Badin Lake was constructed in 1917 by the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA) on the Yadkin River in Stanly, Montgomery and Davidson Counties of North Carolina.   This Piedmont Badin Lake was constructed in 1917 by the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA) on the Yadkin River in Stanly, Montgomery and Davidson Counties of North Carolina.   This Piedmont reservoir has a surface area of 5,350 acres, a shoreline length of 115 miles, and a maximum depth of 190 feet.  Full pool is at elevation 541 feet.   Water fluctuations are minor.
Much of all the eastern shoreline of Badin Lake lies within the Uwharrie National Forest.  The large area owned by ALCOA and the National Forest along Badin Lake help to maintain the undeveloped scenic beauty of the shoreline.
Badin Lake is located just an hour or so from Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and Pinehurst.
Average summer temperature is 84.4 degrees. Average winter temperature is 50.6 degrees.   There are four definite and distinctive seasons, each with its very own beauty; the budding of spring growth along the National Forest preserves, the greenery along the shorelines in summer and the reflections of the colored leaves in the water's edge in fall.
Uwharrie National Forest, named after the Uwharrie Mountains, and part of the oldest mountain range in North America, was established by President John F. Kennedy.  He designated 43,000 acres of Montgomery, Randolph and Davidson Counties a National Forest in 1961.  The Uwharrie National Forest has since grown to about 48,000 acres.
Badin Lake is truly "a mountain paradise in the Piedmont."  With two-thirds of its shores under the control of the United States Forest Service, Badin Lake seems sure to remain what it is now; a peaceful, secluded escape from a chaotic, crowded world.