History & local legend
Rose Lake near Andrews Settlement in Potter County has a legend explaining a patch of white lilies said to bloom in its middle. The flowers mark the place where a woman called White Lily disappeared beneath the water.
In a version retold on the Creepy Unsolved podcast in 2022, White Lily was an exceptionally strong swimmer. A group of men killed her husband and child and tried to take her away. She escaped to the lake and swam beyond their reach, then drowned. The lilies were said to return each year at the spot where she went under.
The story predates the podcast by generations. W. W. Thompson included a White Lily legend in Historical Sketches of Potter County, published in Coudersport in 1925.
Sources
- Eric Freeman, Creepy Unsolved, episode 55, 2022, 11:45–12:33, the Andrews Settlement legend, family, swimming and returning flowers
- PA-Genealogy, contents of W. W. Thompson’s Historical Sketches of Potter County (1925), including Legend of White Lily (Rose) Lake
- Pennsylvania State Archives, Merle H. Deardorf Collection, 1925 book published in Coudersport by The Potter Enterprise
- Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program, Potter County Natural Heritage Inventory, Rose Lake in Allegany Township, pp. 38–39
- USGS GNIS, Potter County natural lake 1185449
- USGS-derived coordinates for Rose Lake in the Ellisburg quadrangle
