Lake Gaston
Lake Gaston
4.5
Full view










Top ways to experience nearby attractions
The area
Address
Attractions
2 within 6 miles
See what other travelers are saying
- Sarah HHenrico, Virginia1 contributionGreat trip, avoid Poplar Pointe Marine at all costs.We had a great trip to Lake Gaston in mid August. The lake was gorgeous and it was overall a really great time. You really need a boat to enjoy the lake, but DO NOT rent from Poplar Pointe Marine. We had rented a boat for the whole week and when we showed up to get it the owner advised us they didn’t have a boat for us. They had taken thousands of dollars out of our bank account and “couldn’t” refund it except in person-which doesn’t make any sense. The person we interacted with said she said she was the owner and was so rude, she literally threatened us when we said we would be leaving a bad review. Luckily we found a few other places that we were able to rent from to cover the week (one day at a time which was a pain but better than nothing). Other than this terrible experience we really did enjoy the trip.Visited August 2020Traveled with familyWritten August 25, 2020
- Navigate1961642 contributionsBest lake in South EastI highly recommend vacationing at Lake Gaston. 35 miles and 350 miles of shoreline to explore. Spans 5-counties and 2 states. This peaceful area is only 90-minutes from Raleigh, NC, and Richmond, VA alike. Water is very clean, great for all lake activities. We recommend staying at an amazing vacation property called the "MacDaddy"...amazing!Visited July 2019Written January 17, 2020
- Trish JRaleigh, North Carolina7 contributionsLake Gaston / LIttleton Area of North Carolinawe visited Lake Gaston in early January of 2020. We were there to purchase a lake home and had a great experience! The little town of Littleton is so quaint and we had a great barbeque sandwich at Granpa's Kitchen. The people were so kind and helpful and we immediately fell in the with Lake Gaston. We purchased our new home and hope to be in by March of this year!Visited January 2020Written February 11, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Contribute
Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
Popular mentions
4.5
25 reviews
Excellent
16
Very good
6
Average
2
Poor
1
Terrible
0
Sarah H
Henrico, VA1 contribution
Aug 2020 • Family
We had a great trip to Lake Gaston in mid August. The lake was gorgeous and it was overall a really great time. You really need a boat to enjoy the lake, but DO NOT rent from Poplar Pointe Marine. We had rented a boat for the whole week and when we showed up to get it the owner advised us they didn’t have a boat for us. They had taken thousands of dollars out of our bank account and “couldn’t” refund it except in person-which doesn’t make any sense. The person we interacted with said she said she was the owner and was so rude, she literally threatened us when we said we would be leaving a bad review. Luckily we found a few other places that we were able to rent from to cover the week (one day at a time which was a pain but better than nothing). Other than this terrible experience we really did enjoy the trip.
Written August 25, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Navigate196164
2 contributions
Jul 2019
I highly recommend vacationing at Lake Gaston. 35 miles and 350 miles of shoreline to explore. Spans 5-counties and 2 states. This peaceful area is only 90-minutes from Raleigh, NC, and Richmond, VA alike.
Water is very clean, great for all lake activities. We recommend staying at an amazing vacation property called the "MacDaddy"...amazing!
Water is very clean, great for all lake activities. We recommend staying at an amazing vacation property called the "MacDaddy"...amazing!
Written January 17, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Trish J
Raleigh, NC7 contributions
Jan 2020
we visited Lake Gaston in early January of 2020. We were there to purchase a lake home and had a great experience! The little town of Littleton is so quaint and we had a great barbeque sandwich at Granpa's Kitchen. The people were so kind and helpful and we immediately fell in the with Lake Gaston. We purchased our new home and hope to be in by March of this year!
Written February 11, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
DRUE027
China Grove, NC104 contributions
Jun 2015 • Friends
Lake Gaston is a well-kept secret. It is 32 miles long and has som of the cleanest water on the east coast. We decided build house here and live full time. The best part of the year is October through April when we almost have the lake to ourselves. This type of living is not for everyone. Shopping is 20 miles away and there is not a lot of social life. It is quiet during the off season and it suits us just fine.
