So, in 1978 the county got together with the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) and agreed to enlarge this lake and have it as an emergency water supply for the WSSC Potomac River intake. This coincided with a major water shortage in the Washington, DC-metropolitan area in the mid-1970s. A 1974 study of Ten Mile Creek showed that its species diversity was one of the highest of small steams in the county with three threatened species of fish: cutlips minnow, comely shiner and rosyside dace.Ī Master Plan was developed for the Seneca Creek watershed in 1977, which included a multi-purpose reservoir.

The Seneca Creek watershed, and especially Ten Mile Creek were identified as particularly sensitive areas. Beginning in 1968, with the help of the Soil Conservation Service, the county surveyed the creeks and streams and developed a plan. The story of the park and the lake goes way back to the 1960s when the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) started buying up land around streams in Montgomery County to protect the watersheds and manage the resources of the county. One hotel on Ten Mile Creek that was not affected by the creation of the lake because of being situated on high ground is the 22-room High View Hotel, now a county historic site.

After the train came through in 1873 people would come up from Washington in the summer to vacation in the country at several hotels in the area. Farms were built and the little village of Ten Mile Creek had a school and Pyles grist and saw mill. The first European settlers set up many mills along the fast-flowing streams. Native Americans used these waterways for fishing and had hunting camps in the surrounding hills. Little Seneca Lake is fed by the flow from Little Seneca Creek and its two main tributaries, Ten Mile Creek and Cabin Branch (“branch” being another word for stream). It is an emergency water supply for the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, the Washington Aqueduct, and the Fairfax County Water Authority in Virginia. But the lake was not created only for having fun. Black Hill and Little Seneca Lake, forming the northern border of Germantown, is a well-used recreational area, especially on these hot summer days. Families picnicking, children cavorting on the playgrounds, teens paddling around the lake in kayaks and fishermen dropping their lures hoping for a bite, summer is here at Black Regional Hill Park.

Settlers 3 settlers getting stuck