Listening to friends talk about the fun things they did over Labor Day weekend got me thinking, "Maybe it's time to start planning some summer stuff". Not that I'm known to procrastinate or anything like that. So before it's "Going...Going...Gone" I managed to squeeze in a couple of summery outings to Cossayuna Lake. Also found some interesting reading about the place that I'll share as well.
Let's start with a little geography and a little history. The lake is located in central Washington County, mostly in the Town of Argyle but with the hamlet at its south end and some of its eastern shore in the Town of Greenwich. It's about three miles long and maybe half a mile wide. I've seen a grab bag of numbers but it appears to be +/- 700 acres in size and seems to be the largest lake wholly within Washington County. It's located within the folds of the low Taconics where most of the ridges tend to run north/south. The local bedrock looks to be a gray/green phyllite. Surrounding hills rise from 400 to 500 feet above the water making for nice scenery.
Most of its feeder streams are just little trickles with the largest draining Summit Lake which sits 250 feet higher to the west. The outlet is on the south end, sometimes called Cossayuna Creek and sometimes Whittaker Brook. There are a couple of ponds along the outlet, apparently created in the past by small dams to harness the water power. After flowing thru Carter Pond and its associated wetlands the outlet stream empties into the Battenkill River and thence into the Hudson.
It is a rather shallow, eutrophic lake only 25' at it deepest and less than 10' deep in many places. This results in areas of thick aquatic vegetation, but also in lots of warm water fish. It is known for its large and smallmouth bass as well as pike, perch and various panfish.
The fish, fowl and game made the lake attractive to Native Americans. They called it Quabbauna, the lake of three pines, for several towering trees on the west shore. Europeans arrived in 1765 but there was little development until after the revolution. The Allen family massacre of 1777 happened just a few miles west of Cossayuna, gruesome proof of how dangerous the area was in those early times.
Water powered sawmills were built on the outlet stream before 1800 and various operations continued here into the early 1900's with a small village clustering around. The surrounding area was lightly populated with subsistence farms until the late 1800's when a new crop began to be cultivated: vacationers. A number of boarding houses took in guests with The Oaks on a west side peninsula being the most extravagant. It featured a large hotel, dancing pavilion and excursion steamer.
After The Oaks burned in 1915 there was a transition to a cottage based summer scene and that's what you find today. The lake is garlanded with private seasonal homes and the only public access is at a state boat launch on the northeast corner. Fishing and boating are popular and while I'm sure people swim from their own docks there aren't any beaches open to the rest of us.
Perhaps the best way to get a feel for the lake is by biking around it. I parked by the Veterans Memorial at the village pond on Co. 49 and did a counterclockwise loop up East Lake Road and back down Co. 48. It's an easy ride of less than ten miles with no hills to speak of. If you want more challenge just take any of several side roads that lead away from the lake where you'll probably want a gravel bike for these steep and dirty climbs. Rather than a lot of description I've put together a little photo album of what you'll see.
It's a lake so the obvious way to explore it is by boat. Obvious but perhaps not best if the only boat you have is a canoe. Back in August we put in at the DEC launch site on the northeastern end of Cossayuna. It's the only public access that I'm aware of and mostly used by those looking to fish. Big Island lies straight out from the put-in and we paddled out making a circuit around its attractive, wooded shore. It is privately owned so you can't land but it's pleasant to drift alongside.
Head east up Bunker Hill Road from the bend in Co 49 and you'll find a farm store, an old schoolhouse, The Bunker Hill Inn (a B&B) and, in season, Campbells maple syrup.
Rose Bain's Lake Cossayuna and Vicinity - History and Portraits of the Past is full of information, old photos and includes several columns by Joseph Cutshall-King who lived here until his recent passing. It's a book I highly recommended. You'll also find sections on Cossayuna in Argyle, My Argyle and I Remember Argyle, both compilations by The Argyle History Group.
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