Lake Mattamuskeet

The formation of Lake Mattamuskeet remains a mystery. Some say fires burning deep into the peat soil formed the lake. Another account describes Lake Mattamuskeet and other nearby smaller lakes as being scoured out by a shower of meteors that struck the Carolina coastal plain. A final theory is that the lake remained after the historical Carolina Bays gradually receded from the area.

For many years the idea of draining the shallow Lake Mattamuskeet intrigued farmers and developers. Patterned after similar projects in Holland, large scale drainage operations to convert the lake bottom to farmland began in 1914. The world’s largest pumping plant at the time was built, and the lake was actually drained for periods of time. Eventually, the scheme was abandoned as impractical and too expensive.

In 1934 the land was acquired by the United States Government, and the refuge was established. The Civilian Conservation Corps converted the former pumping plant into a hunting lodge which was operated until 1974. The Mattamuskeet Lodge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. In 2007 the Lodge and 6.25 acres of adjacent land were transferred to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission for use as a public facility dedicated to the conservation of the natural and cultural resources of North Carolina.