It is situated in the Lakes Region of central New Hampshire, in the towns of Alexandria, Bridgewater, Bristol, and Hebron.

[4] A tradition says that the Native Americans called the lake "Pasquaney",[citation needed] meaning "the place where birch bark for canoes is found".

In 1751, John Kendall and Jonathan Farwell participated in marking the western lands of the Masonian proprietors, where they referred to it as "Newfound Lake" or "Baker's Pond".

Evidently this information did not get to Emmanuel Brown in time for publication of his New and Accurate Map of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and New England in 1752, as the lake was left nameless.

In 1755, Thomas Jefferys published a Map of the Most Inhabited Parts of New England with the lake shown, but still without a name.

Bristol native Fred Lewis Pattee romantically referred to Newfound by its supposed Indian name in his poem "Pasquaney Lake".

On November 7, 1629, Mason, a merchant from London, had the land from Newfound Lake to the Merrimack River in Massachusetts granted to him.

After years of declining trout numbers, a screen was built at the outlet of the lake to prevent the fish from swimming down the Newfound River.

[5]: 360 Today, 22 species of fish are found in the Newfound Lake watershed: Of these species, six - brook trout, burbot, lake trout, rainbow smelt, round whitefish, and slimy sculpin - were selected as needing special consideration by the 2006 New Hampshire Wildlife Action Plan.

Selection is based on a species' population status, integral ecological function, or the ability to extrapolate from it to indicate a healthy aquatic ecosystem.