Connecticut Water Trails Program

Connecticut Water Trails

Fairfield County

Sherman

Candlewood Lake

Site Location:  20 Saw Mill Road, Sherman, Connecticut

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: Brookfield, 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.

Type: Lake

Water Type: Fresh

Season: Open year round

Site Contact Information:

Candlewood Lake Authority

Site Coordinates:

Longitude 73.49245500000001  °W   Latitude 41.574217  °N

ADA Access:

Site Description:

Environment:

Additional Info:

Allen's Cove

Longitude 73.489833 °W   Latitude 41.568741 °N

Holiday Point

Longitude   73.485401 °W   Latitude 41.569816  °N

Pond Point

Longitude 73.470679 °W   Latitude 41.553705 °N

Deer Island

Longitude 73.46444 °W  Latitude 41.53721999999999 °N

Green Island

Longitude 73.46917000000002 °W  Latitude 41.54805999999998 °N

Thistle Island

Longitude: 73.48111 °W  Latitude: 41.55722 °N 

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.

Within weeks, an army of 50 surveyors swarmed into the valley, and lawyers were hired to process the deeds transferring land held by some families since before the American Revolution into the hands of CL&P. The utility had the power of eminent domain and so the farmers sold their land -- $2,356 for 53 acres, $3,000 for 34 acres, $100 for 3 acres.

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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