Silver Lake is a freshwater lake located in

Waterford Township, Michigan Waterford Township (commonly known simply as Waterford) is a charter township in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Detroit, Waterford is located roughly northwest of downt ...

in Oakland County, Michigan, 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 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. 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 in the sunfish family ( Centrarchidae). It is endemic to North America, one of the two types of crappies. It is very similar to the white crappie (''P. annularis'') in size, s ...

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

, largemouth bass,

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 fish is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family (bi ...

, smallmouth bass, spotted gar, sunfish, black bullhead, snakehead, common carp and yellow perch.

References

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