“The ABCs of Newtown” is a series tying each letter of the alphabet to something in Newtown. This week we continue with a look at two lakes that play a large role in this town’s water recreation opportunities and provide hydroelectric power.

Lake Lillinonah and Lake Zoar are both man-made creations within the Housatonic River, each with lengthy western shorelines extending through Newtown. They were created by Connecticut Light and Power Company (CL&P), to create hydroelectricity.

The state and federal governments required both lakes to remain open to the public. Both lakes are popular for boating, swimming in some areas, and fishing.

CL&P built Stevenson Dam in Monroe in 1918, the year after the utility was founded. Constructed on the Monroe-Oxford town line, the water body that formed behind that dam is Lake Zoar.

The lake gets its name from the corner of Newtown and Monroe formerly known as Zoar, itself named after the biblical city Zoara.

The Stevenson Dam was built with a roadbed across the top so that modern motorized traffic could still cross the river easily. That roadbed made the former Zoar Bridge, which crossed the river just above the dam, defunct. When Lake Zoar’s waters rose to 18 feet above the Zoar Bridge towers in late 1918, the bridge was burned and its cables were dumped into the new lake.

Bennett’s Bridge, which crossed the Housatonic from the end of Riverside Road, also became flooded and was removed in 1919. A small collection of rocks in the water, to the immediate north of the end of Riverside Road, is all that remains of that formerly pivotal crossing.

That left the only crossing between Newtown and Southbury the Glen Road “Silver Bridge.” That was a wooden bridge until 1933, when the first version of the 300-foot-long steel truss bridge was built over the waterway.

Lake Zoar reached its full depth by 1920. It has a surface area of 909 acres, a maximum depth of 72 feet, and stretches ten miles. Shore areas developed into lakeside communities including Cedarhurst, Pootatuck Park, Riverside, and Shady Rest in Newtown.

Riverside was the first community to develop, by the early 1920s, and the town’s first vacation homes were built there. A 1925 Newtown Bee article described the “new” summer colony of Shady Rest, detailing an enchanting vacation spot along the banks of Lake Zoar.

When the colonies opened, people flocked — by train, mostly — to buy or rent a lakeside bungalow to enjoy the hot weather months. Men would settle their families at the start of the season, return to the city, and visit Lake Zoar every weekend.

Camps also popped up along the shores of the newly created lake. Within a decade many visitors traveled to the Newtown area on weekends and for vacations, escaping the heat of city life.

The Flooding Of Pleasantville

A large casualty of Lake Zoar’s creation was the flooding of Pleasantville (or Pleasant Vale, or Punkups, depending on sources), a former section of Oxford west of the dam’s location.

By the 1800s, Pleasantville was industrious, with its own wool mill, foundry, axe factory, auger factory, bellows factory, cotton mill, saw mill, and tannery. It also had its own post office, railroad station, church, and general store.

A series of toll bridges spanned the Housatonic there, connecting Oxford and Monroe.

The bridges were west of where Stevenson Dam was built. The western toll bridges were reportedly at the end of the current Bridge Road in the Stevenson district of Monroe.

The first Zoar Bridge bridge was built before 1800. Spring washouts led to rebuilds, with the final toll bridge constructed in 1876. That was the bridge that remained in place until the construction of the dam. The bridge could reportedly be seen from the dam before it was flooded under water.

The dam necessitated the move of Pleasantville’s church (now Riverside) and even the relocation of its cemetery, but most of the homes and other buildings were left in place and went under water once the dam began creating Lake Zoar.

Lake Access, Governance

Newtown, Monroe, Southbury, and Oxford border Lake Zoar. Each town has a public access boat launch. Local access is through Eichler’s Cove, in southeastern Newtown, which also provides freshwater swimming opportunities for the public.

Popular fish found within the lake include smallmouth and largemouth bass, northern pike, white and yellow perch, carp, and plenty of trout. The lake is not stocked with trout, but many make their way into the body of water from the Pootatuck and Pomperaug rivers.

The lake is also home to at least four invasive plant species and Zebra Mussels, the latter of which has invaded and colonized Zoar and Lillinonah as far north as Bulls Bridge in Kent.

The lake is governed by Lake Zoar Authority, with representatives from each shore town along the lake who meet monthly. LZA’s mission is to promote water safety on the lake and improve water quality.

Gary Fillion, Jerry Kozera, and Bill May currently represent Newtown as LZA commissioners. Fillion is also the current LZA chair, Kozera is vice chair, and May is the LZA treasurer.

Lake Lillinonah

Lake Lillinonah was formed in 1955 with the construction by CL&P of the Shepaug Dam in Southbury and the flooding of a former canyon with extremely steep hills on all sides.

The dam is 140 feet tall, and 1,412 feet long. Also constructed for the creation of hydroelectric power, Shepaug Dam is capable of a peak power output of 42,600 kW, or 42.6 million watts.

Lake Lillinonah is named after the daughter of Waramaug, the Wyantenock tribe chief who had hunting grounds along the Housatonic.

The lake fully encompasses 1,547 acres stretching 12 miles, from Southbury to New Milford. It is the second largest lake in the state, second only to Candlewood Lake.

It has a water surface of 2.9 square miles and a maximum capacity of 86,100 acre-feet. It has a maximum water depth of 110 feet.

Lillinonah’s shorelines are within Fairfield, Litchfield and New Haven counties, in Newtown, Brookfield, Bridgewater, New Milford, Roxbury and Southbury. Newtown and Southbury have the longest shorefronts along the lake.

