Glenmere Lake is a colonial
mill pond
A mill pond (or millpond) is a body of water used as a reservoir for a water-powered mill.
Description
Mill ponds were often created through the construction of a mill dam or weir (and mill stream) across a waterway.
In many places, the c ...
or
reservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
located in
Orange County, New York
Orange County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 401,310. The county seat is Goshen. This county was first created in 1683 and reorganized with its present boundaries in 1798.
Orange ...
, United States. It is New York State's largest habitat
[Glenmere Conservation Coalition website]
of the
Northern cricket frog
The northern cricket frog (''Acris crepitans'') is a species of small hylid frog native to the United States and northeastern Mexico. These frogs are majorly in grey, green, and brown color with blotching patterns. Despite being members of the t ...
(''Acris crepitans''), listed as endangered by in New York State Department of Environmental Conservation records
The lake is part of the greater Orange County-owned Glenmere Preserve, one of the largest wild areas in Orange County. Glenmere Lake is the most biologically diverse natural feature of Orange County, with hardwood swamp, shale ridgelines, wide marsh, mossy bogs, vernal pools and an open-water reservoir. Such biodiversity, present in New York’s fastest-growing county, underscores the critical nature of Glenmere’s unique habitat. The Glenmere Reservoir lands are home to
bald eagles, six species of
hawk and six of
owl
Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...
. Endangered plant and animal species inhabit the Glenmere lands- in fact, New York State’s largest and virtually last population of endangered
northern cricket frog
The northern cricket frog (''Acris crepitans'') is a species of small hylid frog native to the United States and northeastern Mexico. These frogs are majorly in grey, green, and brown color with blotching patterns. Despite being members of the t ...
s inhabits the entire parcel.
Glenmere straddles Orange County’s two largest
Hudson River
The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
watershed basins: The
Wallkill, on its western side, and the
Moodna, on its east, as represented by its westernmost tributary, the
Black Meadow Creek Black Meadow Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed October 3, 2011 tributary of the Otter Kill in Orange County, New York, in the United States. Via the Otter Kill, it ...
) The Glenmere Reservoir lands include a "watershed ambiguous zone" where small brooks split off into either watershed. The lake and associated county lands comprise sections of the towns and villages of
Warwick
Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...
,
Chester,
Sugar Loaf and
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
.
The 1912
Glenmere mansion
The Glenmere mansion is a luxury hotel and spa overlooking Glenmere Lake, approximately 50 miles northwest of New York City in Orange County, New York. It was built in 1911 as the residence of real estate developer Robert Wilson Goelet (not to b ...
still overlooks the reservoir.
Studies of the lake and its associated periphery are performed by the educational
non-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
Glenmere Conservation Coalition.
After a number of years of warnings associated with the condition of and repairs to the Glenmere Lake dam, a penalty of $350,000 was assessed against the town of Chester and village of Florida by state regulators.
References
{{authority control
Protected areas of Orange County, New York
Reservoirs in New York (state)
Reservoirs in Orange County, New York