Lake Santeetlah, North Carolina
Lake Santeetlah is a town in Graham County, North Carolina, United States, northwest of Robbinsville on a peninsula surrounded by Lake Santeetlah—which in turn is largely surrounded by Nantahala National Forest. The town has more than two hundred residences, many of them second homes owned by permanent residents of Florida and Georgia. The town was organized in 1989 as "Santeetlah"; in 1999, it changed its name to "Lake Santeetlah". The full-time population was 67 at the 2000 census and dropped to 45 in 2010. Geography The town of Lake Santeetlah is located in central Graham County on a peninsula on the northern side of Lake Santeetlah, a reservoir on the Cheoah River, a northward-flowing tributary of the Little Tennessee River. U.S. Route 129 passes just north of the town, leading southeast to Robbinsville, the county seat, and northwest to Tapoco at the Little Tennessee River. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town of Lake Santeetlah has a total area of , all land. History Because of its mountainous terrain, Graham County was one of the last sections of the eastern United States to be settled by Europeans. Robbinsville was not incorporated until 1893, and it had only 200