{"id":151,"date":"2026-03-12T20:21:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T00:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sjcklc\/?page_id=151"},"modified":"2026-09-01T15:48:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T19:48:55","slug":"chamberlain-lake","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sjcklc\/locations\/chamberlain-lake\/","title":{"rendered":"Chamberlain Lake"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Chamberlain Lake scenic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Chamberlain Lake is at the southern end of the corridor, north of Crumstown Highway and surrounded to the west by a dedicated state nature preserve. The preserve is managed jointly by Indiana Department of Natural Resources<\/a> and St. Joseph County Parks<\/a>. The lake is bordered to the east by residential properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite being designated as a lake, this shallow, 52-acre basin has held limited open water in recent years. This may reflect natural or climate-change induced cycles of lake drawdown and refill. Much of the 83-acre preserve was impacted by a tornado in 2001. Evidence of this is the many deformed trees along the 1.5-mile loop trail to the observation deck on the lake. Tree species found include sassafras (Sassafras albidum<\/em>), maples (Acer<\/em> spp.), oaks, both white (Quercus alba<\/em>) and red (Quercus rubra<\/em>), and American beech (Fagus grandifolia<\/em>). The wetland consists of mostly submergent marsh, surrounded by a floating sedge muck mat, over a sandy bottom. Biologists have documented over a hundred native plant species, many of which are state threatened or endangered (see iNaturalist linked here<\/a>), and over 125 bird species (eBird linked here)<\/a>. In late March and early April, spring ephemerals can be seen emerging from the forest floor, such as Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria<\/em>) and spring beauty (Claytonia virginica<\/em>). Woodland box turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina<\/em>) may be seen, while cricket frogs (Acris crepitans<\/em>) and eastern gray tree frogs (Dryophytes versicolor<\/em>) can be heard, especially after sunset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The preserve is open to the public year round. The trailhead can be accessed from a small parking area just off the Crumstown Highway, 3.5 miles southwest of the intersection of Mayflower Road and Sample Street. While there is a maintained trail, there are no designated recreational areas or facilities, such as picnic tables or restrooms. For more information, contact St. Joseph County Parks<\/a> (574-277-4828).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Preserve carpark just off the Crumstown Highway.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Trail just off the preserve carpark, looking north.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Tree next to trail which lost its crown during the 2001 tornado. Notice the abrupt change in bark patterning and multiple trunks starting just above.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Another tree showing evidence of 2001 tornado damage. Notice multiple trunks at abrupt angles starting just above where trunk was sheared off.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Preserve trail looking south. Notice the light colored appearance of trail from underlying sand originating from dunes once evident throughout the corridor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Close up of the trail surface showing the fine sand underlying the thin soil that had developed on top.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Observation deck for Chamberlain Lake, looking east, just off the trail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Close-up of the muck mat surrounding the lake edge, dominated by various grasses, including sedges, and shrubs, such as buttonbush.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Beech tree with characteristic smooth bark which some can not resist carving.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A grove of paw paw, a species of small deciduous tree, with large leaves that produces a yellowish-green fruit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Well-developed ‘duff’ layer of partially decomposed leaf materia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Spice bush whose leaves have an aromatic spicy, citrusy smell when crushed, and brightly red colored fruits when mature.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chamberlain Lake is at the southern end of the corridor, north of Crumstown Highway and surrounded to the west by a dedicated state nature preserve. The preserve is managed jointly by Indiana Department of Natural Resources and St. Joseph County Parks. The lake is bordered to the east by residential properties. Despite being designated as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5102,"featured_media":0,"parent":145,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-151","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sjcklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sjcklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sjcklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sjcklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sjcklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sjcklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":680,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sjcklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/151\/revisions\/680"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sjcklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sjcklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}