| Brantingham Lake | |
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| Nickname(s): Jewel of the Adirondacks | |
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Brantingham Lake
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New York |
| County | Lewis |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
Brantingham Lake is a 341 acres (1.38 km2) lake, within the Adirondack Park, located east of the hamlet Brantingham in Lewis County, New York. Home to both seasonal and year round residents, the lake and surrounding area offer public boating, fishing, hunting, hiking, biking, ATV, horse and snowmobile trails, Brantingham Golf Club, Catspaw Country Market, Moose River Campground and Cold Brook Campsites and a variety of restaurants including the Pine Tree Tavern, Brantingham Inn Motel, Trailside Inn and Coach Light Inn. During the winter months, the area receives an average 200 inches of snow, making Brantingham a popular destination for winter enthusiasts.
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Oneida Indians, who called the lake "Fish Lake", ceded most of the land in and around Brantingham to the state of New York by formal treaty on February 22, 1788. In 1793, Alexander Macomb made an application to purchase over 3,500,000 acres (14,000 km2) of land at six cents an acre, including all of Lewis County. On April 4, 1794, the land was sold to Thomas Hopper Brantingham of Philadelphia for $23,073, (forty-six cents an acre), however soon after, he executed three mortgages on the land, neglecting to make good on his debts, eventually selling the land. John Greig became the next to acquire the land in and around Brantingham. The town name was eventually changed to Greig, due to the past negative perception of Thomas Hooper Brantingham. Even with this change, the lake and surrounding hamlet kept the name Brantingham, which remains today.
In 1995, a microburst caused heavy damage to lake properties and surrounding landscape.
Brantingham Lake covers 341 acres (1.38 km2) with eleven miles (18 km) of shoreline. The lake has a maximum depth of 80 feet (18 m), and an average depth of 30 feet (9.1 m) in accordance with fluctuating yearly water levels. There are two islands present, Grant, or Round Island, and Dark Island, in the north, north west region. Two distinct sand bars, each one marked by buoys and one visibly submerged sand bar road which stems off of Dark Island are visible. Depending on yearly water levels, these shallow sand bars may only be covered by a few feet of water, requiring caution from boaters. On the southwestern side of the lake, a stone bridge crosses an inlet leading to a small dam responsible for drawing down lake levels from October to May to prevent shore erosion and damage to docks during the winter. The lake bottom yields little vegetation, but rather organic matter and sand making it favorable for recreational use during the summer months. A variety of fish are present in the lake such as Blue Gill, Brown Bullhead, Lake Whitefish, Largemouth Bass, Pumpkinseed Sunfish, Rock Bass, White Sucker and Yellow Perch.
In the early 1990s, the military musical piece, TAPS, began being played at sunset. Since then, mainly during the summer months, residents and visitors sound the piece and return the call to each other playing trumpets, trombones and bagpipes.
Amid the many boats on Brantingham Lake, a Cessna 180F floatplane can be seen docked near Dark Island.
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