NY · depth model

Silver Lake

In 1855, a hotelkeeper rigged a fake sea serpent in Silver Lake to fill his rooms.

12 inch$149Desk, bookshelf, hallway. The closing-gift size. · ≈ 2.0 lb 17 inch$249Over a sideboard or in a reading nook. · ≈ 4.0 lb 24 inch$399The over-the-mantel piece. Islands appear at this scale. · ≈ 7.9 lb 30 inch$599Statement wall. Two hangers, every town on the shore named. · ≈ 12.4 lb

Make it yours family name · a line of text · a star on your place

Family name on the title block A line under it Title block preview

Your place — a star and a name on the board

Add a laser-cut desk stand (12" and 17" only) +$29

Made to order in Waterford, PA. Ships in 7–10 days, free in the lower 48. Birch, 5 mm per layer, keyhole hanger built in. By ordering you agree to our terms — decorative art, not a navigational chart.

The layers of this board — each depth is engraved on its step

10 ft · first step
19 ft
29 ft
38 ft
48 ft
57 ft · bottom

37 ftmaximum depth · source

1.3square miles of water

6depth layers cut

88roads engraved on the 12"

4towns named

2.0 lbthe 12" on the wall (≈ 12.4 lb at 30")

The lake

About Silver Lake

Silver Lake sits in Wyoming County, New York, between the villages of Perry and Castile, south of Rochester. The basin is glacial, carved out as ice sheets retreated from the region at the end of the last ice age, part of the same landscape that left the nearby Finger Lakes. The lake drains north through Silver Lake Outlet toward the Genesee River. Silver Lake State Park sits on the north shore at Perry, and the rest of the shoreline holds a mix of cottages, campgrounds, and year-round homes.

In August 1855, Artemus Walker, who ran the Walker House hotel on the lake, had a hired sheet-iron creature towed through the water at night to spark sightings, and newspapers ran with reports of a serpent for weeks before the rig was discovered in a barn fire. The story outlived the hoax: the lake is still known locally for the Silver Lake Serpent, and Perry holds an annual festival named for it. Anglers work the lake for walleye and panfish, and boaters and campers from surrounding Wyoming County towns fill it through the summer.

On the board

4 shore towns named, with a star on each
88 roads engraved around the shore, 13 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

Why we cut this one

Silver Lake is one of the lakes people ask us for by name — the kind of shoreline where the house has a name and the dock has a history. This board is cut from the same depth grid the configurator uses for all 104,419 lakes, so the shape is the real one.

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.

Depth chart

Silver Lake depth chart, in wood

This is a Silver Lake depth chart you can hang: 6 stacked layers of birch, each one a depth contour — 6 ft, 12 ft, 19 ft, 25 ft, 31 ft and deeper, down to the deepest hole at about 37 ft. The lake covers about 1.3 square miles, and 88 shore roads are engraved around it. The shape of the bottom comes from a peer-reviewed bathymetry model of the lake.

A Silver 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 Silver 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 Silver Lake.

Questions

Silver 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 Silver Lake; the bigger boards carry more shoreline roads and place names.

Is it made from real depth data?

Yes — from GLOBathy, a peer-reviewed bathymetry dataset that estimates the bottom of every lake from its shoreline and surrounding terrain. Each layer of birch is a depth contour. Where a lake has a published sounding survey we use that instead, and we are adding surveys lake by lake.

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.

On this board

6 depth layers down to 37 ft
1.3 square miles of water
88 shore roads engraved, 13 named
Title block, compass rose and depth markers
Birch plywood, keyhole hanger, made in Waterford, PA

Keep reading

Guides from the people who cut these maps.

Gifts for Fishermen Who Already Own Every Lure
Unique fishing gifts for the angler who has everything: a layered wood depth map of the lake they fish, with the structure they know by heart.
Lake House Gifts That Actually Mean Something
Thoughtful lake house gifts and cabin gift ideas for Christmas: what lake people actually keep, how to choose a size, and how to word a personal line.
Deepest Lakes in Michigan: Surveyed Depths and What Lies Below
Which inland lakes in Michigan run deepest? Surveyed depths for Crystal, Mullett, Glen, Charlevoix and more, and how depth shapes color, fish and ice.

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