Chesuncook Lake is a

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 control ...

Piscataquis County Piscataquis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. As of the 2020 census, its population was 16,800, making it Maine's least-populous county. Its county seat is Dover-Foxcroft. The county was incorporated on March 23, 1838, ta ...

Maine Maine () is a U.S. state, state in the New England and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and territories of Canad ...

, within the

North Maine Woods The North Maine Woods is the northern geographic area of the state of Maine in the United States. The thinly populated region is overseen by a combination of private individual and private industrial owners and state government agencies, and is di ...

. The lake was formed by the damming of the

West Branch Penobscot River The West Branch Penobscot River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 22, 2011 tributary of the Penobscot River through the North Maine Woods in Maine. The river ...

by dams built in 1835, 1903, and 1916 respectively. Mark Shanahan, "Searching for Thoreau", Portland Press Herald, 1997
/ref> It is approximately long and 1–4 miles wide, with a surface area of and a maximum depth of . It is the third-largest body of fresh water in Maine. The lake was named "goose place" by combining the call of the Canada goose ''schunk'' with ''auke'' (the

Abenaki The Abenaki ( Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was pre ...

word for place) to form Chesuncook. Henry David Thoreau visited Chesuncook (village) and lake in 1853 and wrote about its beginnings in his book "The Maine Woods" Chesuncook Part 4; 'Ansell Smith's the oldest and principal clearing about this lake,...' Thoreau observed no geese on the lake during his visit. The original lake was enlarged by construction of Ripogenus Dam in 1916 to cover Ripogenus Lake, Caribou Lake, and Moose Pond. The enlarged lake became less suitable for

Lake trout The lake trout (''Salvelinus namaycush'') is a freshwater char living mainly in lakes in northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, namaycush, lake char (or charr), touladi, togue, and grey trout. In Lake Superior, it can als ...

because of fluctuating reservoir levels for generating

hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined a ...

. The lake is on the

Northern Forest Canoe Trail The Northern Forest Canoe Trail (NFCT) is a marked canoeing trail in the northeastern United States and Canada, extending from Old Forge in the Adirondacks of New York to Fort Kent, Maine. Along the way, the trail also passes through the states ...

In fiction

In H.P. Lovecraft's horror short story ''

The Thing on the Doorstep "The Thing on the Doorstep" is a horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft, part of the Cthulhu Mythos universe. It was written in August 1933, and first published in the January 1937 issue of ''Weird Tales''. Inspiration The idea ...

'', the ill-fated Edward Derby found himself lost in the town of Chesuncook, "close to the wildest, deepest, and least explored forest belt in Maine." Chesuncook Lake features in

First Lensman ''First Lensman'' is a science fiction novel and space opera by American author E. E. Smith. It was first published in 1950 by Fantasy Press in an edition of 5,995 copies. Although it is the second novel in the ''Lensman'' series, it was the ...

by EE "Doc" Smith as a clandestine handover point for a shipment of illegal drugs.

Chesuncook Village

Chesuncook Village Chesuncook (, ) is a small unincorporated settlement on the northwestern shore of Chesuncook Lake in rural central Piscataquis County, Maine. A small village, originally supporting logging operations in the area, has existed here since at least t ...

is a small settlement located on the northwestern shore of Chesuncook Lake with a year-round population of approximately 10 people on this otherwise uninhabited lake. It is in an unorganized township in the heart of the east coast's largest unsettled logging forest and is considered to be the last wilderness area on the eastern seaboard of the United States. It is approximately 60 miles from the nearest towns of Greenville and

Millinocket, Maine Millinocket is a town in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The population was 4,114 at the 2020 census. Millinocket's economy has historically been centered on forest products and recreation, but the paper company closed in 2008. Histor ...

. It is completely off grid with no infrastructure. The only public land within the village is maintained by the state as a pasture and public boat launch/beach area. There is a non denominational meeting house which is used by seasonal churches, as a meeting place, and for foul weather refuge by those traveling through the area.

History

Chesuncook "Village" was settled in 1849 by Ansel A. Smith as a logging outfit. The historic Chesuncook Lake House Inn, built in 1864 is still in operation 150 years later by its current owners the Surprenant family.Chesuncook Lake House Inn-open as of 2017 Set on the shoreline of Chesuncook Lake and facing

Mount Katahdin Mount Katahdin ( ) is the highest mountain in the U.S. state of Maine at . Named Katahdin, which means "Great Mountain", by the Penobscot Native Americans, it is within Northeast Piscataquis, Piscataquis County, and is the centerpiece of B ...

in the distance, the Lake House and its acreage are one of the few remaining North Woods "logging hotels" which at one time were built at intervals of every 14 miles (this was the average distance a man could walk in one day) through the logging regions in order to house and feed the logging industry as well as visiting travelers and sportsmen such as Henry David Thoreau. The rest of the village which is actually a 1920s subdivision that never really took off, supports a scattering of privately owned seasonal camps and a few permanent year-round residents. In 2003 Chesuncook Village celebrated the 150 year anniversary of the original publication of Henry David Thoreau's book "The Maine Woods".

References

External links

Chesuncook Village WebsiteChesuncook Village Historical Preservation Association website"Chesuncook Village, Maine" website
— '' a non profit publication''.
"The Suncooker" website
— ''Chesuncook Village news, photos and general info''.
Chesuncook Lake House websiteChesuncook Village Property Owners Association websiteTrails.com entry
{{authority control Reservoirs in Maine Lakes of Piscataquis County, Maine North Maine Woods Northern Forest Canoe Trail Penobscot River

In fiction

Chesuncook Village

History

See also

References

External links