Lake Como

You are at Lake Como, stop #50 on our Belmar Treasure Trail. Three neighboring towns, Belmar, Lake Como, and Spring Lake, share ownership and oversight of the lake. Belmar only has a small portion of the lakefront, less than 20% of the actual shoreline. If you continue up to B Street, that is the transition from Belmar to Lake Como’s portion of the lake. Spring Lake’s portion starts at its Ocean Avenue border by the brick arches. Many millennia ago, this lake, like Silver Lake and others up and down the coast, were all connected as part of an ancient bay. Today, the lake hosts a number of anadromous fish – that means species that can live in both fresh water and salt water. The lake is also home to dozens of mute swans. Indigenous to Asia, a few pairs of these beautiful swans were introduced to Belmar in the early 1900’s. These Belmar Swans gained a national reputation as the first flock bred in America, and the New York Zoological Garden was among several places that requested and were given a pair of breeders by the borough.