Lake Phelps

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Lake Phelps is North Carolina’s second-largest natural lake. It covers about 16,600 acres (67 square kilometers) and sits mainly in Washington County on the Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula, between the Albemarle Sound and Pamlico Sound. The eastern part of the lake reaches into Tyrrell County.

Geology
Lake Phelps is a Carolina Bay, a roundish depression common on the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Scientists think these bays are relic thermokarst lakes formed thousands of years ago when the climate was colder and windier. They formed as permafrost thawed and the land was reshaped by wind and water.

Human history
People have lived around the lake for thousands of years. A dugout canoe found in the lake is about 4,400 years old, and other artifacts date to 8,000 BCE. The lake’s old name was Scuppernong, an Algonquian word meaning “the place where magnolias grow.” Scuppernong grapes grew along the shore. The lake was named Lake Phelps after Josiah Phelps, the first white man to enter its waters in 1755.

Management
Lake Phelps became a North Carolina State Lake in 1929 and is managed by Pettigrew State Park.

Ecology
The lake is home to many unusual plants and animals.

Size and location details
Surface area: 16,600 acres; average depth: 4.5 feet; maximum depth: 9 feet; surface elevation: about 9.8 feet. It lies in Washington and Tyrrell counties, North Carolina.

See also
Pettigrew State Park