popular, it makes one or two round-trips on the lake per day during the summer season as well as numerous dinner dance cruises in the evenings.
Ice-Out Contest Lake Winnipesaukee is known for its annual Ice-Out Contest, in which people try to guess the earliest date that the Mount Washington (aka The Mount), a large cruise ship that carries tourists around the lake, can safely leave her port in Center Harbor and motor to four other ports (Weirs Beach, Alton Bay, Wolfeboro, and Meredith). Since records began being kept in 1851, ice-out has happened as early as March 29 and as late as May 12, although 90 percent of the time it is declared during April.
[edit] Popular culture
- The 1981 movie On Golden Pond was mainly filmed on Squam Lake, just northwest of Winnipesaukee, with a few scenes shot on Winnipesaukee itself.
- The 1991 movie comedy What About Bob? was set at Lake Winnipesaukee, but the actual filming was done at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia.
- The 2006 comedy Click has a flashback depicting Adam Sandler as a kid playing on a beach on Lake Winnipesaukee.
- In a Three Stooges short in which the Stooges are census takers, Curly answers a query about his birthplace with "Lake Winnepesaukee." When Moe asks him to spell it, he switches course, and says "Make that Lake Erie. I've got an uncle there."
[edit] References
- ^ Paul H. Blaisdell: Three Centuries on Winnipesaukee, published 1975 by the New Hampshire Publishing Company, Somersworth, N.H.
The New Hampshire State Almanac
