Charlotte | Lake Norman

* Lake Norman's deepest point is over 100 ft. and average depth is 25 ft.
* Lake Norman holds approximately 3,400,000,000 gallons of water, having a weight of approximately 13,600,000 tons.
* Lake Norman's shoreline measures approximately 520 miles, more than the coastlines of North Carolina and South Carolina combined.
* Lake Norman is bordered by 4 counties. Mecklenburg is named for the home province of King George III's wife, Queen of Charlotte. Catawba is named for the Catawba Indians who actually called themselves Eswataroa (meaning great river). Lincoln is named for Benjamin Lincoln, not Abraham Lincoln. Iredell is named for James Iredell, who never even saw the county.
* During the Revolutionary War a battle was fought on Feb 1, 1781 at almost the exact spot where Cowan's 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 ground-breaking for Cowan's Ford Dam was held Sept 28, 1959. Governor Terry Sanford was the keynote speaker at the dedication of the completed dam five years later on September 29, 1964.
* The first metal bridge to span the Catawba River in this area was built by James W. Brown and B.A. Troutman of Mooresville, competed in 1911. It was located about ¼ mile downstream from the present NC Highway 150 bridge.
* Talk about planning ahead, James B. Duke's associates began purchasing Catawba Valley bottomland in 190l to prepare for the future power generation.
* Had Lake Norman not been in place, there probably would have been flooding on the Catawba River Valley in 1970. Severe flooding did occur in 1916 and 1940.
* The Catawba River froze solid enough for horsedrawn wagons to cross on November 27, 1886, and January 19, 1887.
* Lake Norman, the largest man-made lake in North Carolina, covers approximately 32,510 acres and is larger than the Sea of Galilee.