HT Public works installs new rock bulkhead at The Cove

Public Works workers build a new bulkhead at the parking area of The Cove. The area was washed out by flood waters last year. The funding was provided by FEMA.

Lake Lenape Light Remains a Part of History

(From July 1999 Edition of Lighthouse Digest)

The Lake Lenape Lighthouse in Mays Landing, New Jersey was never a real lighthouse in the sense of the word, but it truly is a part of New Jersey's rich and interesting history as well as a popular landmark of the area.

It was back in 1939 when the Leiling family, who owned the Lenape Park, commissioned Herman Dehn Sr. to build a lighthouse on the lake. First Dehn had to create an island for the lighthouse to be built on. He did this by using bags of mixed concrete and 30-gallon size drums to form the island's foundation. In the winter time he piled dirt onto the ice which would sink to the bottom in the spring thaw.

Once the island was completed he built the 65-foot wooden tower with mostly simple hand tools and the help of some neighborhood children. The lighthouse with its five floors, connected with a semi-sprial staircase took four years to complete.

For many years the tower was known as the "singing tower" because of the hymns that were played from speakers that were installed atop the tower. When new owners, Ed & Winnie Young, took over the park in 1960's, local public officials said there were to many complaints from neighbors about the music and it had to stop. The children of the Youngs then took over the lighthouse, spending the nights there in the summer months.
Today, the lighthouse serves mainly as a storage building for beach and boating supplies, but is still a popular spot for those in love. Because of its romantic setting, many people have been married at the lighthouse.

The old lighthouse is an ongoing financial strain for the owners, who say they are constantly having to repair something at the lighthouse and have been for 15 years. But they haven't altered it and as Mr. Young once said, "We want to keep the nostalgia of the place and the lighthouse is a big part of that."

Lake Panorama

Ever wonder what it's like sitting in a kayak in the middle of the lake? Got board of taking pictures of the dam the other day and took this panorama. It was taken from the south side of Lake Lenape near the dam. You can move the picture by clicking on it.

Temporary Fix Applied To The Dam

Good news!! Yesterday 4/1/08 the Township placed a metal plate along with additional debris to slow the loss of water from the lake. This morning less then 24 hours later the lake level was up 2 inches. This proves, as mentioned in past posts, the low water level in the lake was caused from the water pouring out of the stuck gate, not from the lack of rain or Collings Lakes.

Click To Enlarge

Click to enlarge

New Dam Gate Picture

Apparently the water flowing from gate #1 is from it being stuck open about 8 inches or 17%. I'm not a civil engineer, however the volume of water flowing from gate #1 in the pictures below would lead me to believe that the gate is stuck open more than 17%

Comment on press article below

A study is not needed and would be a huge waste of tax payers dollars! The Township and County must begin operating the damn in a responsible pro-active fashion and notify residents when there are issues.

The flood last year was a byproduct of the dam gates not being operated properly. The lake level was very high, the gates where closed, it rained substantially and the flood occurred.

This year its the same problem in reverse. Dam gate #1 became stuck open on April 16th. It took almost 2-1/2 months and the lake level dropping almost 2 feet, for the Township and the County to make the first attempt to fix the problem, with sandbags. There where several call made to the County a month ago about the lake loosing 1 inch of water a day. This has nothing to do with the lack of rain or Collings Lakes.

Low water level prompts study of Lake Lenape tributaries

(From Press of Atlantic City)
Current low-water levels in Lake Lenape have officials from Hamilton and Buena Vista townships saying it's finally time to come up with a plan they hope would better manage water sources for the lake.

The plan would likely address how to monitor water flow on the Great Egg Harbor River and other tributaries, including water sources from Collings Lake, in times of flooding and little rainfall.

"It's time to work through that," Hamilton Township Mayor Charles Pritchard said. "We need to take a stronger look at this thing."

"As a good neighbor to any other town, I'd be happy to discuss that issue," Buena Vista Township Mayor Chuck Chiarello said.

But Chiarello issued one caution, and that has to do with having no control over the weather.

"If there's just not enough flowing from the main tap heading down, that could be a problem no matter how hard anyone tries," he said.

Too little rain, a stuck sluice gate at Lake Lenape Dam and a series of closed sluice gates on lakes at Collings Lakes in Buena Vista Township are being blamed for the recent drop in water level in Lake Lenape in Mays Landing.

The Great Egg Harbor River is Lake Lenape's primary water source. A significant portion of water also makes its way to Lake Lenape from Collings Lakes, where private dam operators recently closed sluice gates to keep water levels on their lakes from dropping.
The problem was just the opposite a year ago.

Heavy rain in April 2007 dumped as much as 8 inches of rain in southern New Jersey. Much of that rain eventually drained into the Great Egg Harbor River.

The result was extensive flooding in the Indian Branch and Weymouth Furnace sections of Hamilton Township. Floodwater forced evacuations and buried decks under three to five feet of water. Sections of Mays Landing also were flooded, and officials were busy pumping water out of Lake Lenape to prevent further flooding.

Many Hamilton Township residents blamed the flooding on poor operations at the Lake Lenape Dam. They claimed dam gates were not opened soon enough to ease flooding upriver.
However, Atlantic County and municipal officials said the solution involved more than dam operations. They contend a coordinated effort along the length of the river, from its headwaters in Camden County to Lake Lenape, is the solution.

The plan never came about.

Chiarello said Buena Vista and Hamilton townships can work together and with private civic organizations in and around Collings Lakes to reach some kind of plan.

Pritchard said officials who oversee the Great Egg Harbor River's watershed also should be involved.