What better way to start things off then to start from the beginning. The beginning of the lake that is…… After the civil war a man by the name of James B. Duke, President of the American tobacco company saw a need for textiles to clothe the new ever growing nation of ours. James and his brother Ben set out to learn everything they possibly could about hydroelectric so they could generate large amounts of power using the forces of the Catawba River.
Soon after they began doing research James and Ben were introduced to Dr. W. Gill Wylie who had already been experimenting with hydroelectric in South Carolina and had formed the Catawba Power Company. Wylie introduced the Duke brothers to a young engineer by the name of William S. Lee who designed the South Carolina damn. To make a long story short, after much discussion it turned out the Wylie needed financial help and the Dukes needed power. Together they formed the Southern Power Company. In 1927 the name was changed to the Duke Power Company.
On September 28, 1959 they broke ground on the 2 large damns and four years later they were completed. It took 2 more years to fill the lake. The new lake called the “Inland Sea” by some was officially named Lake Norman after retired Duke Power President, Norman Atwater Cocke. Although the new lake brought new economic growth to the area many were far from happy because they were going to lose their land. Many refused to sell their land but soon settled for land they would be given on the shoreline of the new lake. Many original families still own land around the lake from that very deal.
Today Lake Norman is 34 miles long, 8 miles wide at its widest point and has 520 miles of shoreline. It’s 130 feet deep at its deepest point and holds approximately 3.4 trillion gallons of water. It has been said that people use to stand on the side of the road holding signs trying to sell lakefront lots for $1000. Today some lakefront lots are selling for over 1 million dollars. The Charlotte area, Lake Norman include is currently one of the top 5 real estate markets in the country. A great place to live and a great place to invest in real estate.
Pretty interesting stuff……
Source: “Lake Norman Our Inland Sea”, by Bill & Diana Gleasner, Inc., the Peninsula Press, Denver, NC.
