|
Lake Waccamaw is a unique fresh water lake located in Columbus County in North Carolina. The lake is oval in shape measuring roughly by covering surface area with an average depth of and a shoreline of about . The marginal 70% of the lake bottom is composed of clear sand, whereas the central 30% is overlaid with a deposit of fibrous and pulpy peat.〔http://www.fishbase.org〕 The lake is fed by four creeks: First, Second, Third, and Big Creeks. The lake outlet forms the Waccamaw River which flows southeasterly to empty into the Atlantic Ocean near Georgetown, South Carolina It is the largest of the natural Carolina Bay Lakes (Bladen Lake Group).〔 The term "Bay" Lake stems from the abundance of bay trees (''Magnolia virginiana L.'', ''Gordonia lasianthus Ellis'', and ''Persea'' spp., Frey, 1949) growing in the numerous swampy oval depressions on the Carolina coastal plain.〔http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/wacbay.html〕 The lake has been estimated to be 15,000 -30,000 years old, although older fossils have been found upon the shores, and in 2008 a whale fossil was found in the lake.〔http://www.fishbase.org/search.php〕 Scientists have removed the bones of a whale that they say may date back 1 - 3 million years. The skull of the whale has been restored and is currently on display at Lake Waccamaw State Park through longstanding loan from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. The lake is fed mainly by Big Creek and the surrounding swamp lands. The organic matter from the decaying vegetation of the swamps makes the water tea-colored. The lake is full of life. It even contains some species of fish, such as the Waccamaw silverside, that are native only to Lake Waccamaw.〔http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20080521/ARTICLE/805210343/0/Business〕 Lake Waccamaw has a broad, flat bottom of gyttja (mud) and peat encircled by sandy shallows and submerged sandy terraces that extend up to 500 m offshore. A natural sand bar, which extends along the northwest shore between a fringing cypress swamp and the main lake, was supplemented with spoil dredged to form a neighboring canal in 1946 and developed with private residences. Big Creek delivers tea-colored water from the large cypress and gum tree swamp at the northeast corner of the lake, and the Waccamaw River emerges from the southern shore. A dam at the outlet built in 1926〔http://www.lakewaccamaw.com/history.asp〕 now regulates lake levels, which used to fall by as much as a meter during dry spells, occasionally exposing the sand terraces. The dam was renovated in 2008 to help restore control of the lake water levels. Unlike most of the other Carolina Bay lakes, Lake Waccamaw gets the majority of its water from the surrounding swamp instead of direct rain water. A limestone bluff along the north shore filters the water and reduces the acidity levels, making the lake ideal for a wide range of aquatic life.〔 The lake was established as a North Carolina State Lake in 1929, and it is managed by the adjacent Lake Waccamaw State Park. ==History== Some believe Lake Waccamaw belongs to the Bladen Lake group, which may have been formed by meteorites. Dredges have brought up old charred tree stumps, and they support a theory that the lake is the basin left by a prehistoric peat fire. Lake Waccamaw has several feeders, called First Little, Second Little and Third Little Creeks and then Big Creek as well as water from the Friar swamp. Underground springs feed the creeks. Before the arrival of European settlers to Lake Waccamaw, it was inhabited by Native Americans. A place still called Indian Mounds is on the east shore and, on the site of one mound, it is said nothing will grow on it. King Charles the Second originally granted this land to one of the Lord Proprietors who made individual grants to those willing to settle in this part of the new world. These large grants were divided among heirs and new settlers. By the mid-18th century, few of the early settlers or their descendants were left around the lake area. They were replaced by people such as John Powell, who brought cattle from Virginia to settle his grant of land. There is a quote attributed to John Bartram stating, "This is the pleasantist place that I have ever seen". There is, however, no evidence of this quote in his writings. The origin of the quote is perhaps explained by The News Reporter which states, "N.C. State University researcher John A. McGeachy seems to have found it in his paper “Travel on the Cape Fear River in the Colonial Period. A group of at least 14 men traveled the area with Nathaniel Moore in 1733. The publication from that trip was called “A New Voyage to Georgia.” From old Brunswick they traveled up the Cape Fear River to Moore’s place, then to Lake Waccamaw, described by an unnamed author as “the pleasantest place that ever I saw in my life.” John Powell's son, Absalom, after the American Revolutionary War, started buying large areas of land. A North Carolina Historical Marker was placed near his grave on August 22, 1933 at Lake Waccamaw. John Powell's son, Isaac, of Lake Waccamaw was appointed first major for Bladen County militia in 1804 and a Justice of the Peace in 1806. He was the largest landowner of his day in Columbus County, owning over 10,000 acres (40 km²) - most of his land in the area of Lake Waccamaw. Lake Waccamaw is described in the "Voyage of the Paper Canoe" by Nathaniel H. Bishop - "A geographical journey of 2500 miles from Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico, during the years 1874-5.". You can read the entire description here: http://www.eldritchpress.org/nhb/paperc/intro.html More on Lake Waccamaw theories and history can be found at Waccamaw Siouan 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lake Waccamaw」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|