Wenham Lake

In the early colonial times, alewife fishing was an important part of the local economy of Wenham. All the ponds in the region were interconnected through swamps and streams. Wenham Lake was a major alewife spawning ground. The alewife entered the lake via an outlet that emptied into the Miles River. The Miles river joins the Ipswich River giving a drop in elevation of about 34 feet (10 m). Alewife harvests continued to be important until the 19th century when dam construction on the Ipswich River and other streams ended the trade. The water of the lake was used to supply a mill via a dam.[7] The outlet was later filled by the roadbed of Route 1A and the land used for the Lakeview Golf Course. Similarly, all the ponds have been protected as part of the drinking water supply.

The transatlantic ice trade began in the 1840s. In 1844, the first ice cargo arrived in England from Wenham Lake. The ice of Wenham Lake became famous around the world.[8] It was especially popular in Britain because of its purity and it is even said that Queen Victoria used the ice.[9]

Ice from Wenham Lake was so popular that Norwegian ice exporters even renamed the Norwegian Lake Oppegård for a short while into Wenham Lake so that they could trade ice from this Norwegian lake as ice from Wenham Lake.[10]

The Landers family, owners of the lake's first ice house, constructed a railroad spur for ice transport. One of its builders of the railroad was Grenville Mullen Dodge. He became a Major General in the Union Army and a central figure in the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869. The railroad spur became the Beverly-Newburyport commuter rail line. The roadbed of the railroad spur is visible directly behind the fifth hole of the Lakeview Golf Course.

A crew of 100 men and 30 to 40 horses was required to harvest the ice. The crew waited for a foot of black ice to form in the lake. Snow was swept off and snow-ice was scraped off by horse-drawn vehicles if necessary. Then, a horse-drawn cutting tool, the marker, scored a grid 2-3 inches deep forming 21-inch squares over two to three acres of ice. Men with saws cut along a line in one direction while men with ice spades knocked the blocks free from the strip. Another crew with ice hooks drew the ice along ramps onto platforms. Full platforms were slid onto sledges for transport to ice houses on the shore. An ice house was built of pine walls filled with sawdust to a thickness of 2 feet (61 cm). The blocks were packed in sawdust for transport, moved to a train in a special wagon and brought directly to a wharf in Boston. The blocks arrived in Boston within an hour of the cutting with no loss. Transport to Britain by ship lost about a third of the ice.[11]

The ice business continued until at least 1912 when John C. Kelleher founded the Beverly Ice Company to harvest the lake's ice but its end came shortly afterwards.

Wenham Lake was set aside as a water reservoir for the Salem and Beverly Water Supply Board (established 1913). Wenham Lake has been integrated into the local water distribution system.

The lake and its shores are not accessible to the general public. Facilities at the southern end are restricted by high fences and kept under surveillance by cameras. The shores of the lake are posted against trespassing. Stands of evergreens left on the knolls surrounding the lake are privately owned. Due to the isolation of the lake bed, migratory birds that were only seen in Wenham Swamp, a mile to the north, now rest and feed in larger numbers in the lake. Even though it is a non-trespassing area, most locals see it as one of the most consistent fishing places in northern Massachusetts.