Виннипесоки көлі: тарихы мен сипаттамасы

Lake in New Hampshire, U. S.
the amusement park in Rossville, Georgia
The lake contains at least 264 islands, half of which are less than in size, and is indented by several peninsulas, yielding a total shoreline of approximately 288 mile (463 km). The driving distance around the lake is 63 mile (101 km). It is 504 feet (154 m) above sea level. Winnipesaukee is the third largest lake in New England after Lake Champlain and Moosehead Lake. Outflow is regulated by the Lakeport Dam in Lakeport, New Hampshire, on the Winnipesaukee River.

The Abenaki name Winnipesaukee (often spelled Winnipiseogee in earlier centuries) means either "smile of the Great Spirit" or "beautiful water in a high place". The outcome was repeated 100 years later when the schools celebrated the centennial of the race by again competing on Lake Winnipesaukee (Harvard winning by 2.7 seconds).

The Broads are a wide portion of Lake Winnipesaukee largely in Belknap County and extending slightly into Carroll County. It is a large island free zone occupying the center of the lake. and another eight (Bear, Birch, Cow, East Bear, Jolly, Loon, Three Mile, and Sandy) are served by the U. S. mail boat M/V Sophie C.

Along with the rest of New Hampshire's Lakes Region, which also encompasses Lake Winnisquam, Lake Wentworth, Squam Lake, Newfound Lake, and numerous other smaller lakes and ponds, Winnipesaukee has been a vacation community for at least a century, particularly drawing people from the Boston region. The area is home to numerous summer theater troupes and offers a variety of land and water recreational activities. There are numerous hiking trails in and around the surrounding mountains, which include the Ossipee Mountains to the east, the Belknap Range to the west, and Red Hill to the north.

The paddlesteamer , named after the highest of New Hampshire's White Mountains, was launched in spring 1872 to carry mail, goods, and passengers on Lake Winnipesaukee, under the flag of the Boston and Maine Railroad. With a hull length of 178 feet (54 m) and a beam of 49 feet (15 m) she appeared as a typical representative of the North American sidewheelers around the second half of the century and was the largest steamer on the lake at that time. The huge paddle wheels were driven by a single cylinder steam engine of at approximately 26 rpm. The power was transferred from the vertical single cylinder to the wheel shaft by the walking beam, high above the upper deck, oscillating in the frequency of the paddle wheels. Known as "The Mount", her kitchen and restaurant service became famous. On December 23, 1939, a nearby railroad station caught fire from an overheated stove. The fire soon spread to the ship, tied at the dock, and destroyed it. Efforts to cut Mount Washington loose were to no avail as it was a time of extremely low water and the hull was stuck fast in the mud of the lake bottom. Soon after, a local company was formed to build a new ship. Since Europe was already at war, and the US was stocking steel in a pre war munitions build up obtaining steel was impossible. Instead, they purchased an old sidewheel vessel on Lake Champlain: the Chateaugay, a 203 feet (62 m), iron hulled sidewheeler that was being used as a club house for the Burlington yacht club. It was cut into sections by Boston General Ship & Engine Works and transported to Lake Winnipesaukee on rail cars. A new twin screw vessel was designed for the hull being welded back together at Lakeport. In 1982, Mount Washington was cut open and extended with an additional 20 feet (6 m) hull section to add larger lounge and food service facilities. Floating post office service was started on Lake Winnipesaukee in 1892, and currently delivers mail daily to eight of the lake's islands between June and September. The Sophie C. was built by Boston General Ship & Engine Works in 1945 to temporarily replace the Mount Washington, whose engines and boilers had been commandeered by the Navy during World War II, and she took over the mail route from the Uncle Sam II in 1969. As a floating post office, Sophie C. delivers mail Monday Saturday, sells postage, and collects and postmarks outgoing mail. Sophie C. also operates as a sightseeing boat, carrying up to 125 people on her two cruises a day as she delivers mail, and sells ice cream and snacks to residents of the islands she serves. In 2018 and 2019, the M/V Doris E. replaced the Sophie C. as mail boat while the latter was undergoing repairs.

