Frederic Church transformed a treeless hillside into a wooded park across the lake, planting hundreds of trees and shrubs on 31 acres, singly and in clumps, in a landscape design conceived in the Picturesque Style, which he called his "living landscape" or his "painting in nature." He laid out roads to provide a series of changing views and remote, fleeting glimpses of the house as it was approached. The 10-acre lake was created by removing muck and clay from swampy ground that formed a natural basin west of Cosy Cottage. From 1860 to 1878, Church's farmhands removed 40,000 cubic yards by hand. Viewed from the top of the hill or from the house, the lake mirrors Inbocht Bay, the lakelike expanse in the Hudson River about six miles south of the property. Beyond its aesthetic importance, the spring-fed lake also served recreational and utilitarian needs, with a steam-operated engine in the nearby pump house supplying water through underground pipes to the houses, vegetable gardens, and barns, while canoeing, picnicking, and strolling along its shores made it a source of pleasure for the Churches and their friends.