Cottonwood Creek History

Cottonwood Creek Marina is the newest marina on Lake Lewisville located on the Northeast Shores of the lake in Little Elm, TX. Cottonwood Creek Marina is surrounded by 160+ acres formerly known as Cottonwood Park. Some of the amenities completed include 181 wet slips (covered and open) ranging in size from 24' to 50', 8 fuel pumps, pump out station, shoreline picnic facilities, private restroom facilities, transient slips and a small service department. The Ships Store includes marina hardware, boating safety equipment, a first aid station, snack items, motor oil, wake sports shop, and apparel & footwear for the entire family.
Cottonwood Creek Marina was named the 2004 Marina of the Year by the Marina Association of Texas, is a Certified Clean Texas Marina, and is the 2005 Little Elm Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year. The marina is a host location for the US Boating Foundation Life Jacket Loaner Program and is a member of the Aubrey, Frisco, The Colony and Little Elm Chambers of Commerce. The marina hosts an annual kick off to safe boating campaign with joint partnership in the community with aide from the Town of Little Elm Fire and Police Departments, Little Elm Community Library, Denton County Sheriff’s Department and the Coast Guard Auxiliary units that are active on Lewisville Lake. The annual event is called “Boat Smart from the Start”. Each spring the marina encourages members of the community to say good bye to winter and hello to summer with a Fish Fry hosted by the fishermen at Cottonwood Creek Marina, as a fund raiser for the Little Elm Food Bank, and includes the annual burning of the socks! The Marina is an annual sponsor of the “Anything Floats Derby” held in conjunction with the Town of Little Elm’s Autumn Festival. The services that Cottonwood Creek Marina provide to the surrounding communities extends beyond the shoreline of Lewisville Lake and into the community.

Marina developer, Ben Miller, after 12 years of planning, began construction of the marina in the spring of 2002. While Mr. Miller may be fairly new to the Little Elm area, he is no stranger to the marina business with two marinas - Anchor Bay and Collin Park (1996 & 2003 Marina Association of Texas - Large Marina of the Year) - both located on Lake Lavon. The Miller family also owns the oldest ship chandlery on the East Coast, J.T.'s Ships Chandlery, which has been in business since the 1920s. Mr. Miller felt that Cottonwood Creek Marina would not only define Little Elm's identity as a lakeside community, but would also evenly distribute the traffic on Lake Lewisville. Little Elm is the fastest growing area in North Texas; therefore the marina was needed to accommodate the tremendous growth.

Cottonwood Creek Marina designed and built by Atlantic-Meeco has become the only marina in northern Texas, USA, to feature a polyethylene-encased flotation system. The first phase of the project, which officially opened Memorial Weekend 2003 included the Grand Opening of the Ships Store and management offices. Upon full build-out the marina will feature 740 slips to be completed in two further phases, a service facility, a restaurant, a yacht brokerage, boat rental, dry storage area, RV park and an improved boat ramp.

The marina's first major event in 2003 was participation in the 2nd Annual National Marina Day held in conjunction with their Grand Opening ceremony with local area Chambers of Commerce. The marina served complimentary hot dogs, chips and fountain drinks to visitors at the marina during National Marina Day and hosted activities for their clients, guests and area residents to include a koozie trade-in, inception of an Annual National Marina Day horseshoe pitching contest, Live Music, hourly nautical trivia contests in the Ships Store, and a kid's frozen t-shirt race. Furthermore, the Mayor of Little Elm, Mr. Doug Cravey, during a Town Council meeting preceding the National Marina Day event read a Proclamation on behalf of the Town of Little Elm.

The mission of Cottonwood Creek Marina is to provide a safe, fun, family-oriented facility for their clients and guests to access Lake Lewisville. The marina staff is customer service orientated and wants to make the time spent at Cottonwood Creek Marina not only enjoyable but a memorable experience. Attention to detail and those added personal touches are what set this facility apart from other marinas. The marina is known for "it's hand rolled dock lines" and courteous staff. Upon arrival at the fuel dock or courtesy slips you find complimentary dock lines available and an awaiting staff member to assist customers secure their vessels, with fueling and pump out operations.