Orchard Lake is a medium-sized inland lake, 795 acres (3.2 km²). It has a 110 feet (34 m) maximum depth and is in the city of Orchard Lake Village, Oakland County, in Michigan, USA. It is the second-largest lake in Oakland County after Cass Lake.
The lake is unusual in that there is a large 35 acre (142,000 m²) island in the middle of the lake, Apple Island. The island was frequently inhabited by local Native Americans before the coming of Western settlers, who later planted an apple orchard on the island, giving rise to the current name of the lake. Apple Island is now abandoned and has been designated a protected wildlife sanctuary. The small Cedar Island is near the western shore.
The campus of the old Michigan Military Academy is on the northeast shore of the lake. The campus is now home to SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary and St. Mary's Preparatory.
Famous quotes containing the words orchard and/or lake:
“This saying good-by on the edge of the dark
And the cold to an orchard so young in the bark
Reminds me of all that can happen to harm
An orchard away at the end of the farm....”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Wordsworth went to the Lakes, but he was never a lake poet. He found in stones the sermons he had already hidden there.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)