Every Lake
Onota Lake
623 acres inside Pittsfield's city limits, seven miles of shoreline in the Berkshires
- 5 ft · first step
- 11 ft
- 16 ft
- 21 ft
- 26 ft
- 32 ft · bottom
About Onota Lake
Onota Lake sits within the city of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in the Berkshire Hills, fed by mountain brooks and drained toward the Housatonic watershed. The lake has long served as a water source and recreation ground for the city, with municipal beaches and boat launches built along its eastern and southern shores. Nineteenth-century mills and ice-cutting operations once worked its edges before the surrounding land shifted toward park and residential use.
Pittsfield grew up around textile and later General Electric manufacturing, and Onota became the city's close-in retreat from that industrial economy, a lake residents could reach without leaving town. Camps, summer cottages, and year-round houses now ring the shoreline alongside protected woodland on Pontoosuc's sister lake to the north. Anglers fish it for bass and pike, and the surrounding trails connect to the Berkshire hill towns that draw visitors through the area each fall.
- 4 shore towns named, with a star on each
- 54 roads engraved around the shore, 7 of them labeled
- 6 depth layers, each step engraved with its depth in feet
- Compass rose, title block with coordinates, max depth and area; keyhole hanger on the back
Turn it in your hands
Live 3D of the actual cut files — drag to orbit, pinch to zoom. Every road you see is engraved on the real thing.
Viewer not showing? Open it full screen.
Onota Lake depth chart, in wood
This is a Onota Lake depth chart you can hang: 6 stacked layers of birch, each one a depth contour — 5 ft, 11 ft, 16 ft, 21 ft, 26 ft and deeper, down to the deepest hole at about 32 ft. The lake covers about 1.0 square miles, and 54 shore roads are engraved around it. The shape of the bottom is the real one from published soundings, so anglers recognise their drop-offs and points.
A Onota Lake map for the wall — or a gift
Most of these go to a cabin wall, a lake house entry, or a home office; a lot are gifts — the family that has been on Onota Lake for three generations, the retirement move, the first boat. The 12-inch is the desk-and-shelf size; the 24- and 30-inch boards read across a room. Add a line under the title and star your place on the shore, and it becomes the map of your Onota Lake.
Onota Lake map — the details
How big is the map?
Four sizes: 12, 17, 24 and 30 inches on the long side, from $149. Every size is cut from the same depth data of Onota Lake; the bigger boards carry more shoreline roads and place names.
Is it made from real depth data?
Yes. Onota Lake is cut layer by layer from published bathymetric soundings — each layer of birch is a depth contour, so the shape of the bottom is the real one, not decorative.
Can I add my own place on it?
Yes. At checkout you can add a line under the title (a family name, a cabin name, a year) and star the spot on the shore that matters to you.
How long does it take?
Made to order in Waterford, Pennsylvania and shipped in 7–10 days; shipping is free in the lower 48.
Can you make a lake that isn't listed?
Any lake in the United States — we hold depth data for 104,419 of them. Search for yours; if it isn't built yet we build it when you order.
- 6 depth layers down to 32 ft
- 1.0 square miles of water
- 54 shore roads engraved, 7 named
- Title block, compass rose and depth markers
- Birch plywood, keyhole hanger, made in Waterford, PA
