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Welcome to Lake Murray Lake Murray is a very large man-made lake with approximately 520 miles of beautiful shoreline. It is around 50,000 acres, around 78 square miles. The lake is about 41 miles long and 14 miles wide at its widest point. Lake Murray was named after William S. Murray, an engineer involved in the creation of the dam. The dam was built 1927 through 1930. There are a lot of coves and if you look at a map you may think that if looks like a Christmas tree sideways, with the dam being the stand. You will find lots of recreation here from boating, swimming, water skiing, fishing (bass and brim) or enjoying just nature and bird watching. You can find much more information on http://www.sciway.net/city/history/lake-murray-sc-history.html Lake Murray is accessible from I-26 and Dutch Fork Road or 176 in the Irmo and Chapin areas, and I-20 at the Lexington exits and Pilgrim Church and Old Cherokee Road. When a lot of land (approximately 100 acres) was purchased to dam up the area from the Saluda River and create Lake Murray and electricity everything started to change for the poor people that had come to the area. Land was bought around $15 to $45 per acre from around 5000 people. Most of them were very poor and hardworking people from Germany that had settled in the Irmo, Chapin and Lexington areas. Over 5000 were relocated to the area for the lake construction. Technology came along such as cars, telephone, electricity and change was going to be part of their lives forever. Over 5000 were directly affected by this. 3 churches, 6 schools, 193 grave yards were removed during this time. Some chose not to have the graves removed and you can imagine that there are still stories told today about that. This brought new people to the area and employment. This change was much bigger than people imagined when it first started. It is still changing today. The official name of the dam is Dreher Shoals, but most people refer to it as Lake Murray Dam. Lake Murray is one of the largest manmade lakes. It holds approximately 763 million gallons of water. The lake offers people a relaxed life style on and around the lake. You will find some upscale housing developments with lake access and boat slips. Many of the lake front homes feature docks. Minimum water frontage is 100´, but that may change as the lake gets too crowded with docks and boats and some owners may be required o share a dock over time. The US Military used the lake to train bomber pilots in the early 1940´s. Several of the islands in the lake were used as targets Bomb, Shull, Dreher, Wessinger, Spence Mistey and Holley Key. Bomb Island is popular today for many boaters to drop anchor near to watch the Purple Martins migrate. Something you may not want to miss and schedule to do in August and September. A local artist, Michael Storey, has painted a very lovely picture to capture this event. Billy Dreher Island State Park is a camp ground in the Chapin and Newberry area and many people enjoy a picnic here. There is a public beach on the Lexington side of the lake right across the dam from Irmo. You can purchase a $49 annual sticker for access or pay $3 per visit per car (please verify if fee is still the same) to gain access to Lake Murray on either side of the dam. You will find picnic tables here, shelters, covered areas and a swimming beach. The park is open Mon-Fri 9am to 5pm, Sat 10am to 4pm. Sun 1 to 5pm. Many public landings allow you to drop a boat into the water. The Swimming Beach and Park in Lexington is open Mon to Fri 11am to 8pm, San & Sun 10am to 8pm. Call 803-217-9221 SCE$ G for more information. There are many landings all around the lake. Some landings charge a small launch fee. While others are free. You can rent a boat and jet skies as well. A new huge gated apartment complex just opened July 2009 near the dam on the Irmo side of the lake with some units featuring lake views. When the back-up dam was completed 2005 they opened a pedestrian walk and bicycle path across the dam which is heavily used and enjoyed by the public. The bicycle path starts in Irmo at Lake Murray Blvd and goes all the way across the dam into Lexington along Hwy 6. You will find bicycle riders however anywhere on the roads. Every April there is a Bass (the famous Striped Bass) Tournament and 4th of July fireworks on the dam and Dreher Island State Park (most of the time both places), and a boat parade in December. The lake is in the following counties: Richland has 37.1 Miles of shoreline, Lexington has 313.2 Miles of shoreline, Saluda County has 146.6 Miles of Shoreline and Newberry County has 160.25 miles of shoreline. You can see that Richland County is the smallest portion. Most of the lake is in Lexington County. If you like to see and find out what all lives in the lake you can go to the Riverbanks Zoo and find it in a huge aquarium. There are turtles in the lake. They have no teeth. They have jagged edges and can cut things that way. They keep the lake clean by eating dead fish. The state´s official fish is the striped bass. Lake Murray is known for its bass tournament in April. The largest fish ever caught in Lake Murray was a 298 lb sturgeon in April, 1936. It was 9 feet tall. While boating or driving around the area you will come across deer, a bald eagle, blue herons, egrets, owls, a fox, wild turkey, and other beautiful wildlife. You will find beautiful song birds at abundance, from cardinals, blue jays, finches, wood peckers, the Carolina Wren (our state bird), Humming Birds and many more. Visit http://www.lakemurraycountry.com for more information of Lake Murray and more
For most of your shopping you will go to the closest mall at Columbiana Centre at Harbison and in the Irmo area. There are more stores, a movie theater and restaurants along Bower Parkway, an outdoor shopping mall. A new Walmart opened on Dutch Fork Road 8/2009. Everything you many need can be found right here. www.greaterirmochamber.com You may obtain some more information on www.chapinsc.com and ww.chapinchamber.com and ask us for more details about living in Chapin, on Lake Murray and other areas around Columbia. Our office is conveniently located off I-26 about 10 -15 minutes to Chapin and downtown. We are very familiar with the market and the area and look forward to assist you. Thank you for your visit today.
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