Crystal Lake is a natural pond near Bodwell Road and Corning Road in south

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, United States. Crystal Lake is a popular place for residents to enjoy swimming, boating and fishing.

Geography

The lake lies near the southeastern corner of Manchester at an elevation somewhat over above sea level. The lake's outlet stream flows west to

Cohas Brook Cohas Brook is a river located in southern New Hampshire in the United States. It is a tributary of the Merrimack River, part of the Gulf of Maine watershed. Cohas Brook rises in Auburn, New Hampshire, north of Calef Pond. The brook follows a wi ...

, a tributary of the

Merrimack River The Merrimack River (or Merrimac River, an occasional earlier spelling) is a river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into Mas ...

, which flows south and east to the Gulf of Maine and the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

History

Crystal Lake was historically known as Skenker's Pond and later as Mosquito Pond. In 1919, the city of Manchester built a public bathing area at the north end of the pond. The main entrance area consisted of a bathhouse and picnic grounds near the beach. The lake was the site of city-sponsored swim meets for children in the 1920s. Eventually, due to the lake's growing popularity, the facilities at Crystal Lake had to be expanded. In 1942 a new bathhouse was constructed and the beach was extended by the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

. In 1987, the fieldstone-constructed bathhouse underwent a renovation sponsored by the City Parks and Recreation Department and still stands at the site today.

Hermit of Mosquito Pond

The story of the Hermit of Mosquito Pond is about a man who lived secluded on Crystal Lake for 60 years. Charles Alan Lambert came to Manchester in the 1840s. After a slew of heartbreaks he retreated to the woods to live a life of solitude. He purchased over of land, on which he built a house out of logs he found on the property. He also grew his own food and herbs. He used the herbs to barter with local apothecaries. Over the years his hermit lifestyle made him into a kind of local celebrity, and he became the object of great curiosity. Despite his secluded lifestyle he would be visited by hundreds of people every summer. Mr. Lambert lived at his hermit homestead for over 60 years, spending the last two years of his life with the Sisters of Mercy at the House of St. John for aged men. He died in 1914, and his body now lies in St. Joseph Cemetery marked by a plain white tombstone, inscribed "The Hermit".Perreault, 1984

Fishing

The lake is classified as a warmwater fishery, with observed species including smallmouth bass,

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, ...

chain pickerel The chain pickerel (''Esox niger'') is a species of freshwater fish in the pike family (family Esocidae) of order Esociformes. The chain pickerel and the American pickerel (''E. americanus'') belong to the ''Esox'' genus of pike. Taxonomy Fren ...

brown bullhead The brown bullhead (''Ameiurus nebulosus'') is a fish of the family Ictaluridae that is widely distributed in North America. It is a species of bullhead catfish and is similar to the black bullhead (''Ameiurus melas'') and yellow bullhead (' ...

, and

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 ...

References

External links