Lake Winnipesaukee

Let's see ... there's out of this world scenery, dozens of quaint towns and villages, each one prettier than the last, sales tax free shopping, fine dining and attractions that appeal to every member of the family. How can you beat that?

With 183 miles of shoreline and 253 habitable islands, Lake Winnipesaukee is the centerpiece of the Lakes Region. Recreational activities abound, and include boating, swimming, and scenic cruises, and in the winter, skiing, ice skating, ice fishing, and snowmobiling. It's the perfect vacation destination at any time of the year! The big lake is surrounded by Ossipee, Belknap and Sandwich mountain ranges, all of which contributes to the spectacular scenery.

Facts

Lake Winnipesaukee means "beautiful water in a high place" and "The smile of the great spirit" from Indian folklore.

Lake Winnipesaukee has 6 mapped ship wrecks.

Water clarity is an amazing 23 feet!

Distance around the lake: 182 miles.

Height above sea Level: 504 feet.

The Lake: This "Beautiful Water of the High Places" has always been held in very high esteem since primitive man first came to this scenic shore. Known as Winnipisseoke, or Winnipiseogee pond, and dozens of others very similar, the present Winnipesaukee name was made official by the New Hampshire Legislature of 1933.

183 miles of shoreline.

Area of 71.8 square miles(45,952 acres).

Dimensions at 9 1/2 miles wide by 21 miles long.

Altitude of 504 feet.

A flotilla of islands estimated at 365.

The largest of these islands are Long Island (1,186 acres), Bear Island (780 acres), Cow Island (522 acres) and Governor's Island (504 acres).

Lake Winnipesaukee ranks very high among the world's inland waters.

It is the largest of nearly 1311 ponds and lakes in 9,302 square miles New Hampshire.

The depth of 180 feet of water lies beneath your boat South East of Rattlesnake Island, with most of the lake resting between 20 and 100 feet deep.

The elevation is changed by the annual spring runoff by an occasional drought (in 1941 the lake contained approximately 14,600,000,000 less cubic feet of water than normal, and in 1826 it may have been even lower). Before man dammed the falls at Lakeport over 150 years ago, the level was more than three to five feet below the present. Prior to 1832 the Weirs channel was 'a shallow way , and a short "river", before the advent of down stream damming, of about a three foot drop over a possible width of 150 feet, until the 1803 bridge was built.

Lake Winnipesaukee was marked in 1899 with the first inland waterway bouys in the United States, over 300 hazards being indicated, with the present number of markers, light-buoys, and other navigation aids about 600. Navigation charts ate available at all marine stores and the like and Winnipesaukee topographic maps can be purchased at rock climbing and stationary stores. Public docking facilities are maintained at many points.

Lake Winnipesaukee is unusually pure for an inhabited body of water, and every effort should be takes by each property owner, boat operator, municipality, industry, and visitor to keep it so. With the mushrooming of population industry, and recreation, every citizen must be alert to preserve our lake as the beautiful heritage it is.

Lake Winnipesaukee is well known for its annual Ice-Out Contest, in which people try to guess the date that the Mount Washington, a large cruise ship that carries tourists around the lake, can safely leave her port at Center Harbor and motor to four other ports. 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.

Lake Winnipesaukee is the sixth largest natural lake completely inside U.S. borders. Eight towns border the lake: Alton, Center Harbor, Gilford, Laconia, Meredith, Moultonboro, Tuftonboro and Wolfboro.

Over 60 streams run into the Lake, from small hillside brooks to the short Hill River system in the North and the narrow Merrymeeting River of the South. Several dozen small lakes and ponds drain into Winnipesaukee. It may never be known how such a large and wholesome lake can maintain itself from such a confined watershed.

Fishing in the "big" Lake is classified as good by many people, and the State Fish and Game and U. S. Government hatcheries keep a watchful eye on it. Salmon, lake trout, bass, and pickerel comprise the principal take, while the feeder brooks are stocked with brook and rainbow trout (and some browns) from the 2.5 million fingerlings hatched each year. Pickerel and perch are popular to the ice fishermen while the winter-paving turns the lake-surface into a playground for fishing, ice-fishing, Skating, and snowmobiling.

In 1811 a charter was granted for a canal from Alton Bay to the Sea by way of Merrymeeting, Cocheco, and Piscataqua rivers. Though the Little Pequakit Canal Co. came into being in 1819, no work was done on a proposed project that was intended to eventually extend from the Atlantic Ocean through our Lake, to Squam Lake, and the Connecticut River, and on to Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence.

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