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Lake Norman Trivia

  • Lake Norman’s deepest point is over 100 ft. and the average depth is 25 ft.
  • Lake Norman holds approximately 3,200,000,000 gallons of water, having a weight of approximately 13,600,000 tons.
  • Lake Norman’s shoreline measure approximately 520 miles, more than the coastlines of NC and SC combined.
  • Lake Norman is bordered by four counties: Mecklenburg, Catawba, Lincoln and Iredell.
  • During the Revolutionary War, a battle was fought on February 1, 1781 at almost the exact spot where Cowans Ford Dam now sits. Militia General William Lee Davidson, for whom Davidson College is named, was killed in the battle.
  • There have been several unusual sightings around Lake Norman including a mysterious cat-like creature known as the wampus, UFO’s, man-sized catfish and an alligator or two.
  • The first metal bridge to span the Catawba River in this area was built by James W. Brown & B. A. Troutman of Mooresville and completed in 1911. It was located about 1/4 mile downstream from the present NC Hwy 150 bridge.
  • Talk about planning ahead, James B. Duke’s association began purchasing Catawba Valley bottomland in 1901 to prepare for the future power generation.
  • Had Lake Norman not been in place, there probably would have been flooding of the Catawba River Valley in 1970. Severe flooding did occur in 1916 and 1940.
  • The Catawba River froze solid enough for horse-drawn wagons to cross on November 27, 1886.
  • Lake Norman, the largest man-made lake in North Carolina, covers approximately 32,510 acres and is larger than the Sea of Galilee.

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