Before Hyco and Mayo, There Was Chub Lake
Desomonia Duncan and Jesse Duncan (Wanda Williams’s aunt and father) enjoying time years ago on Chub Lake. Photo provided by Wanda Williams
If you ask anyone in Roxboro today where to go to enjoy a day on the lake, they will tell you Hyco Lake. However, if you asked this same question roughly 70 years ago, before Hyco Lake was even built, you would get a very different answer. From the 1940s to the 1960s, when it was in its heyday, Chub Lake was the spot to go in Roxboro for watersports and a weekend on the lake. As such, many people who grew up in Roxboro during this time have fond memories of camping, boating, and learning how to waterski there.
Chub Lake was known by many names over the years due to change of ownership and changing local jargon. According to Kent Williams, who has always taken a special interest in Roxboro history, Chub Lake was initially owned by the Bull Family prior to 1818 and was just a very small mill pond, known as Bull’s Mill Pond. It was then bought by Cary Williams and Dr. Currie Barnett in 1818 and built up into the size it is today while gaining its new name, Barnett’s Pond. While it was briefly referred to as Loch Lilly due to the water lilies that grew on the lake during the springtime, Barnett’s Pond was the name that seemed to stick. While it finally officially appeared in deeds as Chub Lake around 1930, it was local jargon that still had those familiar with it simply calling it, “The Pond.”
Held in the surrounding banks are the remains of some of Chub Lake’s old country stores. Country stores have always been integral to rural communities such as Roxboro, acting as a place for socialization, and those at Chub Lake were no exception. The country store closest to the lake was owned by Will Rudder. Rudder’s Store was where many families stopped before a day on the lake. One of the earliest stew fundraisers held in the county was actually held at Rudder’s Store.
Anyone in Roxboro today knows how important stew fundraisers are for churches, schools, and civic organizations. To the communities hosting them, they’re as important socially as they are financially. Stew fundraisers are a way to bring the community together. If you drive down the roads in Roxboro during the spring or fall, there is a good chance you will see multiple signs advertising a stew. In the early 1900s though, this wasn’t the case. People just made their own stew at home; it wasn’t a large community event. So, when Oak Grove Church noticed so many people celebrating the Fourth of July at Chub Lake, they took the opportunity and held what Kent believes to be the county’s first stew fundraiser. The church made the stew at Rudder’s Store as well as the nearby Mitchell’s Store and sold it to the numerous hungry lake-goers enjoying a day out on the lake.
Chub Lake was always an incredibly popular destination for Person County residents during the week of July 4th. Longtime Person County resident Wanda Williams, Kent’s wife, has treasured memories of spending the week of the holiday camping out with her family at Chub Lake. Wanda’s family would bring their camper van to the same campsite each year during this time for most of her childhood. They camped right by a natural spring that her mother used to keep their food cold, storing butter in mason jars settled in the bed of the spring. This was also where Wanda learned how to waterski when she was only five years old, riding on her dad’s shoulders when she was even younger. Her dad was a carpenter and built a ramp out in the middle of the lake that many of the boaters on the lake used for water ski jumps.
Wanda said, “Before Hyco or Mayo Lake, if anyone wanted to participate in water sports, they did so at Chub Lake.” Across the lake from where Wanda’s family would camp was Dr. “Doc” Robert E. Long’s boathouse. Long was the leader for Boy Scout Troop 49 and would take his troop to Chub Lake for weekend camping trips.
Ben Tillett was a Boy Scout in Troop 49 and remembers these camping trips well, looking back fondly on those memories. On the Saturdays that Long would take his troop on these camping trips, Tillett and a few other Scouts would gather at Kirby’s Wall, which was the intersection between Chub Lake Street, Ridge Road, and Crestwood Drive. Long would drive around Saturday afternoon in his van towing his trailer behind him, and at each stop, the boys would load up, prepared for an afternoon of Scouting activities at the lake.
Ben said, “Many times, Doc wouldn’t even completely stop, sort of a roll-by and jump on process which always worked well. We knew the routine.” Once at the campsite, part of the afternoon was dedicated to earning merit badges and preparing for Scout Camp. The Scouts would go out into the middle of the lake in preparation for the mile swim Long required them all to do. They would also learn how to flip a canoe back over after it had been swamped to earn their canoeing merit badge. Long also required every Scout to go through survival swimming training where they would swim with all their clothes on in case an emergency occurred and they fell in. There was always plenty of time for fun leisure activities, though. They would swim, canoe, and even waterski on the same ramp Wanda’s dad had built. On top of these standard lake day activities, the Scouts always had a few of their own other activities planned as well.
During the spring, water lilies grow in a still little reservoir of water back behind the lake. Though no one was ever able to get one intact, the Scouts still tried as hard as they could to yank the lily from its roots at the bottom of the pond, to bring back to girls, not realizing they needed something to cut them with. Similarly, the Scouts also tried to catch turtles behind the bridge, always slipping on a log and falling in. Sometimes, they would even take the canoes over to the sandbar in the evening – when people had parked there to look out at the lake – and cause a ruckus before running back to their canoes before the headlights started turning on.
Chub Lake holds a special place in the hearts of many residents of Person County who have lived here long enough to remember its heyday. It holds many memories and so much history of Person County.
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