Beech Fork Lake is a
720 acre (2.9 km2) reservoir
A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation.
Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...
located near
Lavalette in
Wayne County,
West Virginia
West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...
,
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. Beech Fork Lake is also partly located in neighboring
Cabell County. Millers Fork and Stowers Branch join Beech Fork with their own river valleys contributing to the majority of the lakesurface of Beech Fork Lake. These streams are
tributaries
A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ('' main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which the ...
of
Twelvepole Creek.
Beech Fork Lake as a flood control impoundment was authorized by the
Flood Control Act of October 23, 1962 and was constructed by the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wor ...
in the mid-1970s. The lake was completed and dedicated in May 1978.
History of Beech Fork
Known in agrarian times as "Bean Capital Of The World" because of its abundant harvests, remote Beech Fork and its fertile farms had by the mid-20th century devolved into a "
Tobacco Road" cut off from the opportunities of modern development.
Some tombstones in the park's Bowen Cemetery date to the 18th century; and family names adorning Civil War graves can be seen on roadside mailboxes even today. Government appropriation of private land for the lake caused rancor among locals with historic land holdings. The Beech Fork strain of
Adkins family (appropriately known as "Beech Fork Adkinses") was largely driven out to the
Huntington metropolitan area. So numerous were these displaced persons that townsfolk joked about an "Adkins factory" at Beech Fork which mass-produced persons of the surname. It has also been said that in the last days, Willie Adkins "the Jews will go back to Palestine and the Adkinses will go back to Beech Fork."
Recreation
Boating, fishing, hiking, camping, and picnicking opportunities are available on site. Biking or walking along the roadways around the park, however inviting, is not generally recommended due to automobile traffic along the narrow rural routes.
Birding
The park is an excellent site for birdwatching. Thousands of square miles of Appalachian hardwood trees surround the Beech Fork Lake area, providing a habitat for
wood warblers,
vireos,
thrushes,
chats,
cuckoo
Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae ( ) family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes ( ). The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals, and anis. The coucals and anis are somet ...
s,
ovenbird
The ovenbird (''Seiurus aurocapilla'') is a small songbird of the New World warbler family (biology), family (Parulidae). This bird migration, migratory bird breeds in eastern North America and winters in Central America, many List of Caribbean ...
s, and many other forest dwelling birds. Due to a lack of extensive wetlands attractive to waterfowl, such species are comparatively less common.
See also
*
Beech Fork State Park
Beech Fork State Park is a state park located in Cabell County and Wayne County, West Virginia. The park is located on the tailwater shores of Beech Fork Lake, a flood control impoundment of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the Beech Fork o ...
References
External links
Beech Fork State ParkU.S. Army Corps of Engineers Beech Fork Website
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Bodies of water of Cabell County, West Virginia
Bodies of water of Wayne County, West Virginia
IUCN Category V
Reservoirs in West Virginia
Tourist attractions in Cabell County, West Virginia
Tourist attractions in Wayne County, West Virginia