Lake Wallenpaupack Information

Welcome to the information page on Lake Wallenpaupack.

Please take a look around but don't forget to stop by our office at 853 Route 507 - Greentown, PA. Joseph J. O'Brien Realtor, Inc. is your one stop shop for Lake Wallenpaupack real estate.

Lake Wallenpaupack is a man-made lake in northeastern Pennsylvania created by PPL in 1927. Let’s start with some brief history on the creation process. In order to create the lake, the dam was constructed on Wallenpaupack Creek at Wilsonville which cost a little over $1 million to finish. The land of Wilsonville and the surrounding area in the valley was purchased by PPL from about 100 owners at about $20 an acre and all property was razed or moved. Seventeen miles of roads and telephone poles were rerouted, and one cemetery had to be relocated. The former town of Wilsonville now lies under the water near the dam.

In early 1924, the construction process took place and 2,700 men worked nearly 2 years to complete the project. It included the dam, the power plant, and the giant wooden flow line to carry the water from the Lake to the plant location three and a half miles away. The original wooden structure, one of the world's largest pipelines at that time, was constructed from five million board feet of Douglas fir which was transported by ship from the state of Washington. The Wallenpaupack power plant was constructed simultaneously with the dam and put into service in 1926.

Wallenpaupack serves as an important electric-generating facility in times of high electricity demand. It is located near Hawley, on the border of Pike and Wayne counties in northeastern Pennsylvania. The lake is named "Wallenpaupack" which means "The Stream of Swift and Slow Water." The lake has huge dimensions – approximately 5,700 acres, 13 miles long, and boasts 52 miles of shoreline with its deepest point approximately 60 feet below the surface. The lake has six recreation areas featuring hundreds of acres of forest lands, wildlife, walking trails, campsites and boat slips. The visitor center services the traveling public visiting the Lake Wallenpaupack area, as well as the entire Pocono Mountains Region. This lake is what makes the Lake Wallenpaupack area such a prime location for Wallenpaupack real estate.

PPL owns most of Lake Wallenpaupack's shoreline but is managed in harmony with the environment. Today, PP&L owns acreage around the lake to an elevation of 1,200 feet above sea level. Since the lake elevation is 1,190 feet above sea level at capacity, PPL still owns the extra 10 feet right near the shoreline. PPL also provides environmental education and awareness opportunities at the lake. An environmental learning center, completed in early 2001, gives teachers and students new tools to discover the lake's natural resources.

Lake Wallenpaupack is a center of recreation for the surrounding communities as it provides free, public boating and fishing access in the summertime, as well as ice skating and ice fishing in the winter. Lake fish include smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, rock bass, walleye, muskellunge, pickerel, rainbow trout, brown trout, catfish and yellow perch. Striped bass and hybrid striped bass have been stocked in the lake as well.

The lake, located in the heart of the Pocono Mountains, is an important year-round tourism and outdoor recreation destination. It's a comfortable drive from many cities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. So why don't you take a drive up and see what Lake Wallenpaupack is all about? And don't forget to stop by Joseph J. O'Brien Realtor, Inc., your only Lake Wallenpaupack real estate sales group.