Before humans, the land was under thousands of feet of ice during the Wisconsin Glaciation. After melting glaciers left kettle lakes such as nearby Gold Key Lake, the land was left rock-strewn and rough. Considered a part of the Glaciated Low Plateau section of Pennsylvania, the land is slightly varied in elevation with Sunrise Lake's main dam measured at 1309.8 feet above sea level[5]
Before the arrival of European settlers, the land now encompassing most of Pike County was the domain of the Lenape people. The Lenape were expelled from the area after the Walking Purchase of 1737, which placed a large amount of new territory under the control of the Province of Pennsylvania. The land was next under conflict because it was claimed by settlers from Connecticut, eventually fueling the Pennamite–Yankee Wars between 1769 and 1784. After the Revolutionary War, the former colony became today's Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and land began to be settled.
History of Sunrise Lake
Like many of the private lake communities in the area such as Gold Key and Woodlands, the land which is now Sunrise Lake was originally purchased by a private developer. Sunrise Lake was initially developed around 1964,[6] when the lake was constructed from wetlands and the surrounding land subdivided into residential housing. In subsequent years the original developer illegally developed on wetlands and was penalized for it.[7][8][9][10]
