Sylvan Lake is a
hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
in the Town of
Beekman, Dutchess County, New York, United States. It is named after
the lake it sits on, which was formed during the
Ice Age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...
.
The early Indians originally named it "poughquag", which means "round body of water". A smaller lake known as Hidden Lake is where Daniel Delany, in the late 19th century, discovered
iron ore
Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...
and made his fortune. He eventually bought the adjacent property which was the entire shoreline of Sylvan Lake and rebuilt
St. Denis Church for the town. Some iron ore mining also took place along the shores of Sylvan Lake in the early 1930s and some of these retainer wall pilings are still standing and can be clearly seen from a boat. When the mine was filled with water, construction equipment and mining tools were left on the bottom, and are present today.
Links
Town of Beekman official website*
{{coord, 41, 36, 27, N, 73, 44, 04, W, display=title
Hamlets in New York (state)
Hamlets in Dutchess County, New York