Jerome's Steak & Seafood, Inc.

10/03/2026

10/01/2026

Come get you some! CHICKEN PARMESAN! TONIGHT!

09/28/2026

📜 DID A METEOR MAKE LAKE WACCAMAW? THE STORY BEHIND AN OLD THEORY

Look at Lake Waccamaw from above and its oval shape raises a question: how did it get there?

Lake Waccamaw is one of the Carolina bays, oval-shaped landforms scattered across the southeastern Coastal Plain. Early aerial photographs made their repeating shapes especially striking to researchers in the 1930s.

In 1933, two researchers proposed that a swarm of meteorites had made these bays. It was an attention-grabbing theory, and it spread. But later work did not support a meteor-impact origin. As the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources explains, an impact would not leave the elongated crater pattern the theory required.

The lake's story reaches back to ancient environmental changes. Its unusual waters, shore and wildlife remain part of what makes this place in Columbus County distinct.

Did you grow up hearing a different explanation for how Lake Waccamaw formed? Tell us what you heard.

📸 PHOTO NOTE: The image shows Lake Waccamaw today. It is a modern landscape photo, not an aerial image or a picture of its formation.

Source: N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, “From the Archives: Lake Waccamaw” (2020).