How the Lake Was Created
The lake you see from your window was not always there. A hundred years ago, this was a place called The Glades — a meandering creek three to four feet deep wound through a broad valley of wild grasses, marshy bottomlands, and hemlock-draped hillsides.
In 1921, the Youghiogheny Hydro-Electric Corporation was granted permission to dam Deep Creek and harness the power of falling water. Construction began on November 1, 1923. About 1,000 workers arrived — carpenters, engineers, laborers, blasters — and built camps near the dam site.
The scale was extraordinary. Approximately 140 farms covering 8,000 acres were acquired. Workers dug a 7,000-foot power tunnel through solid mountain rock, moved nearly 15 miles of highway, relocated two steel bridges, and quarried stone to build the dam itself — an earth and rock-fill structure 1,340 feet long and 86 feet tall.
Those original turbines — built by Allis-Chalmers — are still spinning today, more than 100 years later. In 2000, the State of Maryland purchased the lake itself for $17 million. Deep Creek Lake is now owned by the people of Maryland.
Before the Lake
Evidence of human presence here stretches back approximately 10,000 years to the Paleoindian period. The Shawnee, Massawomeck, Mingo, Cherokee, and Delaware all left traces in this region. The Glades were used primarily for seasonal hunting and fishing camps.
The first known European settler was John Friend Sr., who came from Virginia in 1762. The town of Friendsville still bears his family name. Colonel James McHenry — George Washington's aide-de-camp and a future Secretary of War — retired to a lodge in the Glades, praising the area's "salubrious air, mild summers, hills, woods, glades, streams, and mountains."
The Lake by the Numbers
| Surface Area | ~3,900 acres |
|---|---|
| Length | ~13 miles |
| Shoreline | ~69 miles |
| Maximum Depth | 75 feet (near the dam) |
| Elevation | 2,462 feet above sea level |
| Water Volume | 106,000 acre-feet |
| Summer Surface Temp | ~73°F |
| Deep Water Temp | ~49°F year-round |
Things Most Visitors Never Learn
Wildlife at Deep Creek
The area is home to black bears, white-tailed deer, river otters, bobcats, and beavers. Bald eagles nest along the shoreline — their recovery here is one of Maryland's great conservation success stories. The lake supports smallmouth bass, walleye, northern pike (fish over 40 inches are caught regularly), and trout in the cold deep water near the dam.
Notable Features Nearby
Muddy Creek Falls at Swallow Falls State Park drops approximately 53 feet — making it Maryland's tallest free-falling waterfall. Backbone Mountain / Hoye Crest at 3,360 feet is the highest point in Maryland. And the Eastern Continental Divide runs right through the county.