Cottonwood Cove sits on the Nevada side of a lake that is younger than most American grandparents. Lake Mohave only came into being in 1951, when Davis Dam created a 67-mile reservoir along the Colorado River. But the ground beneath the resort has been busy for far longer, with an 1860s Army outpost, a 1890s gold-mining boom, and a steady flow of barges carrying equipment up and down the river. The America250 initiative is a chance to revisit how all those layers stacked into one stunning desert lake. At Cottonwood Cove Resort, a proud part of the Adventures Unbound family, we are using the month to share the pre-lake story most visitors never hear.

The History

Cottonwood Cove Resort and Marina is on the Nevada side of Lake Mohave, within the Lake Mead National Recreation Area along the Colorado River. The lake itself was formed in 1951 after the construction of Davis Dam, which created a long reservoir used for recreation, water storage, and hydroelectric power. The lake stretches roughly 67 miles along the river and has become a major destination for boating, fishing, and camping. The area is part of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, established in 1936 as America’s first national recreation area, and Cottonwood Cove grew into one of its main resort marinas alongside Katherine Landing and Willow Beach.

Long before the dam, the area was already part of the westward expansion story. In 1867, the US Army established a small outpost on what was then known as Cottonwood Island to protect livestock and secure a crossing on the Colorado River. The area’s abundant cottonwood trees and river access made it a natural settlement spot for raising stock. By the 1890s, the nearby Searchlight region had become famous for gold, with a 20-stamp mill operating directly on the river. Cottonwood served as a crucial port for barging mining equipment up and down the Colorado, connecting Nevada’s mining economy to the broader American industrial network.

The lake’s modern infrastructure, including the resort itself, is closely tied to Mission 66, the National Park Service’s mid-century modernization program. Cottonwood Cove was developed during that era as one of the purpose-built recreation hubs on the new reservoir, and you can still see the Mission 66 sensibility in the layout of the marina and the working buildings around it. Historic photos of Lake Mohave in the 1950s show a lake in its first decade of existence, already attracting the boaters who would define its identity.

The Connection

The Cottonwood Cove story begins long before any of the cottonwoods, of course. The Southern Paiute, Chemehuevi, Mojave, and Hualapai peoples lived and traded along this stretch of the Colorado for generations. Their long stewardship of the river is the foundation that every other layer of the area’s history rests on.

A visit to Cottonwood Cove today is a chance to take in all of those layers at once: the Indigenous river, the Army outpost, the gold-mining barges, the new dam, the Mission 66 marina, and the modern resort. The desert lake is bright blue, the cottonwoods still cluster along the shoreline, and the history feels close enough to touch.

For more America250 stories from across our properties, visit Adventures Unbound’s America250 page.