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Greenwood Lake

1760s establishments in New Jersey1760s establishments in the Province of New YorkLakes of Passaic County, New JerseyReservoirs in New JerseyReservoirs in New York (state)
Reservoirs in Orange County, New YorkWarwick, New YorkWest Milford, New Jersey
Greenwood Lake East Arm (1911941868)
Greenwood Lake East Arm (1911941868)

Greenwood Lake is an interstate lake approximately seven miles (11 km) long, straddling the border of New York and New Jersey. It is located in the Town of Warwick and the Village of Greenwood Lake, New York (in Orange County) and West Milford, New Jersey (in Passaic County). It is the source of the Wanaque River. The lake was originally called "Quampium" by the Munsee Native Americans who lived there. It was renamed "Long Pond" by Europeans, who settled the area in the 18th century for farming and ironmaking, and eventually came to be re-christened "Greenwood Lake." It was dammed up c. 1765 by Peter Hasenclever of The American Company to increase the size of the lake for water power used downstream at the Long Pond Ironworks. The original dam was located even with today's Fox Island, with most of the lake extending north of the state line. In 1837, the lake was again dammed, but at the location of the current dam, this time by the Morris Canal & Banking Company to supply water to the Pompton Feeder of the Morris Canal. The enlarged lake now flooded the Succor Brook at the northern end, forming the East Arm, surrounded "Lime Ridge" to create Chapel Island, and flooded the extreme southern end, including parts of Belcher Creek. The enlarged lake began to attract tourists. The Montclair and Greenwood Lake Railway reached the lake at Awosting around 1874, and the "State Line" (later Sterling Forest) depot was established around 1876. (This railway later became the New York and Greenwood Lake Railway, and then the Greenwood Lake Division of the Erie Railway.) During its resort era, several steamboats operated on the lake, including the Greenwood Lake Transportation Company's Arlington, Milford, and their side-wheeler, Montclair, built in 1876, which had two decks and is reported to have been capable of carrying from 200 to 400 passengers. There were also other steamers that were privately run, such as the Pioneer and the Anita, and smaller steam launches, such as the Wilhelmina, the Carrie T., and the Ferncliff, run by specific hotels. These steamboats met the trains and took passengers to the various resorts around the lake in both states. There is a seaplane area on the lake, a few large marinas and lakeside restaurants with docks. Greenwood Lake Airport just south of the lake has a runway long enough to handle small jets. There are numerous marinas and restaurants along Greenwood Lake. In 2011, the film The Magic of Belle Isle starring Morgan Freeman was filmed along the lake.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Greenwood Lake (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Greenwood Lake
Somerville Road,

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Wikipedia: Greenwood LakeContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 41.179461 ° E -74.329977 °
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Address

Greenwood Lake Seaplane Base

Somerville Road
07421
New Jersey, United States
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Greenwood Lake East Arm (1911941868)
Greenwood Lake East Arm (1911941868)
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Sterling Forest, New York

Sterling Forest, New York is a hamlet in the Town of Warwick, Orange County. It is served by an active United States post office of the same name. It is situated on the eastern shore of Greenwood Lake, at the New Jersey state line. Part of the hamlet extends into West Milford Township, Passaic County, New Jersey. The hamlet grew up around the terminal station of the Montclair and Greenwood Lake Railway, later called the New York and Greenwood Lake Railway, and later the Greenwood Lake division of the Erie Railroad. The railroad reached this point around 1875, with the station located at the state line in New Jersey. The depot complex originally contained the Sterling Forest, New Jersey post office. The post office was moved to the New York side of the line in 1926, where it continues to operate. Rail service ceased in 1935. The coming of the railroad was preceded by the construction of a large commercial ice house by the Ringwood Company around 1864. The Sterling Forest ice house was later operated by the Mountain Ice Company of Hoboken, New Jersey. It ceased operation and was eventually torn down in 1945. At one time, the hamlet also boasted two hotels (one in New Jersey), a general store, lumber yard, two bars (in addition to those in the hotels) and a Roman Catholic church (in New Jersey). Today, the only businesses that remain are one bar/restaurant, and a marina (on the site of the depot). In the 1930s and 1940s, Yankee great Babe Ruth often rented a cabin in the hamlet for the summer, and was known to play baseball with the local neighborhood children at a small ballfield located there. It was the site of the first American rocket airplane flight that carried mail from the New York side of the state line to the New Jersey side on February 23, 1936. Often confused with Sterling Forest, New York is the old Sterling Forest Gardens property and the adjacent Sterling Forest State Park, both located several miles away in the Town of Tuxedo, New York. The property is now the site of the New York Renaissance Faire, an annual Renaissance fair. Adding to the confusion, there is another fair called The Sterling Renaissance Festival which is located north of Syracuse, NY.