Connecticut Water Trails Association
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Connecticut Water Trails Association |
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Connecticut Water Trails Program Connecticut Water Trails Fairfield County Brookfield
Site Location:
Basic Information:
Candlewood Lake — Connecticut’s largest at 5,420 acres, with 72 miles of
shoreline Candlewood Lake, 8.4 sq mi (21.8 km²), is
located in Western Connecticut. It is formed behind a power dam south of
the Rocky River's junction with the
Housatonic River. Along its 86-mi (106
km) shoreline are five-star tourist resorts and recreational facilities
such as golf courses, beaches, and marinas. The lake is used year round
although tourists primarily come during the summer months for fishing,
boating or golfing. The lake is bordered by 5 towns:
Danbury,
New Fairfield,
New Milford, and
Sherman. Candlewood Lake is the largest lake in
Connecticut, and one of the largest man-made lakes in the USA. Like a
giant battery, its main purpose is to store water during periods of low
electrical demand for power generation when demand is high. Utilizing
excess electricity from the valley's hydro-system, water is pumped up a
hillside into the lake from the nearby Housatonic River during the
Spring and overnight hours in Summer, then allowed to flow back down
into the river when extra electricity is needed in the grid, often
during the region's intense mid-to-late summer heat waves. Power is
generated by turbines that are spun by the water flowing into the river
while pumping is done by reversing the impellers. The lake is around 40 feet (12 m) deep in most
places, with some deeper areas that are 80 feet (24 m). Because of the
silt kicked up by boats and the problem with water weeds and algae, the
visibility in the lake is around 5-20 feet. The lake has an ongoing problem with the growth of eelgrass and eurasian milfoil in shallower areas. The level of the lake is usually dropped ten feet over the winter in an attempt to freeze the weeds. Attempts have also been made to trim them with mechanical cutters on barges, but this has had limited success. In December 2006, the state Department of Environmental Protection working with members of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency treated Candlewood Lake for its eelgrass and algae issues with an organic phosphate, and the initial results appear promising. However, the full effect of the initial treatment and subsequent additional treatments will not be realized for several more years. There is a 45 mph (72 km/h) daytime speed limit for boats and a 25 mph (40 km/h) night-time speed limit from 1/2 hour after sunset to 1/2 hour before sunrise. A 6 mph (9.7 km/h) speed limit is in effect within one hundred feet of shore, dock, moored vessel, and other places that the power company has marked as hazardous. Type: Lake Water Type: Fresh Season:
Site Contact Information:
Site Coordinates:
Longitude:
73.4515 °W
Latitude
Location Map:
 USGS Quadrangle: New Milford and Danbury
Driving Directions:
Boat Launch Information:
ADA Access: Site Description: Environment: Additional Info: Site History: Candlewood Lake was created in the 1920s.
Inhabitants were relocated elsewhere, but many of the buildings were
left standing and some farming equipment was left behind. The roads were
not torn up before the valley was flooded. Scuba divers can investigate
buildings from that era, following the roads underwater, and discover
artifacts from that era onwards. Some of the notable underwater finds
are model Ts, plane wreckage from small craft that have hit the lake
since then, and covered bridges from that era.On July 15, 1926,
Connecticut Light and Power Company's board of directors approved a plan
that would be unique: The first large-scale operation of pumped storage
facilities in the United States. By creating the lake and pumping it
full of water from the Housatonic River then letting the water pour down
an immense pipe called a penstock and into a turbine, the utility could
produce electricity.
Starting in late July, 1926, nearly 1400 men labored to create Connecticut's largest body of water. About 500 men from Maine and Canada, hand-felled 4,500 acres (18 km²) of woodland, burning the lumber in massive bonfires - reminiscent of Indian campfires that once burned in the valley centuries earlier. Several dams were built. The largest, at the north end of the valley, measured 952 feet (290 m) wide and 100 feet (30 m) high upon completion. Nearly two years later on February 25, 1928 the first pumping operation began pouring water into the valley from the Housatonic. Engineers had planned on the Rocky River and its tributaries filling the valley one-fourth of the way, with the generating plant pumping the remaining three-fourths of the water out of the Housatonic. The valley filled quickly and only 7 months later, on September 29, 1928, the water reached an elevation of 429 feet (131 m) above sea level and Candlewood was considered complete. Even before the lake's filling was completed, it became apparent it would draw summer vacationers from as far away as New York City. Land prices on what would become the shoreline had already jumped to an unbelievable $1,000 an acre and summer developments sprang up almost immediately. Although it was almost called Lake Danbury, Candlewood Lake ultimately got its name from New Milford's Candlewood Mountain - which was named after the Candlewood tree, whose sapling branches were sometimes used as candles by early settlers.
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