Local Eli Hill was swimming when he found it: a 1,000-year-old dugout canoe, pulled up from the bottom of North Carolina’s Lake Waccamaw.
The find and excavation, made in mid-April, represents an archaeological milestone for the area, which used to be inhabited by the Waccamaw Sioux or Waccamaw Siouan, one of eight Indian tribes recognized by the North Carolinian government. The Lake Waccamaw Indians are known as the “People of the Falling Star” for the meteorite that crashed to earth years ago and created the crater that is now Lake Waccamaw.
North Carolina’s largest natural freshwater lake, and the largest of the North Carolina Bay Lakes at 8,938 acres, the lake spawns the Waccamaw River, which flows into South Carolina, and is popular among sea kayakers and canoeists. Large stretches of the river are owned by the Waccamaw Natiional Wildlife Refuge and the State Natural Heritage Preserve.
Roughly 5 miles by 3.5 miles in length and 15,000 years old, Lake Waccamaw is called a Bay Lake for the Sweet and Red Bay trees growing beside the shore. It’s also known for its unusually high PH level due to calcareous formations at its bottom, which have dissolved over time and give rise to its steep bluffs on the north shore.
