Temescal Regional Recreation Area (TRRA), formerly Lake Temescal Regional Park, is a

regional park A regional park is an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreational use or other reason, and under the administration of a form of local government. Definition A regional park can be a special park distri ...

in the

Berkeley Hills The Berkeley Hills are a range of the Pacific Coast Ranges that overlook the northeast side of the valley that encompasses San Francisco Bay. They were previously called the "Contra Costa Range/Hills" (from the original Spanish ''Sierra de la ...

, in northeastern Oakland, California. The TRRA encompasses , abutting

SR 24 Route 24, or Highway 24, can refer to: International * European route E24 Australia * Lyell Highway (Tasmania) * Central Arnhem Road, NT Austria * Verbindungsspange Rothneusiedel Canada * Alberta Highway 24 * British Columbia Highway 24 * ...

SR13 The following roads may be referred to as Route 13 or Highway 13. For a list of roads named A13, see List of A13 roads. International * Asian Highway 13 * European route E13 * European route E013 Afghanistan *The Kabul–Behsud Highway - ...

, and the interchange connecting the two highways, southwest of the

Caldecott Tunnel The Caldecott Tunnel is an east–west highway tunnel through the Berkeley Hills between Oakland and Orinda, California. Its four bores carry California State Route 24. Named after Thomas E. Caldecott, former mayor of Berkeley, it opened in 19 ...

.The park is part of the

East Bay Regional Park District The East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) is a special district operating in Alameda County and Contra Costa County, California, within the East Bay area of the San Francisco Bay Area. It maintains and operates a system of regional parks which ...

(EBRPD).

History of the lake

Lake Temescal was created in 1869, after Anthony Chabot won a contract to supply the town of Oakland, California with drinking water. Chabot had already become notable by developing a method of extracting gold from the Sierra Nevada mountains with high-pressure water cannons. He decided to use the same technique to construct a reservoir by blasting the walls above Temescal Creek, and recovering the dirt and rocks to build an earthen dam across the creek. Slack, Gordy. "Reservoirs: What's a lake like you doing in a place like this?" ''Bay Nature'' magazine. July - September 2003.
Accessed May 11, 2017. Chabot had already formed the Contra Costa Water Company to pump water from the proposed reservoir to the Oakland water system. By 1875, Oakland's population had grown to about 25,000 from about 10,000 when the dam was first completed. It was obvious that Lake Temescal was too small to remain the primary source of the city's water, so Chabot's company moved farther south to construct a much larger reservoir, later named Lake Chabot. Temescal became only a secondary source. Temescal 39

Lake Temescal is the main attraction in the park, which also offers trails, picnic areas, forest

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s, and

bird watching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

. The lake was originally constructed as a drinking water reservoir for the city of Oakland. It was one of the first three parks opened to the public in 1936 by the

(EBRPD)."Temescal Regional Recreation Area." East Bay Regional Park District
Accessed May 10, 2017

Beach House

In 1940, workers supplied by the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

(CCC) constructed an imposing building overlooking the lake. The two-level building, which has since been known as Beach House, can be rented for private events, such as group meetings, receptions and dinners."Temescal Beach House." East Bay Regional Parks.
Accessed May 12, 2017.

Notes

References

{{Coord, 37, 50, 52, N, 122, 13, 53, W, display=title Parks in Oakland, California Berkeley Hills East Bay Regional Park District

History of the lake

Beach House

See also

Notes

References