Lake Carnegie is a reservoir that straddles the borders of the towns of Princeton, West Windsor, Plainsboro and South Brunswick in Mercer and Middlesex counties in central New Jersey.

Fish species include largemouth bass, carp, pickerel, crappie, channel catfish and occasionally a few rainbow and brown trout that make their way into Carnegie Lake from Stony Brook.

Prior to the construction of the lake, Princeton's varsity crew rowed on the narrow Delaware and Raritan Canal, sharing the busy waterway with commercial shipping.

In 1902, one of the team's former members (Howard Russell Butler, class of 1876) was asked to paint a portrait of noted philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.

This was done in order to avoid arousing the suspicions of local residents, and to allow Carnegie to purchase the land for the lowest possible price.

[9] Due to its initially shallow depth, flooding and siltation (carried by Stony Brook) became problems for the area surrounding Carnegie Lake.

[7][8] In its 2002 report on water quality, the United States Environmental Protection Agency rated Lake Carnegie as "impaired.

[5][11] A number of local volunteer groups have undertaken efforts to improve the quality of water in Lake Carnegie and surrounding waterways.