[b]UPDATE:[/b] 4/23/09: CORRECTED according to recent research on the correct spelling of this lake. (I was using the lesser justified 29-character variant.)
The Webster Police department has this to say about Lake Webster in Massachusetts. It’s “well known for its other name: Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. It is the fifth longest word in the world according to Guiness Book of Records and the longest lake name anywhere. The lake is actually 3 ponds joined by two narrow channels.
History: Indian word meaning ‘the boundary lake’ … In 1642, Woodward and Saffery, the first surveyors of the Mass. Bay Colony, called it ‘The Great Pond.’ In 1645, Conn. Gov. John Winthrop called it ‘The Lakes of Quabage.’ After a 1707 survey, John Chandler recorded the name as ‘Chaubunnagungamoug.’ According to Wise Owl, chief of the Chaubunagungamaug band of Nipmucks, Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg was an Indian word for a neutral fishing place near a boundary - a meeting and fishing spot shared by several Indian tribes. A more popular, and some say, fanciful, interpretation is that it meant ‘You fish on your side, I fish on my side, nobody fishes in the middle’".
Latitude: 420330N
Longitude: 0715130W
Elevation: 479
Here’s a short photo essay on the lake.
If you have trouble remembering the name, just sing it to the tune of America the Beautiful (start with the word “lake”).
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
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