A graveyard, bridge + schools

There’s a lot one could learn about Lake Murray. Like the fact that there are graves and a bridge underneath all that water, or the fact that the next time you bring the boat out on the lake, you could be floating over a school (once filled with students + teachers). To save you some time, we’ve done the research and included nine fun facts about Lake Murray’s underground history (and linked to sources you can continue reading in your spare time).

Lake Murray was built in the 1920’s – and at the time, was the largest (50,000 acres) man-made lake in the country.
There’s a graveyard on the bottom of the lake with 2,300+ graves from the 1800s, including headstones and markers.
The Wyse Ferry Bridge still exists under the water. Divers discovered names of the construction workers who built the bridge in 1911 written on the concrete.
The majority of a stone house is still standing underwater, with four walls + the roof still intact.
A B-25 Mitchell plane crashed into the lake during WWII – and the remains weren’t recovered for several decades. One interesting item found was the watch of co-pilot Robert Davison, whose wife had given him the watch and was still paying it off when the plane crashed in 1943.
75% of Lake Murray was wooded – prior to becoming Lake Murray. The rest was 9 towns made up of nearly 5,000 residents.
6 schools + 3 churches had to be moved prior to the lake being filled with water.
Five towers along the Lake Murray dam use water from the bottom of the lake to control the hydroelectric plant.
In 2002, construction began on a backup dam to alleviate pressure from high levels of water – and with more shallow coves, remnants of the old towns, such as grave sites and crosses, were exposed to visitors.

Quiz

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