Lake Marion is the largest lake in South Carolina, centrally located and with territory within five counties. The lake is referred to as South Carolina's inland sea. It has a shoreline and covers nearly 110,000 acres (450 square kilometers or 173.7 square miles) of rolling farmlands, former marshes, and river valley

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

. The Santee River was dammed in the 1940s to supply hydroelectric power, as part of the rural electrification efforts initiated under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...

during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. This created Lake Marion, one of the fifty largest lakes in the United States, whether natural or man-made reservoirs. At current capacity it is only about a third of the area of what, if filled to capacity, would be the fifteenth largest lake in area.

Origin

Lake Marion was created by the construction of the Santee Dam in November 1941, part of the state-owned electric and water utility

Santee Cooper __NOTOC__ Santee Cooper, also known officially from the 1930s as the South Carolina Public Service Authority, is South Carolina's state-owned electric and water utility that came into being during the New Deal as both a rural electrification and ...

's Hydroelectric and Navigation Project. The project also included construction of the

Pinopolis Dam Pinopolis Dam is a dam in Berkeley County, South Carolina. The earthen and concrete dam was completed in 1941 by Santee Cooper, the state-owned electric and water utility also known as South Carolina Public Service Authority. The dam is 138 feet ...

(Cooper River Dam) to create Lake Moultrie, immediately downstream, and a diversion canal seven and a half miles long to connect the two. This was one of the infrastructure projects supported by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the

to provide jobs and invest in the future. The dam at Wilson's Landing is eight miles long and has 62 Tainter gates. Despite its size, the Santee Dam generates only 1.92 megawatts of hydropower. Hydroelectric facilities at Pinopolis Dam were designed to produce the lion's share of power under the original scheme: it generates about 128 megawatts. In 1985, as part of a large-scale rediversion and redesign, the United States Army Corps of Engineers installed the St. Stephen Dam hydro facility to recapture lost generating capacity of another 84 megawatts. Lake Marion is fed by many tributaries, including Wyboo Creek and the

Santee River } The Santee River is a river in South Carolina in the United States, and is long. The Santee and its tributaries provide the principal drainage for the coastal areas of southeastern South Carolina and navigation for the central coastal plain of ...

, and also by numerous springs, including Eutaw Springs. The lake is named for the American Revolutionary War General

Francis Marion Brigadier-General Francis Marion ( 1732 – February 27, 1795), also known as the Swamp Fox, was an American military officer, planter and politician who served during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. During the Ameri ...

, known legendarily as the "Swamp Fox". His former home of Pond Bluff was one of those flooded when the lake was created.

Location

The lake is located in five South Carolina counties:

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

Calhoun John C. Calhoun (1782–1850) was the 7th vice president of the United States. Calhoun can also refer to: Surname * Calhoun (surname) Inhabited places in the United States *Calhoun, Georgia *Calhoun, Illinois *Calhoun, Kansas *Calhoun, Kentucky ...

, Clarendon, Orangeburg, and Sumter. Public access is provided through several public boat ramps,

Santee State Park Santee State Park is in the Sandhills of South Carolina on the western edge of the Lake Marion. It is located off SC 6, three miles (5 km) northwest of the town of Santee and I-95. The park offers boating, hiking, camping, birding, ...

, and the

Santee National Wildlife Refuge Santee National Wildlife Refuge is a refuge alongside Lake Marion, an impoundment of the Santee River of Clarendon County, South Carolina. Geology The refuge lies within the Atlantic Coastal Plain province of South Carolina. One of the featur ...

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...

crosses the man-made lake near the town of

Santee Santee may refer to: People * Santee Dakota, a subgroup of the Dakota people, of the U.S. Great Plains * Santee (South Carolina), a Native American people of South Carolina Places * Lake Santee, Indiana, a reservoir and census-designated place * ...

. Lake Marion is home to several communities and camps for youth and students. Religious groups, fraternal organizations, and rowing teams come to Lake Marion each spring and summer due to its sheltered location, calm waters, and temperate climate.

Wildlife

The state fishing record for largemouth bass (16.2 lbs) was set at this lake.Freshwater Fish Records for South Carolina
/ref> Other fish that abound are

striped bass The striped bass (''Morone saxatilis''), also called the Atlantic striped bass, striper, linesider, rock, or rockfish, is an anadromous perciform fish of the family Moronidae found primarily along the Atlantic coast of North America. It has al ...

, white perch, white bass,

crappie Crappies () are two species of North American freshwater fish of the genus ''Pomoxis'' in the family Centrarchidae (sunfishes). Both species of crappies are popular game fish among recreational anglers. Etymology The genus name ''Pomoxis'' ...

channel catfish The channel catfish (''Ictalurus punctatus'') is North America's most numerous catfish species. It is the official fish of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Tennessee, and is informally referred to as a "channel cat". In the United States, the ...

, Arkansas blue catfish, shellcrackers, bream and chain pickerel (jack). Other wildlife at Lake Marion include deer,

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, a family that includes small or medium-size rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrels. Squ ...

, turtle, dove, wild turkey, alligator, and various species of duck,

hawk Hawks are bird of prey, birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica. * The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. Th ...

eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

, egret, and osprey. Conditions vary from shallow swamps and blackwater ponds to vast open water, with a multitude of underwater structures. The area was not completely cleared when Lake Marion was created. As a result, there are thousands of stumps, standing dead tree trunks, and live

cypress Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word ''cypress'' is derived from Old French ''cipres'', which was imported from Latin ''cypressus'', the ...

trees.

References

External links

Origin

Location

Wildlife

See also

References

External links