Fun Facts About Lake Winnipesaukee
As you might have read on my website, I have been enjoying Lake Winnipesaukee since I was an infant. I have heard stories of my mother "throwing" me off the dock as a baby in order to teach me how to swim. I still have people that call me "Kimee, the under water baby". I always knew that the Lake was large but I have been having a fun time learning the facts that I never knew. They are pretty interesting, here they are: Winnipesaukee, Lake (WI-ni-puh-SAW-kee)
- Means "beautiful water in high place". A second interpetation from Indian folklore is "The smile of the great spirit"
- 79.6 Square miles (including all the islands), 55,685 acres of water
- 178 miles of outer shoreline, the islands have 100-1/2 miles of shoreline. Total shoreline is 278-1/2 miles.
- 625 billion gallons of water
- Elevation 504 feet above sea level
- Deepest point is 187 feet
- Average depth is 43 feet
- The Lake usually freezes early to mid January
- Driving distance around the lake is about 63 miles and takes approximately one and a half hours with light traffic
- Ice-Out is determined when the M/S Mount Washington can reach all four of its ports without touching ice, usually during April. The earliest ice-out was March 28th, 1921 and the lates was May 12th, 1888
- Summer water tempertures range from high 60's to high 70's
- 2 Counties: Belknap and Carroll, and 8 towns: Alton, Gilford, Laconia, Meredith, Moultonboro, Center Harbor, Tuftonboro, and Wolfeboro border the Lake.
Island Facts
- Depending on what you consider an island, it has been said that there are 365 islands (one for each day of the year). Others have counted that there are 274 inhabitable islands.
- There are four Loon Islands and three of each of the following: Rock Island, Cove Island and Little Pine Island.
- The largest island is Long Island which is 1186 acres. Second largest is Bear Island, third is Cow Island and then fourth is Governors Island.
- Only 73 islands are 2 acres or more
- Some of the unusual island names include: LittleWhortleberry, Little Ganzey, Far Ozone, Mother-in-Law, Uppershoe
- There is an island called "Nine Acres" that is actually thirteen acres in size.
*Sources vary and information is believed to be true but not guaranteed