The steamship Dover, 150 feet (46 m) in length, captained by Winborn Sanborn, operated by the Cocheco Railroad, traveled the lake in the 1850s. The Dover was lengthened to 162 feet (49 m) and renamed the Chocorua and sank in the late 1860s. It was refloated, but by the 1870s the new Mount Washington had replaced it.

The Alton Bay Seaplane Base is a state owned, public use seaplane base in Alton Bay, the southeast arm of the lake. In the winter it is the only FAA approved ice runway in the contiguous United States, conditions permitting.

Average summertime on or next to the water brings days around 80 °F (26 °C), with overnight lows around 65 °F (18 °C). Less than one half mile (800 m) away from the water, days can be warmer and nights cooler by several degrees. Summer's most extreme temperatures away from the water may be as high as 100 °F (38 °C) and as low as 50 °F (10 °C). A typical winter day brings a maximum of 28 °F (−2 °C) with overnight minimum around 15 °F (−9 °C). Typical wintertime extremes are 50 °F (10 °C) and −20 °F (−30 °C) but even greater extremes have been recorded nearby. The water temperature typically reaches the upper 70s F (around 25 °C) in late July and cools into the 60s (around 18 °C) in September. Several days of hot, humid weather at the height of summer can bring the water temperature well above 80 °F (26 °C). It normally freezes during the last week of December. Ice thickness during a typical winter can be in excess of in many parts of the lake.

Lake Winnipesaukee is known for its annual Ice Out Contest, in which people try to guess the earliest date that the Mount Washington can safely leave her port in Center Harbor and motor to four other ports (Weirs Beach, Alton Bay, Wolfeboro, and Meredith). Since records began in 1851, ice out has happened as early as March 17, in 2024 and as late as May 12, although 90 percent of the time it is declared during April. This official ruling is made by David Emerson of Emerson Aviation.

Thornton Wilder's 1938 Pulitzer Prize–winning play, Our Town, refers to Lake Winnipesaukee at the beginning of Act III. In a Three Stooges 1940 short "No Census, No Feeling", the Stooges are census takers, and Curly answers a query about his birthplace with "Lake Winnipesaukee". When Moe asks him to spell it, he switches course, and says "Make it Lake Erie – I've got an uncle there." Some boating scenes from the 1981 Academy Award winning film On Golden Pond were shot on the lake, though the main scenes were on nearby Squam Lake. In 1982, composer Alan Hovhaness, who spent much of his childhood in New Hampshire, composed Lake Winnipesaukee, Op. 363, a sextet for flute, oboe, cello, two percussion, and piano. The 1991 comedy movie What About Bob? was set at Lake Winnipesaukee, although the actual filming was done at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia. The 2006 comedy Click has a flashback depicting Adam Sandler as a kid playing on a beach on Lake Winnipesaukee. In the debut of Adam Sandler's "Thanksgiving Song", on Saturday Night Live (November 21, 1992), the long time New Hampshire resident sings, "I used to go to camp at Lake Winnipesaukee". On The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, host Jimmy Fallon and frequent guest Justin Timberlake have filmed a series of sketches set at a fictional "Camp Winnipesaukee". In Nemesis Games, the fifth book in The Expanse novel series, Rattlesnake Island is the site of a private spaceship launchpad for the wealthy. It was then featured in the fifth season of the TV series of the same name in the ninth episode, titled "Winnipesaukee". In Spymaster, part of Brad Thor's Scot Harvath series of books, the character Reed Carlton is cared for in a house on Governors Island on Lake Winnipesaukee. Irish acoustic folk rock band Hermitage Green wrote a song about the lake, entitled "Lake Winnipesaukee". Mentioned as the destination of a fishing trip Archie wanted to take in Season 8 Episode 6 of All in the Family, “Unequal Partners.”