As you walk along the pier near this reservoir, it feels like being in a nature preserve. However, this urban oasis is just a short drive from a mega-metropolis. Located five miles (8 km) northeast of downtown in a city with 1.26 million residents, this nature enclave is perfect for a day’s outing. This city lake surrounded by parks was built in the early 1900s to meet the water needs of the growing town, but many recreational uses were quickly found.

There is no swimming at the lake, but visitors to the area, which spans 2,115 acres (8.56 km²), can enjoy the hiking trails, biking, running and inline skating along more than 9 miles (14.4 km) of shoreline. Sailboats are speckled across the surface, along with fishing boats angling for the numerous varieties of fish that swim the waters.

In the 1930s, the lake and its park were known as “the people’s playground.” A bathhouse and sand bathing beach were constructed along with a structure to house speedboats. A dance pavilion also stood briefly, where folks could dance the evening away to the live music of Babe Lowry’s all-female orchestra, for example. Stone picnic tables were built alongside a picnic shelter, which remain to this day, and more than 200 private cabins and fishing shacks lined the eastern shoreline.

During the ’30s, improvements to the park were made primarily by members of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and inmates of the “pea patch.” The pea patch, actually a brick building near the lake, was a city prison farm housing non-violent criminal offenders, who provided labor to pay off their fines. The Civilian Conservation Corps was a program for unemployment relief during the Great Depression, the greatest slowdown in the American economy, which began in 1929 and lasted until the early 1940s. The CCC men built bridges and improved the dam of our mystery destination, planted and transplanted trees and beautified the park’s grounds.

One thing that hasn’t changed since the 1930s is the legend pertaining to the “lady of the lake.” A ghost story continues to circulate about a young woman dressed in a sheer gown who is spotted walking up from the lake in the evenings. In some accounts she has supposedly asked motorists for a ride, only to disappear moments later. Legend describes her as a girl who drowned in the lake many years ago and is trying to find her way home.

Where am I?

Send your answer to goworld@goworldpublishing.com. All readers correctly identifying this city and country will be entered in a drawing to receive a recently published travel book.

Edinburgh Castle

Answer to the April 2006 “Where in the World” Contest

Last month’s mystery destination was Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Thanks to all who wrote in their guesses. This month’s winner is Mary Albon of Arlington, Massachusetts. Congratulations, Mary!