Lake Jocassee South Carolina

Lake Jocassee is located in Upstate South Carolina in a beautiful mountain area. Lake Jocassee has crystal clear water and huge depths up to 300feet! It is a 1700 foot long  lake that is great for boating, skiing, fishing, and any other water activities you can imagine. It was created by the state in a partnership with Duke power in 1973.

Devil's Fork State Park is a great park located on the lake. Devils Fork State Park is located on the eastern slope of the extreme Southern Appalachians. The park is a focal point as the gateway to the Jocassee Gorges Conservation Area which sits between North and South Carolina. A tour by boat to see the waterfalls and rivers cascade from the distant shore across from Devils Fork is highly recommended. The lake's 75 mile shoreline is almost completely protected from development. The Park is open year round and attracts over 250,000 visitors annually!

Lake Jocassee is supplied by four rivers. The Whitewater River, is the furthest west of the rivers, flows southeast until it meets the northwest corner of Lake Jocassee. The Thompson River, flows due south until it also reaches the lake in the northwest corner. The Horsepasture River feeds the lake from the northeast corner, along with the Toxaway River, which is directly east of the Horsepasture River.

The Jocassee Hydro Station, located in the southeast corner of Lake Jocassee, separates it from the beginning of Lake Keowee, also known as the Keowee River. Lake Keowee extends to the south to the city of Seneca, with the old mill town of Newry actually on it. Unlike Lake Jocassee, Keowee is heavily settled, primarily because the land adjacent to Lake Jocassee is owned by Duke Power and the State of South Carolina.

The name Jocassee comes from an Indian legend of a Cherokee maiden. The name Jocassee means "Place of the Lost One."

The Jocassee Gorges area was once home to the part of the Cherokee Nation, it now lies 300 feet under the lake, near the Toxaway River. Nearby Keowee Town was a major hub in the that connected Cherokee towns and villages throughout the area. Early 18th century traders delivered as many as 200,000 deerskins annually to Charleston and local Indians became well supplied with European firearms, ammunition, tools and clothing as a result. However, mounting discord between Europeans and Cherokees led to war in 1759. In 1785, General Andrew Pickens held a large gathering of Indian chiefs leading to a treaty that gave all of the Jocassee gorges area, with the exception of northern Oconee County, to the US. The Oconee mountains were not ceded until 1815. European settlers, mostly of Scottish and Irish descent, who moved from Virginia and Pennsylvania as well as from Charleston. Land grants in the Jocassee area go back to 1791.

Lake Jocassee holds state records for 5 fish, including three in the sunfish family. In 2001 a 5 lb 2.5 oz Redeye bass and a 9 lb 7 oz Smallmouth bass were caught. A 8 lb 2 oz Spotted bass was caught in 1996. The last two record holders came from the salmon family. A 17 lb 9.5 oz Brown trout was caught in 1987 and a 11 lb 5 oz Rainbow trout was caught in 1993.

If you would like to learn about homes and land for sale around Lake Jocassee then just Contact Me or use my website to search real estate for sale around Lake Jocassee SC. And please make sure to check out my blog about Upstate SC.