Ashford Lake is a small, shallow, privately owned pond located in the eastern part of the town of

Ashford Ashford may refer to: Places Australia *Ashford, New South Wales *Ashford, South Australia *Electoral district of Ashford, South Australia Ireland *Ashford, County Wicklow *Ashford Castle, County Galway United Kingdom *Ashford, Kent, a town **B ...

in northeastern Connecticut, along the town's border with Eastford. The pond has an area of 52.6 acres and a maximum depth of approximately 12 feet. Its normal surface elevation is 659 feet above sea level.

History

Ashford Lake was created in 1949 when an earthen dam was constructed on Goss Brook. On July 17, 2018, an EF0

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, alt ...

-- the first tornado to touch down in Windham County since 1992 -- struck Ashford Lake and the surrounding neighborhoods, downing trees, damaging homes, and killing three household rabbits.

Description

Ashford Lake's inflows consist of intermittent small streams and runoff, along with springs at the bottom of the pond. The pond's waters are held back by an earthen embankment dam on its south shore. Ashford Lake's outlet is Goss Brook, which flows over the dam's spillway and eventually into the

Mount Hope River The Mount Hope River is a river in northeastern section of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The river is formed at the outlet of Morey Pond at the extreme northern end of Ashford, Connecticut, at the border of Union, Connecticut, and flows about ...

Recreation

Ashford Lake is only accessible to homeowners and their guests. The pond is home to private beaches which can be used by residents. Ashford Lake has no boat launch, but residents may use their own boats as long as electric motors are used. NO GAS

Flora and fauna

Ashford Lake is home to abundant aquatic vegetation, but most of it cannot be seen from the surface, and thus it poses little negative impacts on recreation. The pond has no invasive plant species. Patches of Sparganium sp. are common along the shore, while

Eleocharis acicularis ''Eleocharis acicularis'' is a species of spikesedge known by the common names needle spikerush and least spikerush. It is widespread across Europe, central and southeastern Asia, North America and northeastern South America as far south as Ecu ...

, Isoetes sp., Nuphar variegata and

Brasenia schreberi ''Brasenia'', commonly known as ''watershield'', is a genus belonging to the family Cabombaceae, consisting of one species, ''Brasenia schreberi''. It is widely distributed in North America, the West Indies, northern South America (Venezuela, Gu ...

are sparse. A progression of plant species occur with increasing depth.

Najas flexilis ''Najas flexilis'' is an aquatic annual plant native to parts of North America and Europe. It is native to northern and central Europe from Norway to Ireland to Switzerland, and from there across Russia (including Siberia). It is also considered ...

dominates areas from one to six feet deep, Utricularia radiata occurs in six to nine feet of water and Potamogeton foliosus is present in water from nine to twelve feet. Fish are occasionally spotted in Ashford Lake's waters, such as

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, ...

References

{{Connecticut lakes and ponds Ashford, Connecticut Bodies of water of Windham County, Connecticut Ponds of Connecticut