Every Lake
Moon Lake
Faulkner fictionalized it as 'Moon Lake Hotel'; Tennessee Williams just used its real name.
- 6 ft · first step
- 13 ft
- 19 ft
- 25 ft
- 32 ft
- 38 ft · bottom
About Moon Lake
Moon Lake is an oxbow of the Mississippi River, sitting outside the mainline levee in Coahoma County, Mississippi, in the stretch of Delta bottomland where the river once ran before it cut a new channel and left the old bend behind. Phillips Bayou feeds the lake at its northern tip, and Yazoo Pass drains it into the Coldwater River. The lake curls in the shape of the meander it used to be, bordered by cotton and soybean fields on one side and cypress brake on the other, a pattern shared by most Delta oxbow lakes cut off from the river's main flow.
The Clarksdale Elks Club built a lodge on the lake in 1926; the property changed hands in 1936 and reopened as the Moon Lake Casino. Tennessee Williams, who grew up in the Delta, visited the casino and referenced Moon Lake by name in nearly all of his plays, including A Streetcar Named Desire and Orpheus Descending. William Faulkner used the same setting in one of his novels, renaming it the Moon Lake Hotel. The casino is long gone, and the lake today is worked mostly by crappie and bass anglers and duck hunters camped along its cypress-lined shore.
- 2 shore towns named, with a star on each
- 34 roads engraved around the shore, 7 of them labeled
- 6 depth layers, each step engraved with its depth in feet
- Compass rose, title block with coordinates, max depth and area; keyhole hanger on the back
Turn it in your hands
Live 3D of the actual cut files — drag to orbit, pinch to zoom. Every road you see is engraved on the real thing.
Viewer not showing? Open it full screen.
Moon Lake depth chart, in wood
This is a Moon Lake depth chart you can hang: 6 stacked layers of birch, each one a depth contour — 6 ft, 13 ft, 19 ft, 25 ft, 32 ft and deeper, down to the deepest hole at about 38 ft. The lake covers about 3.6 square miles, and 34 shore roads are engraved around it. The shape of the bottom is the real one from published soundings, so anglers recognise their drop-offs and points.
A Moon Lake map for the wall — or a gift
Most of these go to a cabin wall, a lake house entry, or a home office; a lot are gifts — the family that has been on Moon Lake for three generations, the retirement move, the first boat. The 12-inch is the desk-and-shelf size; the 24- and 30-inch boards read across a room. Add a line under the title and star your place on the shore, and it becomes the map of your Moon Lake.
Moon Lake map — the details
How big is the map?
Four sizes: 12, 17, 24 and 30 inches on the long side, from $149. Every size is cut from the same depth data of Moon Lake; the bigger boards carry more shoreline roads and place names.
Is it made from real depth data?
Yes. Moon Lake is cut layer by layer from published bathymetric soundings — each layer of birch is a depth contour, so the shape of the bottom is the real one, not decorative.
Can I add my own place on it?
Yes. At checkout you can add a line under the title (a family name, a cabin name, a year) and star the spot on the shore that matters to you.
How long does it take?
Made to order in Waterford, Pennsylvania and shipped in 7–10 days; shipping is free in the lower 48.
Can you make a lake that isn't listed?
Any lake in the United States — we hold depth data for 104,419 of them. Search for yours; if it isn't built yet we build it when you order.
- 6 depth layers down to 38 ft
- 3.6 square miles of water
- 34 shore roads engraved, 7 named
- Title block, compass rose and depth markers
- Birch plywood, keyhole hanger, made in Waterford, PA
