Wenham Lake
lake of the United States of America
Wenham Lake is a 224-acre body of water located in Wenham and Beverly towns, Essex County, Massachusetts.The lake receives water from the water table, a system of streams, the Putnamville Reservoir (via pipeline), and the Ipswich River (via pumping). In the 19th century, the lake was an important source of ice for export, especially to Britain. Wenham Lake is now a reservoir for the Salem and Beverly Water Supply Board.
Hydrology
The lake receives water from the water table and from nearby streams. These flow from Beaver Pond, Norwood Pond and Longham Reservoir through the fields and woods to the east of the lake. The streams are controlled waterways. Drainage into the lake is through a pipe running beneath Route 1A in the vicinity of the golf course to the north of the lake. To the west, near Beverly Regional Airport water enters the lake through deeply cut ravines in glacial features forested with hemlock and pine.
History
Wenham Lake lies in the traditional lands of the Agawam people. The Agwam people recognised tribal ownership of the eastern part of what is now Essex County, Massachusetts.
“Wenham Lake” enters the record as lake of the United States of America. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Wenham, Lake and lake can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Wenham Lake” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Wenham, Lake and lake provides the most credible route into that argument.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7337556. Authority coordinates are 42.593, -70.893. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Wenham Lake”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Wenham Lake primary sources, Wenham Lake archive and Wenham research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Wenham Lake”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Wenham Lake” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.