A spring-fed sinkhole lake, Lake Formosa is the southernmost in the chain. In 1880, Philadelphia attorney James M. Wilcox purchased 40 acres around the lake to build the West End Hotel. The lake was renamed Formosa (Portuguese for "beautiful") in 1887. By mid-century its southern shore hosted the Loch Haven Youth Center, known for boat-accessible dances that drew Orlando youth to its banks. Today its shores attract great blue herons, anhingas, and seasonal migratory waterfowl, while largemouth bass and catfish populate its depths. A man-made canal connects it north to Lake Rowena.
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The cultural heart of the chain, Lake Rowena is spring-fed and connected by canals to Lake Formosa to the south, Lake Estelle to the west, and Lake Sue to the northeast. Its northern shore is home to Harry P. Leu Gardens, a 50-acre botanical garden, while Loch Haven Park borders its western edge, placing it within walking distance of the Orlando Museum of Art and Orlando Science Center. Osprey nest in the tall pines along its banks.
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Lake Estelle carries some of the chain's most layered history. In 1908, a farmhouse on its western shore became a sanitarium for tuberculosis patients; that institution eventually evolved into the modern AdventHealth system, whose campus still borders the lake today. The Andrews Causeway, dedicated in 1949 by President Harry Truman, bisects the lake connecting Mills Avenue to surrounding neighborhoods. Turtles bask along its banks throughout the day, and the lake supports little blue herons and tricolored herons among its wading bird population.
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The largest lake in the chain, Lake Sue straddles the border between Orlando and Winter Park. Its shores are home to the historic 1890 Beeman Victorian home, a remnant of its 19th-century status as a retreat for the elite. It is a key water table lake in the Howell Branch Creek system, bordered by approximately 100 homes with no public access. Wood storks, limpkins, and nesting osprey are regularly spotted along its vegetated shoreline. Residential development on nearly all sides makes responsible land use a critical factor in maintaining water quality.
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The most secluded of the five, Lake Winyah sits in the Colonialtown North neighborhood just east of the Loch Haven area. A solution lake formed by the dissolution of underlying limestone, it retains a natural vegetative buffer along much of its shoreline and serves as a critical wildlife corridor connecting the chain to adjacent green spaces. As of late 2025, water clarity measured 5.28 feet Secchi depth, with nitrogen levels well below threshold. It supports nesting wading birds in numbers that have declined elsewhere in the chain.
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