[9] This island was less than an acre and stood toward the north end of the lake toward the northwest side, near the Baker’s Beach area.

There is a marker south of Hendersonville on the road to the lake known as the “Leatherstocking Trail”, which is a reminder of this massacre.

Its southern shore was marshy, but the northern end of the island (toward Richfield Springs) had trees and vegetation.

In 1816..."the year without a summer", there was an early spring thaw and the streams that feed Canadarago were running high.

Then in 2012 the island was donated by the Schoenlein family to the Otsego Land Trust making it accessible by the public.

[12] Canadarago Park was located on the east shore about a mile south of The Lake House.

Legislation to create a Canadarago Lake District was approved by the New York State Legislature in 2007 but was subsequently vetoed by Governor Eliot Spitzer.

It is the headwaters of the 27,510-square-mile (71,300 km2) drainage basin of the Susquehanna River which runs from Otsego Lake in Cooperstown to Havre de Grace where it flows into the Chesapeake Bay of the Atlantic Ocean.

[2]: 2 Zebra mussels were first introduced into the Great Lakes in the mid- to late-1980s from ballast discharged from freighters originating in the Black and Caspian Sea region of eastern Europe and western Asia.

[2]: 8 Incompletely treated sewage from Richfield Springs was historically dumped into Oquionis Creek and then flowed into the lake which caused algae blooms.

There are many species of fish in the lake including alewife, chain pickerel, common carp, cutlip minnow, golden shiner, satinfin shiner, bridle shiner, common shiner, blackchin shiner, spottail shiner, bluntnose minnow, eastern blacknose dace, longnose dace, rudd, creek chub, fallfish, pearl dace, white sucker, creek chubsucker, shorthead redhorse, yellow bullhead, brown bullhead, banded killifish, rock bass, redbreast sunfish, pumpkinseed, bluegill, black crappie and tessellated darter, with tiger muskie, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, black bass, yellow perch, walleye, and brown trout being the most popular to fish.

[27] The lake is accessed by a State-owned hard-surface boat launch on the west side off State Route 28.

Black Bass season goes from December 1 to the third Saturday in June and there is a limit of 5 fish per day.

In 2017, the walleye harvest limit was raised from the statewide regulation to 18 inches (46 cm) minimum size and 3 per day, as opposed to a 15 inches (38 cm) minimum size and 5 per day in most other New York lakes.

[27] Baker's Beach is a public picnic area that is open 11am to 7pm from July 4 through August 30, with swimming permitted when a lifeguard is on duty.