Lake Eloise is a large natural freshwater lake on the south side of Winter Haven, Florida. It is part of the southern Chain of Lakes. With a surface area, it is one of the larger lakes in

Polk County, Florida Polk County () is a County (United States), county located in the Central Florida, central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. The county population was 725,046, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, and estimated to be 818,330, as ...

. Lake Eloise has a somewhat oval shape and has a large cove on its south side. It borders

Lake Summit Lake Summit is a natural freshwater lake in Winter Haven, Florida. It has a surface area and is somewhat oval in shape. It has two small coves on its north side. This lake is surrounded by residences around most of its perimeter. It has a public ...

on its northeast and it almost borders Lake Lulu on its northwest. Lake Eloise is mostly surrounded by residential areas. However, the northern half of its eastern shore is occupied by

Legoland Florida Legoland Florida Resort (stylized as LEGOLAND Florida Resort) is a vacation destination in Winter Haven, Florida. The resort features the Legoland Florida theme park itself, the Legoland Water Park, three on-site accommodations and a separately ...

, which was once

Cypress Gardens Cypress Gardens was a botanical garden and theme park near Winter Haven, Florida that operated from 1936 to 2009. As of 2011, the botanical garden portion had been preserved inside the newly formed Legoland Florida. History Billed as Florida' ...

, a large area theme park. Some citrus groves border the lake on its west side. Eloise Loop Road passes by the south end of the cove on the lake's south side. Lake Eloise was first surveyed in 1849, by Dr John Westcott. He named the lake after Eloise Moody, daughter of Polk County pioneer Benjamin F. Moody. The lake appears in the first U.S. Government survey of the area, published in 1950. Cypress Gardens opened in 1936 and soon had various attractions, including ones that had a connection to Lake Eloise. In the 1930s the park had water shows with water ski performances. Two grandstands were constructed to allow spectators to see the shows. The botanical garden, on the north side of the park, eventually had channels cleared for small boats to travel with visitors to view the plants. A large decorative pool in the shape of

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

was constructed just on shore and in the western edge of the botanical garden. Also, a large paddle boat was refurbished and dubbed the ''Cypress Belle''. The ''Cypress Belle'' allowed park visitors to cruise on Lake Eloise. Also, at times the ''Belle'' was used for dinner cruises. Through the years various

television shows A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platfo ...

and movies filmed at Cypress Gardens and many times filming made use of Lake Eloise. After 2000 Cypress Gardens went through various major changes to maintain its visitor base and finally closed in fall 2009. In 2010 the old Cypress Gardens park was purchased with the intention of transforming it into a

Legoland Legoland (, trademarked in uppercase as LEGOLAND) is a chain of family amusement parks focusing on the Lego building toy brand. They are owned and operated by the British theme park company Merlin Entertainments, which shares a common owner ...

park. In February 2011 it was opened as Legoland Florida. While the paddle boat and boat rides through the botanical garden were not restored, the area of the old water shows was named Pirate Cove and a new ski and stunt show was started. Although Lake Eloise is a large lake, there is very little public access to it. There is no public access from the shore, as all shoreline is on private property. The public can access the lake by boat via the Chain of Lakes canal system. Lake Eloise is linked by canal directly to Lake Lulu,

and Lake Winterset. The nearest public boat ramp is on Lake Summit and the canal system links Lake Eloise to a number of area lakes. Fishing is allowed from boats. As there is no shore access, there are no public swimming areas. Lake Eloise contains

bluegill The bluegill (''Lepomis macrochirus''), sometimes referred to as "bream", "brim", "sunny", or, in Texas, "copper nose", is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and wetlands ea ...

crappie Crappies () are two species of North American freshwater fish of the genus ''Pomoxis'' in the family Centrarchidae (sunfishes). Both species of crappies are popular game fish among recreational anglers. Etymology The genus name ''Pomoxi ...

, and

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus nigricans'') is a carnivorous, freshwater fish, freshwater, ray-finned fish in the Centrarchidae (sunfish) family, native to the eastern United States, eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada an ...

.Hook and Bullet website, http://www.hookandbullet.com/fishing-lake-eloise-cypress-gardens-fl/ .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eloise Lakes of Polk County, Florida Winter Haven, Florida