Otsego Lake
| Otsego Lake | ||
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| Geographical location | Otsego County , New York | |
| Drain | Susquehanna River | |
| Places on the shore | Cooperstown | |
| Data | ||
| Coordinates | 42 ° 45 ′ N , 74 ° 54 ′ W | |
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| surface | 16.37 km² | |
| length | 14.5 km | |
| width | 2.5 km | |
| Maximum depth | 51 m | |
The Otsego Lake is a small lake in Otsego County in the US state of New York .
It is one of the sources of the Susquehanna River , the longest river on the North American east coast. Geologically speaking, the lake belongs to the Finger Lakes , but is generally not counted among them. The lake has a length of 14.5 km and a width of 1 to 2.5 km. At the southern end of the lake is the small town of Cooperstown , which was founded by William Cooper , the father of the writer James Fenimore Cooper , and where he was born and died. The Kingfisher Tower is located near the village on the east bank of the lake . Glimmerglass State Park is located on the northeastern shore of the lake .
The name Otsego is derived from an Indian word meaning "place of the rock".
Literary setting
The lake became famous for Cooper's leather stocking novels in which he called the lake “Glimmerglass”. Especially in the novels Der Wildtöter and The Settlers the lake was the setting. Some landmarks of the lake that are still visible today, such as Council Rock and the Sunken Islands, are mentioned in the novels.
