Silver Lake is a

freshwater lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

located in

Waterford Township, Michigan Waterford Township is a charter township in the geographic center of Oakland County, Michigan, United States. In 2020, the population of Waterford Township was 70,565. Communities Waterford Township has five unincorporated communities: * Clint ...

Oakland County, Michigan Oakland County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is part of the metropolitan Detroit area, located northwest of the city. As of the 2020 Census, its population was 1,274,395, making it the second-most populous county in Michigan, b ...

, United States. The lake is located south of Walton Blvd., north of Silver Lake Road, and east of Dixie Highway. Silver Lake is located on the

Clinton River The Clinton River is a river in southeastern Michigan in the United States. It is named in honor of DeWitt Clinton, who was governor of New York from 1817 to 1823. The main branch of the river rises from wetlands and coldwater tributaries from ...

watershed. Silver lake connects with Loon Lake to the west and with Upper Silver Lake (35.5 acres) to the east. The sand-bottom lake is . At its deepest point, the lake is deep, making it the ninth deepest lake in Oakland County.

Historical significance

In 1818, Major and Mrs. Oliver Williams and their eight children set out to settle Oakland County along with Mr. and Mrs. Alpheus Williams, their four daughters and two sons, and Captain Archibald Phillips. Major Williams and his family established the first

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

settlement in the county on the south shore of Silver Lake. Their farm was the first farm settlement on the

Saginaw Trail Saginaw Trail is the collective name for a set of connected roads in Southeast and Central Michigan that runs from Detroit to Saginaw through Pontiac and Flint that was originally a tribal foot trail. To drive it today, drivers would follow: * from ...

. In 1821, the first school in Oakland County was started in the loft of Oliver Williams' sheep barn on the banks of Silver Lake. There were seven students. In 1822, the first schoolhouse built of logs on Oliver Williams farm, south of Silver Lake. This was first school building in Oakland County and had 13 students.

Surroundings

Silver Lake is surrounded by heavily wooded residential neighborhoods on all sides of the lake. There is a private boat ramp off of Walton Blvd.

Fish

Silver Lake contains a variety of fish, including

black crappie The black crappie (''Pomoxis nigromaculatus'') is a freshwater fish found in North America, one of the two types of crappies. It is very similar to the white crappie in size, shape, and habits, except that it is darker, with a pattern of black sp ...

bluegill The bluegill (''Lepomis macrochirus''), sometimes referred to as "bream", "brim", "sunny", or "copper nose" as is common in Texas, is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and ...

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, but ...

rock bass The rock bass (''Ambloplites rupestris''), also known as the rock perch, goggle-eye, red eye, and black perch, is a freshwater fish native to east-central North America. This red eyed creature is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish fa ...

, smallmouth bass, sunfish, and

yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch, American river perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Samu ...

References

{{authority control Lakes of Oakland County, Michigan Lakes of Michigan Lakes of Waterford Township, Michigan