Buried Treasure Found in Lake Lily

A treasure worth its weight in gold has been uncovered during a dredging project in Lake Lily, NJ.

A long-anticipated dredging project in Lake Lily is nearly complete, but the Borough of Cape May Point, NJ will allow it to continue for a couple of extra days in hopes of uncovering more “treasure.” The project, engineered by F. X. Browne, Inc., uncovered a spring buried under the 26,000 cubic yards of sediment. Within a day of being uncovered, Cape May Point Mayor Malcolm Fraser said the water level in the 13-acre lake rose by more than a foot. Lake Lily, the only natural freshwater lake on Cape May, is the headwaters for a wetlands ecosystem of international importance for migrating birds. Historically the lake waters ran into the wetlands between Cape May and Cape May Point. It is the only natural coastal freshwater source between Monmouth County, NJ and Norfolk, VA. The existence of the spring was rumored, but never proven, and became an item of local mythology. During the War of 1812, Cape May residents dug a trench between Lake Lily and the Pond Creek marsh to contaminate the lake with saltwater, preventing the British from coming ashore for fresh water. Eventually the lake became fresh again and sported water lilies, freshwater mussels and bass, but development in and around the lake took its toll. By the time state geologist George Cook studied the lake in the 19^th century, he lamented what the town founders had done to this rare body of fresh water next to the ocean. In their zeal for improvement, Cook said the natural features of the lake had been obliterated. The worst blow to the health of Lake Lily was a 1962 nor’easter storm that filled the lake with sand and saltwater and killed the water lilies that gave the lake its name. In 1979 a state study documented the water quality degradation of the lake, and the lake has been in decline ever since. Measuring a depth of just two feet in recent years and surviving on rainwater, Lake Lily is expected to register as much as seven feet when final soundings are taken after dredging. Fraser hopes the spring will flush cleaner water into the lake, provide better water flow to the wetlands, and restore the lake water quality so that the water lilies return.

Press of Atlantic City, April 13, 2004