Written July 2, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
mikeyinva
Richmond, VA38 contributions
Aug 2015
Lake Gaston is a great place for fishermen, summer vacationers and vacation home owners. However, due to the remoteness, I can't suggest it as a retirement destination unless you are looking for isolation and a total lack of services, amenities and year-round crowds. If isolation is your objective, this place will be heaven. From most lake locations it's an hour or more round trip to a Walmart, and four hours round trip to the closest metro (Raleigh and Richmond).
If you are looking to retire here, the center of the lake will put you close to a Food Lion, Ace Hardware, Subway ABC, drug store and a couple of waterfront restaurants that are much better than they have to be in the middle of nowhere. The heavily populated creeks on the north shore have bridges separating them from the main lake. They call them "culvert bridges" and all bridges are not created equal. Poplar and Pea Hill have the largest "holes" to get your boat through. The others are tight and low depending on lake level, so you'll bump the concrete walls and may have to duck going through in a pontoon. Poplar Creek has water sports restrictions on it's lower section, so keep that in mind when house hunting. The people are great, both locals and transplants so that makes the isolation more bearable. It's all a matter of what you want in retirement, and even more important, what you don't want.
If you are looking to retire here, the center of the lake will put you close to a Food Lion, Ace Hardware, Subway ABC, drug store and a couple of waterfront restaurants that are much better than they have to be in the middle of nowhere. The heavily populated creeks on the north shore have bridges separating them from the main lake. They call them "culvert bridges" and all bridges are not created equal. Poplar and Pea Hill have the largest "holes" to get your boat through. The others are tight and low depending on lake level, so you'll bump the concrete walls and may have to duck going through in a pontoon. Poplar Creek has water sports restrictions on it's lower section, so keep that in mind when house hunting. The people are great, both locals and transplants so that makes the isolation more bearable. It's all a matter of what you want in retirement, and even more important, what you don't want.
Written July 13, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Stacey W
Pinehurst, NC21 contributions
Jun 2018 • Family
Rent a water front house, get a boat, make a trip to food lion and then spend the rest of your week playing in the water. There is really nothing else to do up here, except unwind. Make sure you have plenty of sunscreen and that you love lake life, or you will be miserable.
Written June 30, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
NCPETE
Ebony, VA125 contributions
Jan 2016 • Couples
Not yet retired but looking forward to it. We recently built and are here 95% of the time. People are great. It is a bit of a throwback where you know the person in the post office and the phone company (her name is really Belle). Such a wonderful change from Cary. After nearly 20 years there We were ready to leave and miss nothing at all about it. The Food Lion near the bridge is great for this area. Good call on not judging the lake from I85 as it is to the point of a river there. There are a couple of great local builders and a lot of land that still is available. Water level stays pretty consistent unlike Kerr lake which has crazy level fluctuation or Strange Hyco that has water heated by a coal burning power plant (and that is an awesome lake view too!!). We looked all over NC, VA and SC for the perfect lake and this is as close as it comes
Written January 3, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Chris T
Washington DC, DC412 contributions
Jun 2014 • Family
We've always done our family reunions on the Bay and this year decided to try Lake Gaston because it was more centerally located for our dispersed family.
The good:
- Unspoiled and not crowded. On the water, you pass other boats, but there's pleanty of room to maneuver and lots of places to water ski, tube, and swim. Unlike going to the ocean or Bay, there is no traffic on the roads to Lake Gaston.
- Pleanty of places to choose from to meet your groups needs: big and small, high end and budget
- Water temperature is higher than you'd expect. We visited in mid June and the water temperature was perfect.
- Lots of beautiful wildelife - birds, fish, deer, etc.
- The people are really friendly. From the Marina to the grocery store, the locals seemed happy to see you.
The other
- Cell phone service is not good.
- There's not alot to do on rainy day. The closet attractions we could find were very limited about 20-30 minutes away.
- Not many grocery or other stores. The nearest places we could find other than convenience stores were two Food Lions, each about 20-30 minutes. Away. No one knew of a good place to by higher end food, better cuts of meat etc.
