Wangumbaug Lake | |
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Coventry Lake | |
Wangumbaug Lake | |
Location | Connecticut, US |
Coordinates | 41°46′23″N 72°19′37″W / 41.773°N 72.327°W / 41.773; -72.327 |
Type | Glacial lake |
Basin countries | United States |
Max. length | 1.8 mi (2.9 km) |
Surface area | 0.59 sq mi (1.5 km) |
Average depth | 35 ft (11 m) |
Shore length | 5 mi (8.0 km) |
Settlements | Coventry, Connecticut |
Shore length is not a well-defined measure. |
Wangumbaug Lake, also known as Coventry Lake, is a natural lake located in Coventry, Connecticut. It covers 378 acres (1.53 km) and is about 35 feet (11 m) deep and 1.8 miles (2.9 km) long with a circumference of 5 miles (8.0 km). Its watershed is 1,992 acres (8.06 km), around 40% of which is residential and the rest farms and forest. The lake holds 2.7 billion gallons (10,220,000 m³) of water. It is fed by springs and has one natural outlet, Coventry Lake Brook, which flows southeast into the Willimantic River. Melt from a retreating glacier formed the lake 13,000 years ago.
Wangumbaug means "Crooked Pond" in Algonquian. It was likely named by the Nipmuc, who settled the area before European contact.
The lake has been a popular summer vacation destination for boaters and bathers. Artists flocked to the summer cottages along the shores. In the early twentieth century, a trolley line connected the towns of Coventry and Willimantic, and Wangumbaug Lake became known as "Willimantic's summer resort." A pavilion known as the Lakeside Casino was a popular dance hall. Wangumbaug Lake is currently the home of the UConn Huskies rowing team, which shares its boathouse with the Edwin O. Smith High School crew team from nearby Mansfield.
A two-acre lake island, Underwood Island, is located 100 yards from Wangumbaug's shoreline. The village and census-designated place of Coventry Lake includes the lake and surrounding residential areas. The regional climate is hemiboreal.
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References
- Decisions on Geographic Names in the United States. Washington, D.C.: Board on Geographic Names, United States Department of the Interior. 1982. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-04-11 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Lake History & Facts | Coventry, CT - Official Website". www.coventryct.org. Retrieved 2021-04-11.
- ^ Jobbagy, Bill (2018). A History of Lakeside Park, South Coventry, Connecticut. Retrieved 2021-04-11.
- Stave, Bruce (1991). Mills and Meadows: A Pictorial History of Northeast Connecticut. Virginia Beach: Donning Co. Publishers. pp. 141–42.
- Peel, M C; Finlayson, B L (2007). "Updated world map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification" (PDF). Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. 11 (5): 1633–1644. doi:10.5194/hess-11-1633-2007. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
- "NASA Earth Observations Data Set Index". NASA. Retrieved 30 January 2016.