The lake has a rounded shape, and is considered to be one of many features of the Atlantic Coastal Plain that are called Carolina Bays.

Recent work by the U.S. Geological Survey has interpreted the Carolina Bays as relict thermokarst lakes that formed several thousand years ago when the climate was colder, drier, and windier.

[3] Thermokarst lakes develop by thawing of frozen ground (permafrost) and by subsequent modification by wind and water.

[citation needed] The lake was once named "Scuppernong",[4] an Algonquian word which means "the place where magnolias grow".

The group had become discouraged and were about to leave when Tarkington scaled one of the many trees and spotted the lake a short distance away.