Lake Innisfree, reservoir in New Rochelle, New York
Lake Innisfree is an artificial lake in New Rochelle and Eastchester built in 1885 as a dam across Hutchinson Creek. It covers about 65 acres and holds over 270 million gallons of water behind a stone and earth dam that rises 34 feet high and stretches 680 feet across.
The lake was built in the late 1800s to supply drinking water to nearby towns and served as a reservoir for decades. In the 1930s it was renamed after a poem and a sandy beach was added for recreation as the surrounding farmland was developed into neighborhoods.
The name Lake Innisfree comes from a poem by William Butler Yeats written about a quiet place where one can escape the busy world. Visitors and residents often feel connected to this peaceful image, and the lake has become a place where people come to leave behind the noise of nearby city life.
The shoreline is easy to access for walking, fishing, and quiet time by the water, especially during warmer months. A horse trail was added in 1988 with small bridges, offering a different way to explore the area on horseback or on foot.
The water flows downhill by gravity to supply the southern parts of New Rochelle, making it an active part of the city's water system rather than just a recreation spot. The land around it was once rolling farmland before becoming a reservoir, and you can still feel echoes of that earlier landscape in the trees and open spaces.
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