Most of us love visiting Lake Norman for its beauty and relaxation, but it’s actually a pretty interesting body of water. In this week’s blog, we share Lake Norman’s most interesting facts. By the end of this blog, you will have a deeper appreciation for our amazing North Carolina landmark.

• With a surface area of 32,510 acres, Lake Norman is the largest manmade lake in North Carolina.
• Lake Norman was created in 1963 when the Duke Power Company dammed the Catawba River to generate hydroelectric power.
• It took almost five years for Lake Norman to fully take shape.
• At the lake’s widest location, it stretches eight miles long.
• Lake Norman is 34 miles long with over 520 miles of shoreline.
• Lake Norman holds 3.4 trillion gallons of water, which is 1,093,600 acre-feet of water.
• The deepest area in Lake Norman is over 100 feet.
• The average depth of Lake Norman is 33 feet.
• In the late 1990’s, a species of freshwater jellyfish was found by scientists. No one knows where they came from.
• The largest blue catfish in North Carolina was caught in Lake Norman. It weighed in at a whopping 85 pounds.
• There is an urban legend that a sea monster lives in Lake Norman. Its nickname is Normie.
• The lake got its name from Norman Atwater Cocke, a retired president of Duke Power.
• The most common fish in the lake are striped bass, yellow perch, largemouth bass, channel catfish, white bass and bluegill.