Relaxing days, spectacular views and extraordinary wildlife are just a few characteristics of this parcel of land. There are also sunrises, golf, tennis, boat rides, hiking, swimming, fishing and sunsets. And believe it or not, there's more...

This is Uwharrie Point, a 900 acre peninsula nestled on Badin Lake in the heart of the Piedmont of North Carolina. It's almost too much to ask for in one community.

Now sit back and let your mind wander, imagining what days were like long ago in this area. Wandering back to the creation of the Uwharrie Mountains, and days when the peninsula as we know it didn't even exist.
Before the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA) dammed the Yadkin River and created Badin Lake in 1917, the Uwharrie Point peninsula was merely a bed of farmland. The river rushed wildly through the gorge and as one nineteenth century visitor proclaimed, “No description can do justice to this place. It’s one of the most wonderful spots that can be found in the South.”

The east side of the peninsula is surrounded by the Uwharrie National Forest which encompasses the Uwharrie Mountains. Naturally, it is a haven for all sorts of wildlife and nature lovers as well. West of the peninsula is the Yadkin River which creates the dividing line between Stanly County and Montgomery County. Wild animals, fish and birds are the dominant residents of this area.

Uwharrie has its roots as an Indian name, with some believing it means “rocky field”. Created over 500 million years ago, the Uwharrie Mountains are one of the oldest ranges in North America. They were once a steep and jagged set of mountains like the Grand Tetons in Wyoming, but over time they have worn down considerably. Their shape now resembles a long strand of gently rolling hills.

The Uwharrie Mountains have a long history of Indian lore and contain many ancient artifacts. During a day exploring in the National Forest, a keen observer may be likely to discover Indian relics such as arrowheads, weapons, tools and pottery. These relics are remnants of the Uwharrie Indians who lived in these mountains over 500 years ago. On a rare occasion when Badin Lake’s water level drops, ancient arrowheads are exposed to those who venture out through the muddy lakebed.

Centuries of folklore play a significant part in the history of the Uwharrie Mountains as well. Take the story of the Uwharrie Mountain Bluebeard who killed all seven of his wives with a knitting needle. The legend claims that Bluebeard’s ghost prowls the area at night, looking for his missing needle. So if you become frightened by a spook in the night, watch out! It may just be Bluebeard roaming about in search of his weapon.

As the Yadkin rushed east of the Uwharrie Mountains, before the time of bridges, people mounted ferries as transportation to the other side of the river. Records show that it cost about $.25 for a horse and wagon to cross the river on a ferry. The main ferries crossing the Yadkin near Uwharrie Point were The Cotton Ferry, Hall’s Ferry, The Kirk-Nash Ferry, The Pennington Ferry and Stokes Ferry.

Traveling by ferry became outdated when man built bridges in the area. For instance, the Stokes Ferry was doomed when workers completed the Highway 49 bridge. One of the former owners of the peninsula, Gilbert Futrell of Denton, recalled a story that he heard from his father about the ferry tender, Mr. Stokes.

Futrell said that Mr. Stokes was awakened in the middle of the night by a bell that people would ring when they needed to be carried across the river. Mr. Stokes got up out of bed and the man on the other side of the river yelled that he didn’t have any money to pay Mr. Stokes, but he needed to get across the river. Mr. Stokes then proceeded to yell back to the man that if he didn’t have any money, it didn’t matter what side of the river he was on. Mr. Stokes proceeded to go right back to bed.

Before ALCOA successfully dammed the Yadkin River, there were two unsuccessful attempts right after the turn of the century. The first was in the late 1890’s when Pittsburgh financier and capitalist George I. Whitney bought up the Yadkin River Valley for its gold, copper and granite deposits. He set up eight companies to mine the area for these minerals. Whitney then decided that he would attempt to provide hydroelectric power to his mining operations so he bought a large piece of land west of the peninsula to build a huge granite dam. In 1901, Whitney began construction of this dam using granite blocks from the Whitney Quarry, an area about twenty miles away from the dam. He built a railroad in 1900 to transport the granite to the dam and these tracks are still used today as the Winston-Salem southbound railroad.

