Secret Lakes

The Secret Lakes, consisting of Northern Secret Lake and Southern Secret Lake, are closely linked bodies of water in the northwest of the Sint-Anders Parish. The lakes lie at an elevation of 1 meter above sea level.

Northern Secret Lake suffers from contamination by arsenic and other heavy metals, yet the Secret Lakes remain popular for swimming, sailing, and fishing.

Southern Secret Lake is a meromictic lake, which means that the lake has a deep layer of water that rarely, if ever, mixes with its top waters. As a consequence the sediments at the bottom of this lake accumulate in annual layers that have been nearly undisturbed for a thousand years. Such layers in meromictic lakes preserve a historical record, much like tree rings do.

The lakes were previously part of the drinking water supply for Charles Town and later Adamstown.