How Community Came To Be:

"The Lake" was formed by all the Italian immigrants moving close to one another. They referred to each other as "paisans", meaning that they were friends and they were respected because they were from Italy. Italians down the Lake were incredibly poor, but also incredibly proud. They never asked for charity, or even accepted it when it was offered. Giuseppi would tell his children to bring food to their neighbors that had nothing, but also told them ask the family for something in return. This was to preserve that family's pride, and ensure that they did not feel shame about receiving the food because they gave something in return

The Italians also loved their parties. They would work all day, and come home to pasta every night. During the summer, every night, in the back yard of the house on Clinton Street, there would be dozens of people. The men would bring over a jug of wine and their accordions and banjos, and they would play music. The women would dance barefoot on the gravel pavement to their songs. The kids would run around playing games such as marbles or hide-and go-seek. Anyone and everyone was welcome to participate, and there was no such thing as a group too large. This was intended to emulate the type of culture each of them had back home in their small, Italian villages that was not previously present in the United States.