 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2014) |
| Lake Sunapee | |
|---|---|
 A view between Great Island and Little Island. | |
  Lake Sunapee  Lake Sunapee | |
| Location | Sullivan County and Merrimack County, New Hampshire |
| Coordinates | 43°22′33″N 72°3′23″W / 43.37583°N 72.05639°W |
| Primary inflows | outlet of Little Sunapee Lake; Pike Brook; Blodgett Brook; Bartlett Brook; Chandler Brook |
| Primary outflows | Sugar River |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Max. length | 8.1 miles (13.0 km) |
| Max. width | 2.3 miles (3.7 km) |
| Surface area | 4,136 acres (17 km2) |
| Max. depth | 105 feet (32 m)[1] |
| Shore length1 | 70 miles (110 km) |
| Surface elevation | 1,093 feet (333 m) |
| Islands | 8 |
| Settlements | Sunapee; New London; Newbury |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
Lake Sunapee is located within Sullivan County and Merrimack County in western New Hampshire, the United States. It is the fifth-largest lake located entirely in New Hampshire.
The lake is approximately 8.1 miles (13.0 km) long (north-south) and from 0.5 to 2.5 miles (0.8 to 4.0 km) wide (east-west), covering 6.5 square miles (17 km2),[2] with a maximum depth of 105 feet (32 m).[1] It contains eleven islands (Loon Island, Elizabeth Island, Twin Islands, Great Island, Minute Island, Little Island, Star Island, Emerald Island, Isle of Pines and Penny Island) and is indented by several peninsulas and lake fingers, a combination which yields a total shoreline of some 70 miles (110 km). There are seven sandy beach areas including Mount Sunapee State Park beach; some with restricted town access. There are six boat ramps to access the lake at Sunapee Harbor, Georges Mills, Newbury, Mount Sunapee State Park, Burkehaven Marina, and a private marina. The lake contains three lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places. The driving distance around the lake is 25 miles (40 km) with many miles of lake water view. The lake is 1,093 feet (333 m) above sea level.
The lake's outlet is in Sunapee Harbor, the headway for the Sugar River, which flows west through Newport and Claremont to the Connecticut River and then to the Atlantic Ocean. The lake discharges about 250 cubic feet per second (on average), and the Sugar River drops approximately 800 feet (240 m) on its 27-mile (43 km) journey to the Connecticut River.
- ^ a b "SUNAPEE LAKE: Sunapee, Newbury, New London" (PDF). New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
- ^ "GRANIT". granit.unh.edu. Archived from the original on August 3, 2013.