A woman is fighting Duke Energy’s demands in federal court to remove her two famous big boats from Lake Norman.
Thousands enjoyed romantic dinner cruises over decades on Deborah Harwell’s Catawba Queen and Lady of the Lake boats at the former Queens Landing entertainment complex on N.C. 150 in Mooresville.
The site is beside the McCrary Creek Access Area, a longtime public boat launch.
Harwell found a spot to anchor the boats side-by-side between two islands on the lake in 2023 when a South Carolina developer bought the 6.5-acre Queens Landing property but not the iconic boats.
The Catawba Queen, a Mississippi River paddle wheel boat, and the 93-foot Lady of the Lake luxury yacht continue to draw curiosity from the boating public. A man posted photos of the boats near sunset Tuesday on the Lake Norman Boaters Facebook page, prompting a range of replies.
One woman called the boats “eyesores, environmental hazards, attractive nuisances and most of all, astoundingly inconsiderate.”
“Sad,” another woman posted. “We had our wedding reception dinner on” one of the boats. “Brings back memories.”
Now Duke Energy wants them removed.
Boater Dustin Metz of Denver took this photo of the Lady of the Lake and Catawba Queen boats anchored and tied together at marker D5 south of Stutts Marina on Lake Norman in 2023. Dustin Metz Dustin Metz “Unauthorized vessels”
The boats “pose potential hazards to safety, navigation, and public health,” Duke Energy Carolinas LLC says in its lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Statesville in October.
In this August 1998 file photo, passengers board the Catawba Queen sightseeing boat in Mooresville for a ride on Lake Norman. Jeff Siner jsiner@charlotteobserver.com
The lawsuit calls the boats “unauthorized vessels” that have at least once “broken loose from their anchors.” The boats “continue to present potential safety and environmental hazards,” should they break away again or leak fluids, according to the complaint.
Strangers could board and jump off the boats, endangering themselves, or vandalize the craft, the lawsuit says.
“Despite repeated requests,” Harwell and her Lake Cruises Inc. have not made the boats available for inspection by Duke Energy, let alone remove them, the company said.
“Trespassing, wrongful abandonment” claims
The lawsuit says Harwell anchored the “encroaching Unauthorized Vessels … on lands and waters owned or controlled by Duke Energy without Duke Energy’s permission.”
The “wrongful abandonment” of the boats amounts to trespassing on Duke Energy property, the company says.
In filing a motion to dismiss the lawsuit Tuesday, one of Harwell’s lawyers, Benjamin Axelman of Charlotte, says trespassing claims belong in state, not federal courts. So the complaint should be dismissed, he said.
“The true dispute at issue is one for trespass to private land, a matter which is properly and quintessentially governed by state law,” according to Axelman’s filing.
Reached by phone Thursday, Axelman said he couldn’t comment about the lawsuit until he contacted Harwell for permission. Harwell couldn’t be reached by the Observer.
Duke Energy statement
In a statement to the Observer, Duke Energy lawyer Joshua Spencer of Greenville, S.C., said the company “is obligated under its Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) licenses to maintain the safety, environmental integrity, and operational compliance of our licensed hydroelectric lakes.
“Despite repeated outreach to attempt to resolve concerns related to the unauthorized anchoring of the two river cruise vessels on Lake Norman, the vessels remain, raising serious concerns about public safety and environmental risks,” according to the statement.
“To resolve the issue, Duke Energy has filed suit seeking the removal of the vessels from the area, though remains committed to continuing to work to resolve this matter cooperatively,” the Duke Energy statement said. “Due to the ongoing litigation, we will not be making additional comment.”
What happened to Queens Landing?
Columbia-based developer Arnold Companies bought Queens Landing, a Lake Norman landmark, for $7.5 million in August 2022 from the estate of longtime local owner Jack Williams, The Charlotte Observer previously reported, citing Iredell County public tax records.
Fencing bars entry to the closed Queens Landing entertainment complex on Lake Norman in Mooresville on June 27, 2023. Charlotte
Williams died in 2016, according to his obituary. Known as “Captain Jack,” he bought the 149-passenger Catawba Queen in 1992 with friend Bud Lancaster, owner of Big Daddy’s Restaurant and Oyster Bar in Mooresville. Lancaster died in 1997.
They built what Williams’ obituary called “the largest complex on Lake Norman,” with a restaurant, two miniature golf courses, bumper boats, tennis courts, a floating dock bar and marina.
Harwell, a Mooresville and Myrtle Beach resident, took ownership of the boats as the executor of Williams’ estate, public records show. Harwell has never publicly discussed what she intends to do with the boats, and their fate remains unknown.
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Joe Marusak has been a reporter for The Charlotte Observer since 1989 covering the people, municipalities and major news events of the region, and was a news bureau editor for the paper. He currently reports on breaking news.
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