Editing Lake Waccamaw, North Carolina (section)

==History==
The town of Lake Waccamaw was first inhabited by Native Americans before the Europeans came and colonized the area. [[Charles II of England|Charles the Second]] of England granted proprietors individual grants to allow them to sail to the new world to bring him back riches and news. By the mid-eighteenth century, Lake Waccamaw had a good number of settlers. People like John Powell, from Virginia, brought cattle. John Powell's son Absalom Powell started to buy land near Lake Waccamaw. John Powell's other son Issac Powell was made the first major of the [[Brandon, County Durham]] militia in 1804 and justice of peace in 1806. Issac owned most of Lake Waccamaw.<ref name=":1" />

Lake Waccamaw and nearby city Flemington grew slowly with the help of the Wilmington-Manchester railroad being built. The railroad brought the rural town access to the world. The addition of the railroad also made the settlement grow when the actual freshwater lake was then discovered. However, this growth increased rapidly when the naval stores and turpentine business began to grow.<ref name=":1" />

On January 26, 1869, Charles Oscar Beers started his shingle industry along the southern shore of Lake Waccamaw. Another company also started south of the lake by Henry Bascom Short after Beers started his company. These two companies came together and formed a new company named Short and Beers, which brought more business to the town and created more jobs. Over time, the company went from producing shingles to becoming the North Carolina Lumber Company.<ref name=":1" />

Around 1910, a local group formed the Waccamaw Club. The club served as a gathering place for hunting parties and house parties.<ref name=":1" /> The club later disbanded, and the building then became the Waccamaw Hotel. The [[Lake Waccamaw Depot]] was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1983.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>

The Waccamaw Dam was built in 1926 by the state to prevent the lake from shrinking in dry weather. In 2018, a new bridge that goes over the Waccamaw Dam was finally finished and open for locals.<ref name=":1" />