Summer Cottages to Year-Round Residences
Since 1918 the Brinton Lake and land around it have been owned first by the members of the Brinton Lake Club, an association of Pennsylvania residents who built summer cottages along the lake front and in the nearby woods and meadows. Gradually over the years, these cottages were 'winterized' and became year-round residences. In efforts to remain solvent, the Colony sold approximately 2/3 of its acreage in 1960 to Lamont DuPont Copeland who leased them to the Concord Country Club. In 1979 the Club sold 96 acres to a real estate developer, who subdivided the land into 64 lots. These lots are now owned by 61 families. These families are members in the New Brinton Lake Club which is successor to the Brinton Lake Club. The New Brinton Lake Club was established to ensure the preservation and maintenance of the lake and common property around the lake.

Brinton Lake Today
Brinton Lake is a 10 acre (more or less) lake in S.W. Delaware County. The lake was formed by pre-Revolutionary settlers who constructed a 330' long by 15' high earth-and-rock dam across the West branch of Chester Creek just north of the Baltimore Turnpike. In recent years, the explosive population growth of the surrounding areas has touched the lake and now the immediate area surrounding the lake and its shoreline of woods and marshes is essentially fully developed.

Surrounding the lake are open woods and marshes with a broad selection of wildlife. Often seen are the usual small animals, plus racoon fox and deer. Birds include waterfowl such as wood ducks, pintails, and Canada geese. Red-tail hawk and osprey plus blue and green herons and egrets are often seen. The lake is stocked with bass, blue gills and catfish and has a healthy population of frogs, snakes and turtles.

The dam and lake combined still retain much of their physical characteristics as when they were constructed and from many views, (i.e., from the north and west shores), the lake still appears much as it must have been for most of its 300+ year life. Excavations made during 1988 spillway repairs uncovered the original spillway construction of huge 12"x12" timber cribs and hand-forged iron nails, still present under newer materials. The spillway showed evidence of two additions to the height of the dam, probably for the purpose of restoring hydraulic capacity, lost due to gradual siltation. Neither of the two additions has been made since 1900.

Historical Description
Brinton Lake was dammed as the mill pond for Brinton's Mill. Brinton's Mill was constructed in Upland County, New Sweden, as the area was then known, in about 1685. The construction of the original mill building as a grain mill by the original settlers of the Brinton family is well documented and the dam and the lake must have been constructed simultaneously to supply water for power to the mill. In the recent past, Brinton's Mill existed as the Old Mill Restaurant. It has been renovated and now serves as offices for a financial management company. The old water wheel was kept in tact and still can be seen upon entering the building. For many years, the lake served as a source of hydraulic power for the millers of Brinton's Mill, owned and operated by succeeding generations of the Brinton family.

Several of the small streams feeding the lake have been identified as likely campsites for the area's native Americans prior to, and during, European settlement. Additionally, as the power source for Brinton's Mill in pre-Revolutionary Upland County of New Sweden, the dam and mill are a part of the earliest development of Pennsylvania.