Lake Hickory (Concord, Oxford, Granite Falls: chapel, buying a house, buying)

[KC59]

We are looking to relocating to Lake Hickory. Does anyone have any information about it, or the surrounding towns?

Sorry, I posted this in the wrong area!

[candlebizlady]

Hi. I live in Grace Chapel on Lake Hickory. There are three counties that hit Lake Hickory.

Burke, Caldwell and Catawba Counties. A few cities are Hickory, Grace Chapel which has a Granite Falls zip code, Bethlehem are a few of the cities.

We have relocated here from Ohio. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Corine
http://corinescandlebiz.tripod.com

Originally Posted by KC59

We are looking to relocating to Lake Hickory. Does anyone have any information about it, or the surrounding towns?

Sorry, I posted this in the wrong area!

[mbeckoff1]

where is there access to swimming on Lake Hickory?
Thanks

Melissa

[Giarose]

Originally Posted by candlebizlady

Hi. I live in Grace Chapel on Lake Hickory. There are three counties that hit Lake Hickory.

Burke, Caldwell and Catawba Counties. A few cities are Hickory, Grace Chapel which has a Granite Falls zip code, Bethlehem are a few of the cities.

We have relocated here from Ohio. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Corine
Corine's Candle Biz

Hi there!

I am assuming you are pleased with the move? What made you pick Lake Hickory? We would be relocating from Myrtle Beach, SC (orig. from NJ). I am looking for a more quiet area to bring up my young kids...MB is beautiful, but it's a tourist area. Things get to be a bit hectic in this area that we are wanting a change from.

[ealmeid]

There is no public beach for swimming at Lake Hickory, but if you know someone who has a house on the lake you are welcome to use their beach to swim

[SuperchargedSS]

Everytime I go into Hickory to go shopping, I usually ask the locals what they think of the Lake compared to Norman. I have yet to meet one person who actually liked the lake more than Lake Norman. I guess Lake Norman has a little more to offer as far as things to do on the lake and its obviously much larger.

If you are looking for a waterfront home and peace and quiet, I presume Hickory would be more up your alley?

[candlebizlady]

Really hard to compare the two as the type of people surrounding each lake are different. Lake Norman there is lots of new money in that area and is continuing to build and grow. Pretty soon they need to invest in a real fire department rather than a volunteer one.

The area we are in by Lake Hickory serves our purpose. Plenty of public access ramps for boat but not public swimming.

Hickory fits most of our shopping needs but you can always go to the Concord Mills Mall or Hanes Mall in Winston Salem.

Corine

[donsabi]

Lake Hickory has local rep as being dirty. I heard a lot of incidents that would support that but nothing really confirmed. If you are buying a house there I urge you to go to the north side areas, i.e., Bethlehem. If you are not looking for lake front take a look at Taylorsville.
Hickory has higher taxes. In Hickory a property valued at $150k would be taxed about $1000 and outside about $500. So you could be on the south side of the lake in Hickory paying twice the tax as a person across the lake.
Don

[Carolina_native]

Originally Posted by donsabi

Lake Hickory has local rep as being dirty. I heard a lot of incidents that would support that but nothing really confirmed. If you are buying a house there I urge you to go to the north side areas, i.e., Bethlehem. If you are not looking for lake front take a look at Taylorsville.
Hickory has higher taxes. In Hickory a property valued at $150k would be taxed about $1000 and outside about $500. So you could be on the south side of the lake in Hickory paying twice the tax as a person across the lake.
Don

If Lake Hickory is dirty, then Lake Norman is filthy.

If you ever accidentally swallowed water from Lake Norman I would highly advise going ahead and calling in sick the next couple of days at work, maybe even reserve you a room at the ER.

[sipejillo]

When thinking of using Lake Hickory for recreational purposes, it is important to consider the location. My advise is to chek out a detailed map of the lake and stay away from the sites mentioned in the report below:

I got this info online about Lake Hickory: The Lake Hickory system was monitored for hydrologic and water quality conditions from January 1993 - March 1994. The monitoring data was used by USGS (Bales and Giorgino, 1998 and USGS Report 98-4149) to develop a calibrated water quality model. The model is capable of simulating flow, transport and water quality conditions within the Lake Hickory reservoir. DWQ will use this model to develop management strategies for the reservoir and its watershed.


During the monitoring study, two samples from the upper portion of the lake exceeded the North Carolina water quality standard for chlorophyll a. Nutrients, chlorophyll a and dissolved oxygen levels are parameters of concern. While samples from the lake did not document fecal coliform bacteria standard violations, the state fecal coliform bacteria standard was commonly exceeded in two of Lake Hickory’s monitored tributaries: Upper Little River (40 percent of the samples) and Middle Little River (60 percent of the samples).


Flow from Rhodhiss Dam accounts for most of the total suspended solids, nitrogen and phosphorus loading to the system. However, the loading from the three major tributaries is also important. In general, increased tributary flow was accompanied by increased concentrations of total suspended solids and phosphorus. Nitrogen concentrations did not vary with flow. The six permitted point sources within the watershed contributed about 10 percent of the total nitrogen and about 18 percent of the total phosphorus.


The hydraulic retention time of the lake averaged 19 days with a range of 3.8 to 65 days. During periods of thermal stratification, relatively coldwater coming from the base of Rhodhiss Dam sinks beneath the relatively warmwater on the surface of Lake Hickory. This action results in a strong subsurface “interflow” that rapidly delivers coolwater from the base of Rhodhiss Dam through the middle layers of Lake Hickory to the release at Oxford Dam. This circulation pattern magnifies the effects of nutrient loading to the surface waters of Lake Hickory. Initial runs of the calibrated model show an increased sensitivity to nutrient loading delivered mid-reservoir.


Nonpoint sources of pollution are having a greater impact on Lake Hickory water quality than point sources. Additional studies of the Lake Hickory watershed should be conducted to assess the sources of fecal coliform bacteria in Upper Little River and Middle Little River. Since the majority of total suspended solids and nutrients are attributed to flow from Rhodhiss Lake, additional management strategies will be needed upstream of Lake Hickory.