Of the 45 miles of Lake Lillinonah shoreline, 43 are wooded.

General public access is via the Pond Brook boat launch in Newtown and at the Route 133 bridge in Bridgewater. Both fall under CT DEEP jurisdiction.

Lake Lillinonah Town Park, the property at the northern end of Hanover Road, is Town of Newtown property. Like Eichler’s Cove, it requires a Town park permit for access.

The park was developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Its development as a picnic and boating area was undertaken by the Jaycees and Newtown Junior Chamber of Commerce as a community project in conjunction with Newtown Park Commission.

Work parties during the spring of 1965 yielded the addition of a floating dock to facilitate boat launchings, the planting of ground cover on the steep bank leading up from the parking lot, and the clearing of an acre of land, according to Newtown Bee archives. The park at that time measured 1.6 acres.

The purchase of two adjacent acres from Edward Sarka in 1967 expanded the park to 3.6 acres, and its shoreline to 369 feet.

Newtown purchased the original 1.6 acres of lakeside property from CL&P in February 1969. Until then the land was leased from the utility.

Lillinonah’s riparian reservoirs are the site of multiple state parks and recreation areas along its shorelines including Upper Paugussett State Forest and Lake Lillinonah Town Park, both in Newtown.

Lake Lillinonah ranks as one of the state’s premier fishing lakes. The state record for a northern pike — a 29-pounder reeled in by Joseph Nett in 1980 — was caught in Lake Lillinonah.

The Lake Lillinonah Authority formed in the mid 1960s, with Brookfield, Bridgewater, New Milford and Roxbury its original members. Newtown and Southbury have since joined the authority.

John Forlenzo, Richard Johnson and Scott Schifilliti are the current Newtown representatives on the LLA board.

Funding from each town allows LLA to oversee environmental, safety, and recreational needs of the lake.

A second group, Friends of the Lake, works closely with LLA and other groups including FirstLight Power, CT Department of Environmental Protection, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, elected officials, and residents to increase public awareness of the lake and foster stewardship.

Did You Know…

*FirstLight Power now owns and operates Shepaug and Stevenson dams.

*At least two fords were lost when the lakes were created. Hanover Road once crossed the Housatonic about a mile north of the present Shepaug Dam. A second ford, about a mile and a half south of that location (from today’s Shady Rest to its Southbury shore counterpart) was also a popular crossing point. Both were flooded over once the dam was built.

The southern ford passed just north of Cockshure’s Island, named for an Indian chief (later renamed Hubbel’s Island), which was also lost in the creation of Lake Zoar.

*In the 1920s the Soule-Roberts company of Bridgeport began subdividing the land around the old Bennett’s Bridge into cottage lots, creating the Riverside community. The company also purchased a boat, christened Miss Riverside, which was used to take prospective buyers out on the lake for general rides and to see from the water the lots they could purchase.

*The former Bennett’s Bridge, which was dismantled in 1919, was named for two brothers who built the bridge in the late 18th Century and continued to maintain it until the early 19th Century. The bridge connected Riverside Road in Sandy Hook to River Road in Southbury.

Bennetts Bridge Road in Sandy Hook commemorates the former bridge.

*For at least the summer of 1963, Boy Scout Troop 370, Pomperaug Council, was the proprietor of a floating refreshment stand on Lake Zoar. The stand was on the dock of Scoutmaster Charles Ensign of Lake Drive, and Robert Sturges of Riverside, Troop Committee head, was in charge of the operation of the stand, which was open every Saturday and Sunday from 11:30 am to 6 pm. The Scouts welcomed boaters to stop by and patronize their stand, and thus enjoy a snack on the river.

*A boat ride on Lake Zoar was one of the gifts presented as part of the First Baby of Newtown prize package in 1961.

*The Lake Zoar Authority sponsored at least one boat parade, on July 4, 1987, when owners were invited to form a line at the Silver Bridge and proceed down the lake toward Monroe and Oxford. One part a celebration of Independence Day — participants were encouraged to “display the flag and have fun” — the event was also one part invitation to voice opinions about a proposed dump opposite Shady Rest on the Southbury side of the lake.

*The two stone bridge piers in Lake Zoar that are visible from the Glen Road Silver Bridge in Sandy Hook date to the mid-19th Century. They were constructed for use by the Hartford, Providence & Fishkill Railroad, which had been taken over by New York & New England RR by the time the piers were completed in 1881. NYNE once made its way from Providence, R.I., to the Hudson River.

*According to the history of Riverside Church in Oxford, Lake Zoar was drained in the mid-1950s so that work could be done on the Stevenson Dam. Two former residents of Pleasantville, Vivant and Myrtle Stowe, walked around where Pleasant Vale Church had stood and they found a silver bowl which Vivant remembered as the bowl that had been used for baptisms. Myrtle gave the bowl to the church before her death in 1989. The bowl is among the only items known to have come from the original Riverside Church.

*The Stevenson Dam was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

*A Buffer Garden was installed at Lake Lillinonah Town Park in 2009 under the direction of Eagle Scout candidate Alexander Calder of Brookfield. Filled with native plantings, the garden was created to maintain the quality of the water and surrounding area from pollutants and runoff, stop erosion, increase groundwater infiltration, and create a wildlife habitat.

*While better known for its fishing and water recreation opportunities, Lake Lillinonah has served at least once as an emergency runway. A pontoon plane running low on fuel made a landing near Lake Lillinonah Park in October. There were no injuries and, after receiving fuel from a nearby homeowner, the plane returned to the air less than 30 minutes after the unplanned stop.

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.