The Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge sits in the heart
of Hyde County in eastern North Carolina. The main feature
of the refuge is a 40,000-acre lake - Lake Mattamuskeet,
which is the largest natural lake in the state.
Marshlands, forests and croplands circle the lake and
provide habitat for a host of wildlife, including Canada and
snow geese, tundra swans and 22 species of ducks that
overwinter on the refuge every year. The lakebed is shallow,
ranging from about 6 inches to no more than 5 feet deep. The
average depth of the lake is about 18 inches.
The historic Mattamuskeet Lodge and its adjacent pumping
station and 112-foot tower sit on the southern edge of the
lake. This lodge has a peppered history that began in 1915
when the Mattamuskeet Drainage District (a state agency)
began constructing what was to become the largest pumping
station the world had ever known.
The pumping station, fashioned after a similar one in
Holland, was intended to force the water out of Lake
Mattamuskeet and send it tumbling through 130 miles of
dredged canals into the Pamalico Sound. Meanwhile, private
investors bought the lake, hoping to see 100,000 acres of it
pumped dry enough to divide into farms and residential lots.
These parcels were expected to entice people from all over
America to move into the county and to build a model
community.
Initially, two structures arose on the site, a building to
hold the pumps and a 124-foot tall smokestack to carry out
the fumes that would belch from the coal-fired steam engines
turning the pumps. Soon, though, enthusiastic developers
constructed a first-class hotel, the New Holland Inn, beside
the pump house and the tower.
The pumps' first attempt to drain Lake Mattamuskeet began
in 1916 when four 850- horsepower steam engines spun into
action and began moving 1,200,000 gallons of water out of
the lake every minute. Even at this rate, the pumps failed
to perform as expected and the costs associated with running
them skyrocketed. By 1917, the investors' money was
depleted, the pumping had stopped and the water trickled
back into the lake bed.
The following year, a second group of investors bought the
dream and the lake. Meanwhile, the Drainage Commission had
the pumps upgraded with redesigned impellers and hired a
company to dredge the silt out of collapsed canals. As the
lake grew smaller and drier, investors built houses, stores
and roads in the town that had come to be called "New
Holland."
Alas, however, the money ran dry before the lake did, and
bankruptcy sank this effort in 1923. With no money to fuel
the plan, the pumps stopped, the water came home and the
lake returned to its normal level.
Two years later, in 1925, another developer stepped in with
a new dream: to drain the land and turn it into one large
commercial farm. By 1926, the pumps were pumping again, and
by 1929, this New Holland Cooperation had turned 5,000 acres
of lake into cultivated fields of soybeans, corn and wheat.
While this farm enjoyed some minor successes, the climate
and the soggy soils eventually won again. By 1932, the farm
had closed, the pumps had gone silent and the water was home
again. This time, it filled the lake beyond the brim,
flooding the first floor level of the hotel and the homes
that remained in the small town.
In 1934, the United States government bought the lake and
turned it into Lake Mattamuskeet Migratory Bird Refuge. The
Civilian Conservation Corps helped set up the refuge and
refashioned the pumping plant into a hunting and fishing
lodge. As they worked, the corps installed a spiral
staircase in the old smokestack, knocked 12 feet off its
height and added a viewing platform to make it an
observation tower.
Three years later, Mattamuskeet Lodge opened to the public,
quickly earning a reputation as the "Canada Goose Hunting
Capital of the World." It lost that title rather quickly
though, as poor land-use practices and climate changes
combined to drastically reduced the region's goose
population.
In 1972, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service launched a
major initiative to help restore the geese. As part of this
effort, the Service stopped permitting goose hunting on Lake
Mattamuskeet, which forced the lodge to close its doors in
1974.
In 1981, Lake Mattamuskeet's buildings landed on the
National Register of Historic Places, and several
organizations sprang up to protect these structures. The
Greater Hyde Country Chamber of Commerce formed the Friends
of Mattamuskeet Lodge Committee to promote the restoration
and use of the structures. A nonprofit organization, the
Partnership for the Sounds, organized to help the Fish and
Wildlife Service and a host of community groups raise funds
to renovate the buildings. Another nonprofit organization,
The Mattamuskeet Foundation, formed to preserve and publish
the history of the lake. These organizations, and others,
hope to turn the Lodge at Lake Mattamuskeet into a center
for educational activities, interpretative exhibits,
community gatherings and administrative offices.
To learn more about Lake Mattamuskeet and its historic
buildings, contact:
Partnership for the
Sounds
P.O. Box 55
Columbia, NC 27925
252.796.1000
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Greater Hyde County
Chamber of
Commerce
Friends of Mattamuskeet Lodge Committee
P.O. Box 178
Swan Quarter, NC 27885
252.925.5201
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The Mattamuskeet Foundation,
Inc.
4377 Lewis Land Rd.
Ayden, NC 28513
252.746.4221
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Lake Mattamuskeet Pumping Station
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