- Not alot of resturants or bars. Those that were here are decent and moreeasily accessable by boat than car.
- The water in the lake is mirky. I guess visibility is about 2 feet. You definately want to bathe after you spend time in the water. The water has a very slight, but typical lake odor.
The bottomline: Lake Gaston is as advertised and a perfect place to spend time with the family. Teenagers might get bored after a couple of days, but they get bored almost everywhere.
The good:
- Unspoiled and not crowded. On the water, you pass other boats, but there's pleanty of room to maneuver and lots of places to water ski, tube, and swim. Unlike going to the ocean or Bay, there is no traffic on the roads to Lake Gaston.
- Pleanty of places to choose from to meet your groups needs: big and small, high end and budget
- Water temperature is higher than you'd expect. We visited in mid June and the water temperature was perfect.
- Lots of beautiful wildelife - birds, fish, deer, etc.
- The people are really friendly. From the Marina to the grocery store, the locals seemed happy to see you.
The other
- Cell phone service is not good.
- There's not alot to do on rainy day. The closet attractions we could find were very limited about 20-30 minutes away.
- Not many grocery or other stores. The nearest places we could find other than convenience stores were two Food Lions, each about 20-30 minutes. Away. No one knew of a good place to by higher end food, better cuts of meat etc.
- Not alot of resturants or bars. Those that were here are decent and moreeasily accessable by boat than car.
- The water in the lake is mirky. I guess visibility is about 2 feet. You definately want to bathe after you spend time in the water. The water has a very slight, but typical lake odor.
The bottomline: Lake Gaston is as advertised and a perfect place to spend time with the family. Teenagers might get bored after a couple of days, but they get bored almost everywhere.
Written June 23, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
drkzelms
Nokomis, FL31 contributions
Jun 2016 • Couples
Once again, time spent on the lake was restful and wonderful. Not too much boat traffic and the water was refreshing. One of our favorite spots.
Written July 10, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
ThreeWiseMen1998
Columbus, OH3,575 contributions
Jul 2015 • Family
We had a good time but this is your typical lake, nothing fancy. Water is pretty dirty and we got leeches on us in some areas.
Written February 29, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Greetings NCPETE,
Your January 2016 review of Lake Gaston describes what we are looking for in retirement. So after 5 years being there what are your thoughts today? You mentioned having a Food Lion near a bridge...Where on the lake do you reside?
Thank you kindly,
Glenn & Carol Land
Recently viewed
Is this your Tripadvisor listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
Claim your listingLake Gaston (Ebony) - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go
Frequently Asked Questions about Lake Gaston
- Hotels near Lake Gaston:
- (0.81 mi) Beautiful 6 Bedroom Home with Expansive Main Lake Views with Incredible Sunsets
- (0.86 mi) Top ranked, best mainlake/sunset ☀️Hot Tub & luxury boat. Recently Renovated!
- (0.88 mi) Perfect for family and friends! Main Lake! Spectacular Views! Awesome Patio! ...
- (0.93 mi) Main Lake Luxury and spectacular panoramic views! Sleeps 8!
- (7.99 mi) Thousand Trails Lake Gaston
- Restaurants near Lake Gaston:
- (1.72 mi) Shady Shack Grill
- (4.44 mi) Watersview Restaurant
- (4.54 mi) The Pointe at Lake Gaston
- (5.36 mi) Lake Gaston Pizza
- (5.20 mi) Lake Gaston Coffee Company
- Attractions near Lake Gaston:
- (3.46 mi) Rosemont Vineyards
- (2.53 mi) Holly Grove Marina
- (4.57 mi) AF Wake
- (4.56 mi) Lake Gaston Summer Rentals
- (5.12 mi) Lake Gaston Outfitters
Lake Gaston Information
| Excellent Reviews | 16 |
|---|---|
| Very Good Reviews | 6 |
| Lake Gaston Photos | 16 |






























