Barbee Lake is a fresh water

Fresh Water

Fresh Water is the debut album by Australian rock and blues singer Alison McCallum, released in 1972. Rare for an Australian artist at the time, it came in a gatefold sleeve...

 lake

Lake

A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...

 located in Kosciusko County

Kosciusko County, Indiana

Kosciusko County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. Census 2010 recorded the population at 77,358. The county seat is Warsaw.The county was formed in 1836. It was named after the Polish general Tadeusz Kościuszko, who served in the American Revolutionary War, and then returned to...

, Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

The Barbee chain of lakes was formed by retreating glacier

Glacier

A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...

s during the Pleistocene

Pleistocene

The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....

 era as were most of northeast Indiana's lakes.

Location

The greater Barbee lakes are located just east of Indiana State Road 13

Indiana State Road 13

State Road 13 in the U.S. State of Indiana is a north–south highway in north-central and central Indiana that connects the area east of Indianapolis with the northern part of the state. Its northern terminus is at the Michigan state line, although starting at the interchange with the Indiana...

, approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) south-southeast of Tippecanoe Lake and 5 miles (8 km) southwest of Webster Lake.

The lake chain

Barbee Lake is composed of seven interconnected and natural lakes (Barbee Lakes chain):

• Barbee Lake 304 acre (123 ha)
• Little Barbee Lake 74 acre (29.9 ha)
• Kuhn Lake 137 acre (55.4 ha)
• Irish Lake 182 acre (73.7 ha)
• Sawmill Lake 36 acre (14.6 ha)
• Sechrist Lake 105 acre (42.5 ha)
• Banning Lake 17 acre (6.9 ha)

Inflow and outflow

Inflow via Grassy Creek feeds Barbee (Big Barbee), Little Barbee, Irish, and Sawmill. Shoe Lake

Shoe Lake (Indiana)

Shoe Lake is a fresh water lake located in Kosciusko County, Indiana, United States. It is the inflow point for water entering Banning Lake ....

 flows into Banning Lake while Heron Lake flows into Kuhn Lake. Banning and Kuhn Lakes have the best water quality in the chain because their small watersheds contribute fewer nutrients. Water leaving the Barbee chain heads north and feeds Tippecanoe Lake. Some 75% of the watershed

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 is agricultural.

Residential

The chain of Barbee lakes has approximately 2300 residence

House

A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...

s spread throughout the lakes with the highest concentration near Barbee's north end, Sechrist, and Little Barbee Lake.

Recreation

All of the lakes support bluegill

Bluegill

The Bluegill is a species of freshwater fish sometimes referred to as bream, brim, or copper nose. It is a member of the sunfish family Centrarchidae of the order Perciformes.-Range and distribution:...

, largemouth bass

Largemouth bass

The largemouth bass is a species of black bass in the sunfish family native to North America . It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black bass, bucketmouth, Potter's fish, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth...

, yellow perch

Yellow perch

The yellow perch is a species of perch found in the United States and Canada, where it is often referred to by the shortform perch. Yellow perch look similar to the European perch, but are paler and more yellowish, with less red in the fins. They have six to eight dark, vertical bars on their sides...

, muskelunge, catfish

Catfish

Catfishes are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores...

, and crappie

Crappie

Crappie is a genus of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of order Perciformes. The type species is P. annularis, the white crappie...

. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources maintains a boat ramp on Kuhn Lake's north side. Access to Tippecanoe is possible for boats 16 feet (4.9 m) and shorter in length through a manually-operated lock.