Early development on Lake Norman.
As our timeline suggests, residential development on Lake Norman was a gradual process throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Although Duke Power leased some property for summer homes, most of the shoreline was undeveloped.
A 1964 article in State Magazine states, “Even with homes, summer cottages, docks, and boathouses being constructed along its shores, Lake Norman appears almost untouched to many observers, its that big” (Harry Snook).
According to Cindy Jacobs in Around Lake Norman, many of the first private developers were former farmers. With their farmland now sitting underwater on lakefront property, selling or leasing land for home sites was a profitable endeavor.
The earliest subdivisions around the lake include Moonlite Bay, Kiser’s Island, Catalina Cove, Bonanza, and Island Forest (courtesy of Stallings-Sigmon Collection). The Charlotte Observer also mentions an early lakefront subdivision called Malibu Pointe (Bruce Henderson, “Lake Norman at 50, Public and Private“).
Speak Your Mind