Green Lake, Wisconsin
Green Lake, from the surface down.
Wisconsin’s deepest natural inland lake, and the place around the homes we look after. Read here the way a sounding line reads it: the surface first, then deeper, with every figure sourced.
Green Lake from the air, near Markesan.
0 ftThe surface
Seven miles of open water.
Green Lake lies on the ancestral land of the Ho‑Chunk Nation.
- Length
- 7.3 miles
- Width
- 2 miles
- Shoreline
- 27.3 miles
- Surface area
- more than 7,600 acres
The two sources differ on area (7,660 and 7,920 acres), so we say more than 7,600. Sources: Green Lake Association, About our lake (opens in a new tab); Wisconsin DNR lake page (opens in a new tab). Checked 19 September 2026.
The shore, near Markesan
A farmhouse above the water.
Hilltop Haven sits on a quiet ridge above Green Lake, among oak and pine, with open farmland behind it. A long drive between two stone pillars leads past the farm to the house. Down at the water: private frontage, a pier, a boat slip and a white boathouse.
On Green Lake, near Markesan · Sleeps 16 · 5 bedrooms
Hilltop Haven on Big GreenThe seasons
Spring and summer in pictures, winter in words.
On summer Wednesdays, from mid-June to mid-August, there are free concerts in Deacon Mills Park.
Source: Visit Green Lake, Parks (opens in a new tab). Checked 19 September 2026.
Winter
When the lake freezes, iceboats reach 90 to 140 miles an hour.
There is ice fishing too, for a slower winter day.
Source: Visit Green Lake, Winter on the water (opens in a new tab). Checked 19 September 2026.
The town
A town you can walk.
“The city is a walkable community,” says the City of Green Lake. Serenity on Strauss 400 is where that is easiest to test: a renovated duplex on a quiet dead-end road, near downtown and the water.
Source: City of Green Lake (opens in a new tab). Checked 19 September 2026.
On foot from Serenity
- Daycholah Lookout0.2 mi
- Lake Street Marina0.5 mi
- Deacon Mills Park0.7 mi
- Tuscumbia Golf Course1.1 mi
- Hattie Sherwood Beach1.2 mi
Distances as given in the Serenity on Strauss 400 listing.
The golf course on that list has a claim of its own: “Tuscumbia is the oldest golf course in Wisconsin.”
Source: Visit Green Lake, Golfing (opens in a new tab). Checked 19 September 2026.
Serenity on Strauss 400By road to Green Lake
- Ripon
- about 15 min
- Oshkosh
- about 45 min
- Madison
- about 2 hr
- Milwaukee
- about 2 hr
- Chicago
- about 4 hr
Approximate driving times from road routing, checked 19 September 2026.
100 ftAverage depth
A hundred feet down, on average.
Below the surface, the lake averages 100 feet deep. Below the town’s surface, a resort history more than 150 years deep.
Source: Green Lake Association, About our lake (opens in a new tab). Checked 19 September 2026.
1847
The town is platted as Dartford.
1867
David Greenway opens Oakwood Lodge, “believed to be the first summer resort West of Niagara Falls.”
1894
The Green Lake Yacht Club begins. It still sails the lake.
1907
Dartford is renamed Green Lake.
Sources: Visit Green Lake, Museums and history (opens in a new tab); Visit Green Lake, Sailing (opens in a new tab). Checked 19 September 2026.
236 ftThe deepest point
236 feet down, 12,000 years back.
Green Lake is Wisconsin’s deepest natural inland lake, 236 feet at its deepest. It formed more than 12,000 years ago, when glacial terminal moraines dammed a pre-glacial river valley.
Sources: Wisconsin DNR lake page (opens in a new tab); Green Lake Association, About our lake (opens in a new tab). Checked 19 September 2026.
Green Lake from the air, fields and trees along the shore below.
Stay near the lake.
- Hilltop Haven on Big GreenOn Green Lake, near Markesan
- Serenity on Strauss 400Green Lake, walk to town
- The Old FashionedBig Twin Lake, near Markesan Coming Soon