Lake Marilyn

Along the northern edge of town, the winding shores of Lake Marilyn offer a wonderful spot to relax and observe as the town transitions into the forests of the nature preserve. The lake serves the function of providing irrigation water for parks and streetside landscapes, while its calm waters reward with peaceful reflections of white walls and blue skies. The beautiful Somerset Bridge at the north end of the lake is a favorite spot to gaze upon the town, offering views across the lake and down Sea Garden Walk toward the Gulf. A hedge of blueberry bushes lines the pathways on both sides, bringing a sweet and tasty harvest every summer and crimson red leaves in fall. The gentle hillsides are carpeted with a dense groundcover of perennial peanut that gives way to a shoreline wrapped in Dominican shellstone, adding formality to the curving lake edge. Lake Marilyn offers a world of contrasts at its opposite ends. To the south is an open plaza with an elegant metal fountain and formal rows of Kwanzan cherry trees that provide showy spring flowers and a sense of order. To the north, the lake presents a visual transition to the wetland preserve beyond, with native cypress trees and grasses that spread down to the water’s edge.