I went to Paine lake today. This is a small lake in Westchester County.
It is named after Thomas Paine.
Thomas Paine (January 29, 1737
[1] (NS February 9, 1737) – June 8, 1809) was an
English-American[citation needed]
political activist, author, political theorist and revolutionary. As
the author of two highly influential pamphlets at the start of the
American Revolution, he inspired the America Patriots in 1776 to declare independence from Britain.
[2] His ideas reflected Enlightenment era rhetoric of transnational human rights.
[3] He has been called "a
corsetmaker by trade, a journalist by profession, and a propagandist by inclination."
[4]
Born in
Thetford, England, in the county of
Norfolk,
Paine emigrated to the British American colonies in 1774 with the help
of Benjamin Franklin and he arrivied in time to participate in the
American Revolution. His principal contributions were the powerful,
widely read pamphlet
Common Sense (1776), the all-time best-selling American book that advocated colonial America's independence from the
Kingdom of Great Britain, and
The American Crisis (1776–83), a pro-revolutionary pamphlet series.
Common Sense was so influential that
John Adams said, "Without the pen of the author of
Common Sense, the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain.”
[5]
Paine lived in France for most of the 1790s, becoming deeply involved in the
French Revolution. He wrote the
Rights of Man (1791), in part a defense of the French Revolution against its critics. His attacks on British writer
Edmund Burke led to
a trial and conviction in absentia in 1792 for the crime of
seditious libel. In 1792, despite not speaking French, he was elected to the French
National Convention. The
Girondists regarded him as an ally. Consequently, the
Montagnards, especially
Robespierre,
regarded him as an enemy. In December 1793, he was arrested and
imprisoned in Paris, then released in 1794. He became notorious because
of
The Age of Reason (1793–94), his book that advocates
deism, promotes reason and
freethinking, and argues against institutionalized religion in general and Christian doctrine in particular. He also wrote the pamphlet
Agrarian Justice (1795), discussing the origins of
property, and introduced the concept of a
guaranteed minimum income.
In 1802, he returned to America where he died on June 8, 1809. Only
six people attended his funeral as he had been ostracized for his
ridicule of Christianity.
[6]
Thomas Paine is buried near this lake, in New York.
A Koi patrolling the shore line at Beechmont Lake. This lake is in walking distance
of Paine Lake. Beechmont has bass and big carp.
Looking north at Pelham Lake. One of 5 lakes I visited last week. Pelham lake is near
the town of Pelham.
I saw no fish at this lake but I think this was due to the barometric pressure. I only hooked
one fish the whole week.
At the southern end of Pelham Lake is this waterfall. Water is clear, too bad the day was overcast.
I could not see into the water. After I left Pelham lake I walked to nearby Glenwood lake.
The path around Glenwood Lake. The lake has panfish like large mouth bass, Bg's
crappie, carp and periodically it is stocked with trout.
Glenwood lake and the spring that feeds it.
looking north
Glenwood Lake in autumn
