LKN Trivia

Whether you already live around and love Lake Norman or are considering a move to our slice of paradise, we thought it would be fun to share some history and interesting tidbits about Lake Norman! Now, not only will you be a wealth of knowledge, you can also be the most insufferable person at your next cocktail party!

• Lake Norman is North Carolina’s largest man-made body of water. In fact, we called it the Inland Sea!
• It has a surface area of over 50 square miles!
• The average depth of Lake Norman is just over 33 feet, however it has a maximum depth in some spots of 112 feet.
• Duke Power Company (today called Duke Energy) began construction on Cowans Ford dam in 1959, which essentially created the lake. Then-president of Duke Power, Norman Atwater Cocke, is the lake’s namesake. 
• Entire factories and mill towns that sprang up in the late-1800s to mid-1900s and then abandoned for the creation of the lake are essentially “buried” underneath the water. One such factory is Long Island Cotton Mill and its Mill Village.
• The whole area is steeped in Revolutionary War history, with a former battleground lying under the lake and town names (like Davidson) being inspired by former Generals. 
• Since that battleground, which saw the skirmish called The Battle of Cowans Ford, is now underwater, a monument was erected across from the McGuire Nuclear Station.

For more historical tidbits on the towns surrounding Lake Norman, check out our friends at Visit Lake Norman!