Hyco's strongest sentence is not the power plant. It is the gate. The public lake is routed through Person-Caswell Lake Authority details: boat permits, dual concrete ramps off Kelley Brewer Road, lighted gravel parking, piers and boardwalks, an unattended swim area that closes at sunset, 60 campsites in a 65-acre recreation park, bathhouse showers, playgrounds, tennis courts, day cabins. A practical lake. Clipboard lake. Cooler-in-the-truck lake. The kind of place where access has instructions before it has romance. Past the park edge, Hyco becomes neighborhood water. The local account gives it 3,750 acres, 160 miles of shoreline, three main tributaries, and more than a thousand homes; NC Wildlife gives the public version in plainer symbols: bank access, boat ramp, canoe access, largemouth bass, stocked Bodie bass, sunfish, catfish, crappie. The oddity is season. Winter does not empty the lake out; bass clubs keep showing up, and the upper-lake "Three Fingers" area gets described as clear enough to feel like another place. Not a famous state-brand lake. Not an obscure pond. A north-central Carolina reservoir near Roxboro where public ramps and private lawns share the same surface, and the ordinary sounds matter most: trailer tires, dock boards, kids leaving the swim area at sunset, the bathhouse door closing on damp air.
curator · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
The facts
- Surface area 16.8 km² usgs-3dhp · lake-level · as of Jun 2, 2026
- Nearest town Woodsdale · 1 km osm-overpass · lake-level · as of Jun 2, 2026
- Bird species (within 25 mi) 159 ebird-api-v2 · lake-level · as of Jun 2, 2026
- Bird diversity index 0.88 ebird-api-v2 · lake-level · as of Jun 2, 2026
- Median home value $200,800 census-acs-2024-b25077 · block-group-level · as of Jun 2, 2026
- Water clarity Moderate sentinel-2-l2a · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
- Night sky Dark skies viirs-black-marble-vnp46a4 · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
- Surroundings Rural — open country, few close neighbors curator · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
- Water origin Reservoir curator · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
In more detail
- Climate
- four-season; cool winters (~41°F mean), hot summers (~76°F); ~47 in precip/yr noaa-normals-1991-2020-descriptor · lake-level · as of Jun 2, 2026
- Public access
- Hyco Lake is a Duke Energy-owned reservoir in Person County (partially heated by an adjacent Duke Energy steam plant); recreation permitting is administered by the Person-Caswell Lake Authority (CPLA). All boaters must obtain a CPLA day or annual boating permit before launching. The lake has six boat ramps, piers, and boardwalks with large trailer parking, and NCWRC lists it as a public boating/fishing access area. Fees/permits: CPLA day and annual boating permits required before launch; contact CPLA office at 336-599-4343.. Sources: duke-energy.com (search-extraction 2026-07-12); personcountync.gov (search-extraction 2026-07-12); ncpaws.org (search-extraction 2026-07-12). curated-web-harvest · lake-level · as of Jul 12, 2026
- Dogs and pets
- medium — 0 dog parks within 25 mi (OSM); state rule: In all NC state parks, pets must be on an attended leash or restraint no longer than 6 feet and under the owner's constant control (electronic leashes/collars do not satisfy this). Pets are not allowed in swimming areas or bathhouses, or inside buildings. No off-leash provisions are offered anywhere in the guidelines. (NC State Parks Rules and Regulations (official guidelines page); the underlying NCAC Title 07 Chapter 13 citation could not be independently confirmed (PDF fetch to reports.oah.state.nc.us failed with a connection error)., fetched 2026-07-12); Dogs, cats, and other pets are allowed at Hyco Lake only if leashed at all times and never left unattended; owners must clean up after their pets. (personcountync.gov, search-extraction 2026-07-12) curated-web-harvest · lake-level · as of Jul 12, 2026
- Property tax
- 0.62% ACS effective-rate proxy (2024 ACS 5-year; Person County anchor: $1,328 median real-estate taxes paid ÷ $213,900 median owner-occupied home value; North Carolina proxy 0.66%, -0.04 percentage points). census-acs-2024-property-tax · county-level · as of Dec 31, 2024
Where it’s heading
Stable hand-rated for v0.1 · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
The 2024 ACS median home value for the lake's block group is $200,800 (census-acs-2024). hycolake.com reports that over 1,000 homes have been built around the lake, many occupied year-round, and NCWRC began stocking a Bodie bass (hybrid striped bass) fishery in June 2019 with an ongoing 16-inch, four-fish creel. Carolina Sportsman reports winter bass-club tournaments nearly every weekend, indicating sustained year-round recreational use; the sheet carries no housing-price trajectory or construction-trend data, supporting a stable rating.