History Of Lake Sumter
 

Back about the turn of the Century, my wife and I used to go for Sunday afternoon drives down to Lake Miona. The surrounding countryside was mostly cow pastures, mixed with homes and farms that had been there for decades. Highway 466 was a two-lane road. A few years later, The Villages invasion was taking shape, and when driving on 466 at night, you could see areas on the south side of 466 lit up by lights of backhoes, digging up the cow pastures to make large holes in the ground. One by one, the cow pastures were converted into holes in the ground, that slowly started filling with water. Today, this massive conversion of cow pasture to holes filled with water is called Lake Sumter. Lately, Villagers have been complaining about their ponds going dry; Folks, they are all retention ponds, some with liners to retain water, but a retention pond is designed to collect large amounts of rainwater, and allow it to drain as gravity sees fit. Lake Sumter is nothing more than a very large retention pond that The Villages somehow manages to keep full of water. A large sinkhole could turn this lake back into a large cow pasture free of grass.

yes, we know it is man made. thanks

What is the ground water table level in this area. In many parts of
Florida you can't dig down more then ten feet without hitting water. That's why there are very few basements.

Are any of these lakes or ponds supplied by ground water?

Yes, progress happens. Plenty of smart people here already know what you said. I'm trying to figure out what your point is...

Well I found it interesting - maybe I'm not smart...

Thank you Captain Hugo

This is good historical information. Thank you!

I believe Lake Sumter was originally an abandoned mine so expansion and filling was pretty easy.

I thought there were very few basements because of the frost line/depth.

The humidity levels would make a basement here a mold superstore.

Captain Hugo thank you for this information. Indeed the construction of The villages is a double edged sword.

I changed the channel after "the Villages invasion" part.

In South Florida you hit water at about seven feet in the average residential area. Up here, (Central Florida) in my back yard I would hit water at no less that 60 ft, and I am about two miles from The Villages as the crow flies. You can't just dig a hole in the ground and have yourself a lake/pond.

And I told all those bus tourists it was formed by a meteor. Who knew?

History Of Lake Sumter
 

Wow. I really thought that was possible but could not prove it. Who knew? You did! All that time I spent down the drain. ::jester::

And where is Jimmy Hoffa??