Lake Buel - Samuel Buell

Samuel Buell

On July 23, 1812, Samuel Buell (1796–1865), age 16, saved three of seven people during a row boat accident. Three others drowned and one swam to shore on his own. That September, he was presented with a gold heart medal by the Washington Benevolent Society of Tyringham. Buell eventually married, had a family and lived as a farmer. He died in 1865 and is buried in Mahaiwe Cemetery in Great Barrington. The lake was not named in his honor until a decade after his death, July 4, 1876, during a Centennial ceremony.

In 1878, the Berkshire Courier dropped the second L from Buell, and soon other papers followed suit.