Lake Waccamaw State Park

History

Lake Waccamaw is the largest of the natural Carolina Bay lakes. The Carolina Bay lakes have a abundance of Bay Trees and are not manmade or formed by rivers. Jones Lake (State Park) and Singletary Lake (State Park) also fall in this category. What created these depressions in the land is currently unknown, although a common theory is meteors. There are over fifty in Bladen County, North Carolina.

The Park

The park provided a nice size visitors center with a small museum inside. Accessed from the visitors center is a short boardwalk to a overlook of the lake without a dock. Past the visitors center you can follow a mile long road that takes you to a second parking lot where you can follow a short trail to the 300 foot dock out onto the lake.

Before I drove to the park, I drove about 30 minutes around the lake to the dam (which can normally be accessed via a currently closed trail). It wasn't worth it.

I would recommend this park for boating or fishing- but the hiking opportunities are fairly plain. The history is neat, so check out some of the local museums if you are in the area.

Park Webpage
Wikipedia
Park Map
Google Map