Whitney’s railroad cut a large canal into the side of a mountain, forming Graveyard Island. The canal was built to carry water to the generating station south of the dam at Palmer Mountain. Fisherman still talk highly of the canal because it is such an ideal fishing spot. Some recall the legend of “Old Joe”; the gigantic bass who lives in the canal. Supposedly “Old Joe” has been spotted by fisherman, but never caught. Whenever a fish breaks a line in the canal, fishermen laugh and claim that it was “Old Joe”.

At the time, Whitney brought much spirit and excitement to the Yadkin River Valley. He even had plans for a town and a power plant. Everyone had faith in Whitney’s idea to harness the river, bringing hydroelectric power and jobs to the whole area.

But by 1907, Whitney’s dreams were shattered. He found himself bankrupt, having lost a grand total of $19 million. Whitney headed back up north, leaving his dam uncompleted. Even today when the Yadkin is extremely low, one can see the remnants of Whitney’s granite dam. Some believe it will last as long as the river does.

After Whitney abandoned his project, a French company called L’Aluminium Francais bought his property in 1912. They decided to leave Whitney’s dam uncompleted because they discovered a better place on the river to harness power. L’Aluminium Francais decided to build their dam at the Narrows, an area south of Uwharrie Point.

The French leased 500 convicts from the state of North Carolina to help them complete the project. Gilbert Futrell recalled that his great grandmother lived in the area and fearing the prisoners she carried a pistol with her everywhere she went. One time she came across a prisoner and became so frightened that she fired her pistol at him, but missed!

The outbreak of World War I in 1915 prompted the French reservists’ workers to go home. Rapidly, the company’s credit dried up in Europe and then the French government prohibited French capital from leaving the country for foreign investment. As a result, no work was done on the project for the remainder of 1914 and most of 1915. Eventually, L’Aluminium Francais sold to Andrew Mellon’s conglomerate, Aluminum Company of America in 1915.

Immediately, ALCOA took over the hydroelectric power development on the Yadkin and launched efforts to complete the dam begun by the French. When ALCOA decided to dam the river, they not only had to clear the area of timber but they had to move all of the graveyards out of the future lakebed. The graves were transported to Graveyard Island, or Big Cut Island, west of the peninsula.

ALCOA completed the Narrows Dam in June of 1917 and Badin Lake filled for the first time on August 5, 1917. This date also marks the official birth of the Uwharrie Point peninsula.

After the success of Narrows Dam, ALCOA decided to harness the power of the Yadkin in yet another spot. The second dam, Falls Dam, was completed in 1919. Falls Dam is located south of the Narrows Dam. The third dam, High Rock Dam, was completed in 1927 and is located fifteen miles north of Narrows Dam. The final dam is located at Tuckertown, an old cotton mill due south of the Highway 49 bridge. It was completed in 1963.

These four dams have controlled the strength of the Yadkin and created several vast, peaceful lakes. A prime example is 5,300 acre Badin Lake which is used for many recreational purposes such as fishing, boating and swimming. These dams have created a secluded area in the Piedmont, and Uwharrie Point sits right in the middle of it all.

During the 1800’s and the early 1900’s, there was a fair amount of activity on the peninsula even though it was sparsely inhabited. The early landowners farmed small plots of land on their home places. Gilbert Futrell said that farms on the peninsula used to be called “2 horse farms” or “3 horse farms” instead of 2 acre farms or 3 arce farms. This is because it was not how many acres one owned, but how many horses one needed to farm the land. Some of the early landowners were men named Wealthy Reeves, James Russell, Clay Smith, Patterson Quiell Elliot and John Hall.

There were even two schoolhouses located near the peninsula. The first one built was called Redwine Academy and it was located at the present site of Lanes Chapel, the small church west of the entrance gate. Redwine Academy was torn down when Lanes Chapel was being built before the Civil War, but the church was not finished until the troops returned home.

