Pungo Lake
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| Pungo Lake | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Tundra swans on Pungo Lake | |
| Location | Washington County, Hyde County, North Carolina |
| Group | Pocosin lakes |
| Coordinates | 35°42′51″N 76°33′03″W / 35.7140686°N 76.5507567°W |
| Type | Freshwater lake |
| Etymology | Machapunga people |
| Max. depth | 6 ft (1.8 m) |
| Location | |
 Interactive map of Pungo Lake | |
Pungo Lake is a shallow freshwater lake in Washington County and Hyde County, North Carolina.[1][2] The lake has an area of about 2,800 acres,[3] and is one of the five largest freshwater lakes in the state.[4] It is the smallest of the Pocosin Lakes.[5]
Pungo Lake is a blackwater lake, with no submerged vegetation due to the fact that sunlight cannot penetrate its waters. The lake is believed to have formed after a ground fire burned peat deposits, creating a large depression which filled with rainwater. The dark water makes the lake appear deeper than it is, though the deepest pits are only about 6’ in depth.[6]
History
The lake was named after the Machapunga people.[2] There were attempts to drain the lake in the 1840s and 1850s via ditches dug by enslaved workers, and it was connected to the Pungo River via a canal. This reduced water levels by about five feet—nearly half of the historical depth.[7] In the mid-twentieth century, additional canals were added to the west of the lake as the region was logged, but there have never been any major settlements around it.[5] Much of the soil surrounding the lake is too peat-rich to be used for agriculture.[8] Around 1200 acres of bordering farmland are cooperatively managed by farmers and the Refuge, with 20% of the corn and winter wheat acreage left standing for overwintering wildlife each year.[9]
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