Lake Massapoag

Infobox lake
lake_name = Lake Massapoag
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location = Sharon, Massachusetts
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inflow = "springs"
outflow = Canoe River
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basin_countries = United States
length =
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area = convert|353|acre|abbr=on
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Lake Massapoag is a convert|353|acre|km2|sing=on, natural, springfed lake located in Sharon, Massachusetts. The name Massapoag is Algonquin.

Massapoag is the headwater of the Canoe River, which flows south to join the Taunton River and empty into Narragansett Bay.

History

In the 1700s, workers deepened the outlet of the lake to draw the water down in order to extract bog iron for the smelting industry. (Diana Muir, Reflections in Bullough's Pond, University Presss of New England, 2000, p. 167)

Massapoag was the site of a large nineteenth-century ice business, with an enormous wooden icehouse at the eastern end of the lake.

Because of the lake and the fact that Sharon is at a slightly higher elevation than the surrounding towns, and because it is located on the main rail line going south form Bosotn, the shores of the lake developed into a minor summer resort with several large hotels, summer camps and cottage colonies. Temple Adath Sharon was built as a summer synagogue, and the houses around it, now occupied year-round, were once summer cottages.

Recreation

The site of the former ice house is now a large town beach, created after the ice house burned down by trucking in quantities of sand.

The lake is also popular for sailing and sailboarding. The Wheaton College Sailing Team trains on Lake Massapoag.

External links

*http://www.masslakes.com/massapoag_lake2.html