Beebe Lake Preview

Class of 1936 Overlook

Beebe Lake is a preserve of woodlands, wetlands, and open water that supports a rich diversity of plants and animals. The still pools of water below provide habitat for blue flag irises and a variety of frogs and salamanders.Class of 36 Overlook: This picnic area and overlook is the gift of the Cornell Class of 1936 and was dedicated at their 55th reunion in 1991.

Lakeshore Meadow and Werly Island

There are many rich plant communities around Beebe Lake. This lakeshore meadow is ideal for prairie species such as sneezeweed, asters, and blue lobelia. The small island here, called Werly Island, was created in 1986 when gravel and silt were dredged from Beebe Lake. The island was engineered to channel the flow of Fall Creek,which allows the sediment load to be carried further downstream and reduces the frequency of future dredging. Werly Island is a popular bird-watching spot. Great blue heron, osprey, and other water birds are a common sight.

South Woods

This side of Beebe Lake is home to some of the area’s finest examples of old growth trees. Large oaks on the north-facing slope above you are between 180 and 200 years old. Mature sugar maple, beech, hemlock and basswood are also common here.

Toboggan Lodge

Beebe Lake has always been a popular place for outdoor recreation on campus. Concrete supports for an old toboggan slide remain near the northeast corner of this building. The slide (shown here) extended down the wooded slope to the lake until it was removed in the 1940’s.

Triphammer Footbridge - Upstream View

Students crossing this bridge pass by a dam designed and built by Ezra Cornell years before he founded Cornell University. Look toward Beebe Lake to see the dam, built in 1838 to power a plaster mill owned by Jeremiah Beebe. The power of Fall Creek is still used today to generate 2% of the University’s electricity via a hydroelectric plant a short distance downstream. The University set a goal to upgrade this plant and increase its electric production by 20% and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Triphammer Footbridge - Downstream View

On the downstream side of the bridge, a three story stone building was built into the vertical gorge wall in 1898 and used to conduct experiments on the physical and hydraulic properties of water. It was the largest hydraulics lab in the country and was closed in 1970, then collapsed into the gorge in 2009.

Japes Lodge

This storage building was once a dining hall and place for ice skaters to get warm. Formerly known as the Johnny Parson Club, after a professor who built and maintained a skating rink on Beebe Lake. It was also used for Cornell’s hockey team practices until the 1950’s.

Hu Shih audio narrative

Class of 1966 Beebe Beach

“Beebe Beach” was built up with the same dredged materials that created Werly Island in 1986 and is a popular place to enjoy the lake view and launch canoes and kayaks which you can rent through Cornell’s Outdoor Education program. This area is mowed once per year to encourage the growth of meadow wildflowers. Be sure to visit in early spring to enjoy the hundreds of blooming daffodils (shown here).The Class of 1966 generously funded the creation of Beebe Beach as their 25th Reunion project.

Beebe Lake Woods - North Side

As you walk the path on this side of the lake, look for signs of ecological restoration. In the past several decades, staff and volunteers have worked hard to remove non-native, invasive plants, including buckthorn, privet, bush honeysuckle, and oriental bittersweet that have “crowded out” many native plant species. The young trees surrounded by metal fencing were planted by volunteer student groups in efforts to re-establish native tree species. The fences protect these young trees from deer. Fences around larger trees protect them from beavers.

Stand of Hemlock Trees

Beebe Lake is home to hundreds of Eastern hemlock trees. A threat to this lakeshore ecosystem is a small insect known as the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid. This invasive insect has decimated stands of hemlock trees in forests of Northeastern United States, and is abundant here and many other Cornell natural areas. Cornell Botanic Gardens staff have put much effort into preserving hemlocks and their genetic diversity by treating nearly 400 with a systemic insecticide, as well as training volunteers to detect infestations early and collaborating on adelgid control research.

Side Trip: Spur Trail to Hemlock Gorge Overlook

Follow this trail to an overlook in Hemlock Gorge. This gorge formed by Fall Creek, which has carved its path into layers of sedimentary rock millions of years old. At the end of the most recent ice age around 12,000 years ago, glacial-debris buried the stream valley previously carved by the water of Fall Creek. In some areas, like the wooded hillsides around Beebe Lake, Fall Creek was able to find its old path. In other areas, like here in Hemlock Gorge, Fall Creek found a new course and cut through relatively soft layers of sandstone and shale, creating this newer and narrower gorge. When you have completed this additional trail, return to the tour for more stops along Beebe Lake.

Sackett Bridge

This scenic bridge honors Colonel Henry Sackett, Cornell student (class of 1875) and a dedicated member of Cornell’s Board of Trustees. He donated a large portion of his personal wealth to Cornell in the 1920’s to build the now iconic trails, staircases, and footbridges in the two gorges of Cornell—Cascadilla and Fall Creek.