The second schoolhouse was built after the tearing down of the academy and existed throughout the first half of the twentieth century. Today one may stumble across remnants of its crumpled chimney, crawling with vines, in the woods to the right of the gatehouse. Even the four corners to the old building rest in their original position, as does the step which led into the schoolhouse. Gilbert Futrell’s eighth grade teacher, one of Patterson Quiell Elliot’s sons, lived on the peninsula and attended this schoolhouse. It was here that he gained knowledge to share with his own students.

During the times of these early landowners, there was a fair amount of traffic down the peninsula’s roads. There was even a small Post Office called Pontops. It was conveniently located off Market Road, the main road which ran down the peninsula. Before the creation of Badin Lake, this was the main road people traveled to get from Morganton to Fayetteville. The road is still visible today in some places on the peninsula. It is quite deep and narrow from erosion due to wagon wheels.

The second main road on the peninsula was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), an organization formed as a result of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal in the early 1930’s. This road began near Lanes Chapel and ran all the way down to the end of the peninsula.

This road ran right past the old Patterson Quiell Elliot Place, an old home place located near the graveyard which sits right off the main road past the entry road to the club. According to Gilbert Futrell, this is the one acre on the peninsula that his family never owned. This graveyard has several historical tombstones, with the oldest dating back to the early 1800’s.

The very last inhabitants of the peninsula in the early 1900’s were a couple named Charlie and Fanny Loftin. They were the last people to be driven off the peninsula when typhoid fever struck in 1920. This disease occurred after the lake was backed up in 1917. The disease spread rapidly and the inhabitants of the peninsula were forced to evacuate the area, leaving behind their small farms and homes.

In 1935 Pearl Pleasant Futrell (known as P.P.), a lumber mill owner from nearby Eldorado, bought the peninsula from two men named Harris and Rankin. He bought the land at the ripe age of 27.

Futrell purchased the land in a time when there was hardly any money available at all. Unfortunately, everyone was feeling the aftermath of the early 1930’s depression. Futrell and his family had to struggle each month to make ends meet, but his determination enabled him to buy the entire peninsula at once.

This story told by Futrell’s son Gilbert best demonstrated how tough the times really were. Gilbert recalls that the house payment at the Futrell’s family home in Eldorado was a total of $15 per month, $10 rent and $5 interest. Gilbert vividly remembers his father saying to him as a young boy, “Son, where am I going to get $15?”

As seen here, Pearl Futrell never actually lived on the peninsula but he was very drawn to this wonderful spot. He spent much of his time hunting wild turkeys. Unlike his sons, Pearl Futrell never hunted deer even though the peninsula was famous for its deer hunting. Gilbert Futrell spent many late nights with his father on the peninsula, eating game and telling tall hunting tales. Pearl Futrell even hired a man to keep strangers off the peninsula so other people would not hunt his land.

Pearl Futrell made several small roads which ran off the main road to both sides of the lake. These roads were built not only to ease transportation around the peninsula, but to cut off fires if they happened to strike.

When Pearl Futrell died in 1986, the property passed to his two sons, Dale and Gilbert. In 1990 they sold the peninsula to Lake Badin Associates to be developed as a lake and golf course community.

Although the development of the peninsula is now underway, care has been take to retain its ancient history. For example, one chimney from an old home place stands erect near the fifth tee of the golf course. Another stands silently in the woods near the road which leads to the lodge. And the third one rests left of the gatehouse. There are remnants of two moonshine stills and an old well. There are also several duck ponds that Gilbert Futrell made when he was younger. These ponds are easily recognizable as they are depressions in the ground, covered in bright green grass. And toward the south end of the peninsula, there are remains of old corn rows which are still somewhat intact. Although aspects of the peninsula have changed with the creation of the Tom Fazio designed Old North State golf course, swimming pool, lodge and family homes, life on the peninsula is in many ways the same as it was many years ago. Sunrises and sunsets on the lake are still gorgeous; deer roam freely; the days are just as relaxing; and the land remains a wealth of natural beauty.