Newfound Lake

Newfound Lake has of shoreline. The lake is about wide and long. The deepest point is . Major tributaries include the Fowler River and the Cockermouth River. Its outlet is the Newfound River, flowing through Bristol village into the Pemigewasset River. The lake volume is 98 billion gallons of water. Wellington State Park, containing the largest freshwater swimming beach in the New Hampshire state park system, is a property located on the lake's west shore in the town of Bristol. The lake has four islands: Mayhew, Belle, Cliff, and Loon. ==Name==

A tradition says that the Native Americans called the lake "Pasquaney", meaning "the place where birch bark for canoes is found". In 1751, John Kendall and Jonathan Farwell participated in marking the western lands of the Masonian proprietors, where they referred to it as "Newfound Lake" or "Baker's Pond". Evidently this information did not get to Emmanuel Brown in time for publication of his New and Accurate Map of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and New England in 1752, as the lake was left nameless. In 1755, Thomas Jefferys published a Map of the Most Inhabited Parts of New England with the lake shown, but still without a name. In 1761, a map called the ''Accurate Map of his Majesty's Province of New Hampshire detailed the area, again with the lake nameless. In 1766 the New Chester proprietors refer to the lake in printed records as "Newfound pond". In 1791, Jeremy Belknap called it "New Chester Pond" in his History of New Hampshire''. Bristol native Fred Lewis Pattee romantically referred to Newfound by its supposed Indian name in his poem "Pasquaney Lake". ==Original landowners==

The lake was originally fought over by John Mason and Peter Wheelright, who both claimed they owned a large plot of land with the lake being inside that plot. On November 7, 1629, Mason, a merchant from London, had the land from Newfound Lake to the Merrimack River in Massachusetts granted to him. Six months earlier, Reverend Peter Wheelright bought a large plot of land from indigenous people that was similar to the land John Mason received. The argument went to court and lasted for more than one hundred years. Eventually, Mason's sixth heir, John Tufton Mason, won the case and sold the land to a syndicate known as the Masonian proprietors. On September 14, 1753, a syndicate living in Chester, New Hampshire, bought the land from the Mason proprietors, and the land became known as "New Chester". On February 12, 1788, the territory was divided up, and the territory north and east of Newfound Lake and the Newfound River was incorporated as Bridgewater. Two thirds of the lake was incorporated as Bristol on June 24, 1819. ==Fish==

In 1890, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Commissioner stocked 15,000 landlocked salmon into the Fowler River, and in 1898, the NH Fish and Game Commission stocked 40,000 whitefish from Lake Superior. Every year between mid-March and early July the lake is stocked with additional fish. In 2011 this included 305 landlocked salmon, with a total weight of , and 1,845 rainbow trout weighing . ==Steamboats==

Newfound Lake has hosted multiple steamboats in its waters. The first, the Pioneer owned by Capt. George W. Dow, was placed in the lake in 1865. It was destroyed by fire. In 1878, Edward M. Drake put the Cardigan on the lake, which plied until 1883. That same year, the Lady Helen joined it, but was also destroyed in a fire. ==Lighthouses==

Reed Lighthouse, built in 1932, is located on West Shore Road next to the Ledges. Newfound Lighthouse stands at the Paradise Point Lodge on Route 3A in Bridgewater. ==Lake conservation==

The Newfound Lake Region Association (NLRA) was created in 1971 to protect the waters of Newfound Lake and the surrounding land. A total of of land is currently in conservation. ==See also==