Lake Surprise is a reservoir made by Surprise Lake Dam on the Blue Brook in Watchung Reservation. On the border of Berkeley Heights and Mountainside in Union County, New Jersey, the lake was created in 1845The County of Union, State of New Jersey, Department of Parks and Community Renewal, "Watchung Reservation History Trail", Retrieved 2012-01-22 for David Felt's papermill.Pepper, A. (1965). Tours of Historic New Jersey. D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc.: Princeton. 41.
History In 1847 David Felt built a secondary water source for powering his mills at Feltville by damming the Blue Brook and creating Feltville Lake. The lake would later be renamed to Ackerman Lake after a summer resort at Glendside Park opened. Starting in the 1920s Union County started buying land, including the lake, for the Watchung Reservation with the County renaming the lake Lake Surprise.
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