Brantingham Lake
Encyclopedia
Brantingham Lake is a 341 acres (1.4 km²) lake, within the Adirondack Park, located east of the hamlet
Brantingham in Lewis County, New York
. Home to both seasonal and year round residents, the lake and surrounding area offer public boating, fishing, hunting, hiking, biking, ATV, horse and snowmobile trails, Brantingham Golf Club, Catspaw Country Market, Moose River Campground and Cold Brook Campsites and a variety of restaurants including the Pine Tree Tavern, Brantingham Inn Motel, Trailside Inn and Coach Light Inn. During the winter months, the area receives an average 200 inches of snow, making Brantingham a popular destination for winter enthusiasts.
became the next to acquire the land in and around Brantingham. The town name was eventually changed to Greig, due to the past negative perception of Thomas Hooper Brantingham. Even with this change, the lake and surrounding hamlet kept the name Brantingham, which remains today.
In 1995, a microburst
caused heavy damage to lake properties and surrounding landscape.
, Lake Whitefish
, Largemouth Bass
, Pumpkinseed Sunfish
, Rock Bass
, White Sucker
and Yellow Perch
.
, began being played at sunset. Since then, mainly during the summer months, residents and visitors sound the piece and return the call to each other playing trumpets, trombones and bagpipes.
Amid the many boats on Brantingham Lake, a Cessna 180F floatplane can be seen docked near Dark Island.
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
Brantingham in Lewis County, New York
Lewis County, New York
As of the census of 2000, there were 26,944 people, 10,040 households, and 7,309 families residing in the county. The population density was 21 people per square mile . There were 15,134 housing units at an average density of 12 per square mile...
. Home to both seasonal and year round residents, the lake and surrounding area offer public boating, fishing, hunting, hiking, biking, ATV, horse and snowmobile trails, Brantingham Golf Club, Catspaw Country Market, Moose River Campground and Cold Brook Campsites and a variety of restaurants including the Pine Tree Tavern, Brantingham Inn Motel, Trailside Inn and Coach Light Inn. During the winter months, the area receives an average 200 inches of snow, making Brantingham a popular destination for winter enthusiasts.
History
Oneida Indians, who called the lake "Fish Lake", ceded most of the land in and around Brantingham to the state of New York by formal treaty on February 22, 1788. In 1793, Alexander Macomb made an application to purchase over 3500000 acres (14,164 km²) of land at six cents an acre, including all of Lewis County. On April 4, 1794, the land was sold to Thomas Hopper Brantingham of Philadelphia for $23,073, (forty-six cents an acre), however soon after, he executed three mortgages on the land, neglecting to make good on his debts, eventually selling the land. John GreigJohn Greig (representative)
John Greig was a United States Representative from New York. He was born in Moffat, Scotland on August 6, 1779 and attended the Edinburgh High School. He immigrated to the United States in 1797, studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Canandaigua, New York...
became the next to acquire the land in and around Brantingham. The town name was eventually changed to Greig, due to the past negative perception of Thomas Hooper Brantingham. Even with this change, the lake and surrounding hamlet kept the name Brantingham, which remains today.
In 1995, a microburst
Microburst
A microburst is a very localized column of sinking air, producing damaging divergent and straight-line winds at the surface that are similar to, but distinguishable from, tornadoes, which generally have convergent damage. There are two types of microbursts: wet microbursts and dry microbursts...
caused heavy damage to lake properties and surrounding landscape.
Geography
Brantingham Lake covers 341 acres (1.4 km²) with eleven miles (18 km) of shoreline. The lake has a maximum depth of 80 feet (18 m), and an average depth of 30 feet (9.1 m) in accordance with fluctuating yearly water levels. There are two islands present, Grant, or Round Island, and Dark Island, in the north, north west region. Two distinct sand bars, each one marked by buoys and one visibly submerged sand bar road which stems off of Dark Island are visible. Depending on yearly water levels, these shallow sand bars may only be covered by a few feet of water, requiring caution from boaters. On the southwestern side of the lake, a stone bridge crosses an inlet leading to a small dam responsible for drawing down lake levels from October to May to prevent shore erosion and damage to docks during the winter. The lake bottom yields little vegetation, but rather organic matter and sand making it favorable for recreational use during the summer months. A variety of fish are present in the lake such as Blue Gill, Brown BullheadBrown bullhead
The brown bullhead, Ameiurus nebulosus, is a fish of the Ictaluridae family that is widely distributed in North America. It is a species of bullhead catfish and is similar to the black bullhead and yellow bullhead...
, Lake Whitefish
Lake whitefish
The lake whitefish , also called the Sault whitefish or gizzard fish, is a species of freshwater whitefish from North America. Lake whitefish are found throughout much of Canada and parts of the northern United States, including all of the Great Lakes. A valuable commercial fish, they are also...
, Largemouth Bass
Largemouth bass
The largemouth bass is a species of black bass in the sunfish family native to North America . It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black bass, bucketmouth, Potter's fish, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth...
, Pumpkinseed Sunfish
Pumpkinseed
The pumpkinseed sunfish is a freshwater fish of the sunfish family of order Perciformes. It is also referred to as "pond perch", "common sunfish", "punkys", and "sunny".-Range and distribution:...
, Rock Bass
Rock bass
The rock bass , also known as the rock perch, goggle-eye, or red eye is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of order Perciformes. They are similar in appearance to smallmouth bass but are usually quite a bit smaller...
, White Sucker
White Sucker
The White Sucker is a bottom-feeding freshwater fish inhabiting North America from Labrador in the north to Georgia and New Mexico in the south. It is a long, round-bodied fish with a dark green, grey, copper, brown, or black back and sides and a light underbelly. When fullgrown, it is between 12...
and Yellow Perch
Yellow perch
The yellow perch is a species of perch found in the United States and Canada, where it is often referred to by the shortform perch. Yellow perch look similar to the European perch, but are paler and more yellowish, with less red in the fins. They have six to eight dark, vertical bars on their sides...
.
Culture
In the early 1990s, the military musical piece, TAPSTaps
"Taps" is a musical piece sounded by the U.S. military nightly to indicate that it is "lights out". The tune is also sometimes known as "Butterfields Lullaby", or by the lyrics of its second verse, "Day is Done". It is also played during flag ceremonies and funerals, generally on bugle or trumpet...
, began being played at sunset. Since then, mainly during the summer months, residents and visitors sound the piece and return the call to each other playing trumpets, trombones and bagpipes.
Amid the many boats on Brantingham Lake, a Cessna 180F floatplane can be seen docked near Dark Island.
Surrounding Communities
- Catspaw Lake – A small lake (beaver pond) north of Brantingham with an abundance of small pickerel.
- Glenfield – A hamlet west of Brantingham, at the Black RiverBlack River (New York)The Black River is a blackwater river that empties into the eastern end of Lake Ontario on the shore of Jefferson County, New York in the United States of America...
- GreigGreig, New YorkGreig is a town in Lewis County, New York, United States, Named after John Greig, the town was founded in 1828 from land within the boundary of Watson, New York. Originally named Brantingham, the town changed to its present name, February 20, 1832...
– A town bordering the southwestern part of Brantingham - Otter Creek – A creek and a hamlet of the same name, north of Greig