The dam that made the lake

Mountain Island Dam sits at the southern end of the lake, where the Catawba River resumes its run toward Lake Wylie. It is a hydroelectric dam, built in the early 1920s as part of the chain of Catawba River projects that industrialized the Carolina piedmont, and it is still generating.

What it is

Why it governs your shoreline

Owning land that touches the water is not the same as owning the water or the bed beneath it. Inside the project boundary, the licensee's shoreline management rules apply — which is why dock approval is a separate process from the county building permit, and why lot frontage does not guarantee a dock. Our dock permit guide walks the sequence.

Can you visit it?

The dam and powerhouse are operating industrial infrastructure, and public access is limited and controlled by the operator. The water immediately above and below a generating dam is dangerous — current can rise without warning when units come online. Stay outside marked exclusion zones, keep well clear in a boat or kayak, and treat posted restrictions as absolute.

The Riverbend site

Near the lower lake stands the retired Riverbend Steam Station, a coal plant that ran for decades and has since been decommissioned, with ash basin closure work carried out under state oversight. It comes up constantly in conversations about water quality here — the water quality page covers what is monitored, by whom, and where the current results are published.