Taking a deep dive into Tibbee Lake
Beneath the towering Tupelo gum trees lies a lake protected from the outside world in an archaic state.
Its formation a mystery, its depth unknown and its owners uncontactable.
Ancient, dark, mysterious and privately owned Tibbee Lake is in a location far removed from civilization, artifacts of human inhabitants, both past and present, are strewn around the curve where you can park under a tree and look out on the waters close to the boat launch.
On google maps, you can find Tibbee Lake and notice that it looks like an Oxbow, located north of Tibbee Creek. However its origin story is not one of natural erosion processes, but rather that of a cataclysmic event according to the Chickasaw Legend that Brad Lieb, Director of Chickasaw Nation Archaeology and Field Studies, told when contacted by phone.
“They saw two giant snakes swimming in it,” Lieb said. “They knew that it was their children, and so the place became a place of avoidance. Those water snakes are symbolic of a supernatural creature.”
Supernatural snakes are important to Cherokee and Chickasaw legends. The Chickasaw believed in a creature called Sintholo, which is described as being a snake with deer antlers.
Lieb said it was believed by natives that the snake was a creature from the underworld who could create whirlpools with its tail.
Whirlpools were believed to be portals to the watery underworld of the dead, which has some relation to Tibbee Creek as it used to flow into the Tenn-tom and create a whirl pool at its mouth. Muskogean family tribes such as the Chickasaw believed in a tripartite world view. Separated into an aerial realm, a middle plain which was earth and a watery underworld which was inhabited by the spirits of the dead.
In stories of the legend either Tibbee Lake or the whirlpool created by Tibbee Creek were believed to be the portal to an underworld. Adding to the lore of the lake is it’s natural appearance as Lieb said it is one unaffected by the modern world, and the water levels don’t fluctuate much from wet or dry seasons.
“That appearance is very ancient,” Lieb said. “Tibbee Lake is one of the few places that looks exactly like it always has. Those Tupelo gum trees that grow in the water are very primordial. The lake level doesn’t fluctuate very much.”
Members of the Mississippi State University geology department said that while the lake doesn’t look like a traditional oxbow lake, there has been no research done by anyone in the department in order for them to come to a conclusion on how it was formed.
Allen Martin, president of the West Point Rod and Gun Club, said he just asks the University to contact him if they would like to do any research on the lake as the history is a bit unknown. The lake has been owned by the rod and gun club since 1901.
“I don’t have a problem with it,” Martin said. “Some of the people there in the forestry department at Mississippi State have done some work down there several times.”
Tibbee Lake is not alone, although it is the easiest to get to. Harmon Lake and Fortson Lake also share a similar appearance to Tibbee, but they aren’t located
off of public roads. Tibbee Lake is at the bend of Tibbee Road when you drive down it from Tibbee to West Point.
A question that had to be answered was the true depth of the lake as people have said the lake has no bottom. Martin grew up fishing on the lake and when he was in his 20’s or 30’s, took a depth finder all over the lake to see exactly how deep it really was.
“I don’t know where that came from,” Martin said of the stories about Tibbee Lake’s depth. “That is just one of those tales I heard as a kid. I went all the way in that lake. It was probably about 18 feet, and it might have been 19 in some places. One of the deepest parts was right there at the boat ramp. I don’t know how it was formed.”
On the lake, you can see the gum trees stop at a certain point, the trees are typically in a pool depth of about 3-4 feet, but beyond them it drops to about 7-8 feet before gradually sloping down like a bowl.
While there are bass, crappie, bream, and catfish in the lake, there has been an alligator that was in it at one point in time. The surrounding woodlands was the place Martin grew up hunting and fishing.
Martin shared stories featuring cameos from snakes about a stringer of fish he had to leave in the water at the request of his mom, and a man who shot holes in his boat to kill a snake that had fallen in it. The biggest threat in the area right now is a band of feral hogs.
Martin said they had killed about 30 of them.
“If you walk those woods at night it is dark, and it could be a little spooky,” Martin said. “If you don’t know where you are. It could be a little eerie, especially to someone who hasn’t been down there for very long. That is with any woods though, so dark you can’t see your hand in front of your face.”
One of the roles for Lieb is to connect Chickasaw people in Oklahoma with their traditional homeland of Mississippi and Alabama. One of such trips they were able to canoe on Tibbee Lake through special permission given by the owners.
“It is a spiritual place and I think people still feel that today,” Lieb said. “We appreciate West Point Rod and Gun club to visit on a case by case basis to the site and canoe around or just take pictures.”
You can purchase a fishing permit for the lake for $80 at Kellogg True Value Hardware in West Point. The money goes towards paying liability insurance. A reminder that the lake is on private property and due to it’s seclusive location, it can be a place of concern if an accident occurred.
“It is just an old lake, it can be dangerous,” Martin said. “If you get out there acting up, you can’t swim, and you don’t do the right things, it can be dangerous.”