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Deep Lake

Millersylvania is an 842 acre (3.4 km²) park 10 miles (16 km) south of Olympia, Washington. The park has 6 miles of trails (including the 1 mile fitness trail), old-growth cedar and fir trees, and also features camping and 3,300 feet (1 km) of freshwater shoreline on Deep Lake.

Deep Lake is located in Sections 2 and 3, Township 16N, Range 2W, Willamette Meridian and Section 35, Township 17N, Range 2W, Willamette Meridian.

According to the survey done by the State Department of Game in 1947, Deep lake is 17 feet deep at its deepest part. It covers an area of 66.2 acres, and has a water volume of 771 acre feet^[1] (about 251 million gallons). It was once reportedly home to a rare species of freshwater crab as reported in the Miller Family diaries, which went extinct due to overfishing by new settlers coming from east

The entire park was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on September 16, 2009, and the listing was announced as the featured listing in the National Park Service's weekly list of September 25, 2009.^[2][3][4]

History

The first known name of the lake was Deep Lake as noted in a land survey in 1855.^[5] For a period of time, the lake went under the name Drake Lake, but was changed back to Deep Lake in 1907.^[6]

The park was originally called "Miller's Glade" by the Miller family, who once owned the property. The family later changed the name to "Millersylvania," meaning "wooded glade." The park's 842 acres were homesteaded by Squire Lathum in 1855 before being sold to John Miller. Miller's family gave the property to the state in 1921, stipulating that the land must forever be used as a park.

Millersylvania's buildings were constructed in 1935 almost entirely by hand by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Relics of a narrow-gauge railroad, and several skid roads used in the 1800s by the logging industry, remain on park grounds. Stumps of trees still carry notch scars where springboards supported brawny loggers.^[7]

References

External links

• Official Web site

U.S. National Register of Historic Places Keeper of the Register · History of the National Register of Historic Places · Property types · Historic district · Contributing property List of entries National Park Service · National Historic Landmarks · National Battlefields · National Historic Sites · National Historical Parks · National Memorials · National Monuments

Coordinates: 46°54′39.2″N 122°54′45.5″W / 46.910889°N 122.912639°W / 46.910889; -122.912639