Summersville Lake is a

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 in the US state of

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 ...

. The

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

is formed by a rock-fill dam (Summersville Dam) on the

Gauley River The Gauley River is a river in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It merges with the New River to form the Kanawha River, a tributary of the Ohio River. The river features numerous recreational whitewater areas, including those in Gauley River Na ...

, south of Summersville in Nicholas County. It is the largest lake in West Virginia, with a surface area of and over of shoreline at the summer pool water level. Its maximum depth is . Part of the northern shore of the lake is managed by the West Virginia State Park system.

Dam

The lake was constructed between 1960 and 1966 by the

United States 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 wo ...

in order to control flooding in an watershed along the Gauley River and the

Kanawha River The Kanawha River ( ) is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 97 mi (156 km) long, in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The largest inland waterway in West Virginia, its watershed has been a significant industrial region of th ...

. At tall, long, and containing of dirt and rock, the dam itself is the second-largest rock-fill dam in the Eastern United States. President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

dedicated both the dam and a new Summersville Post Office on September 3, 1966.

Hydroelectric project

In 2001, a two-year project was completed to harness the dam outflow for

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

power generation. The power plant has a capacity to generate 80-\

megawatts The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named in honor o ...

of electricity at peak flow.

Recreation

The lake also serves as a recreation area for fishing, boating, and rock climbing, as well as

snorkeling Snorkeling (American and British English spelling differences#Doubled in British English, British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of human swimming, swimming face down on or through a body of water while breathing ...

and

scuba diving Scuba diving is a Diving mode, mode of underwater diving whereby divers use Scuba set, breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The word ''scub ...

. It serves as the eastern (upstream) end of

Gauley River National Recreation Area The Gauley River National Recreation Area, located near Summersville, West Virginia, protects a portion of the Gauley River and a segment of the Meadow River in southern West Virginia. Little of the national recreation area is accessible v ...

. There is a small boat under the lake that was intentionally sunk to give divers something to view while scuba diving. Beyond the bridge that Route 19 crosses over the lake is a no-wake zone for casual boating. Located on the cliffs of Summersville Lake is the only working lighthouse in West Virginia, the Summersville Lake Lighthouse. Cliff Jumping has been banned at Summersville Lake since 2007.

State park

In August 2023, Governor

Jim Justice James Conley Justice II (born April 27, 1951) is an American politician and businessman serving since 2025 as the junior United States senator from West Virginia. A member of the Republican Party, he served from 2017 to 2025 as the 36th gover ...

announced that 177 acres of the lake's northern shore would become Summersville Lake State Park. The park has an emphasis on rock climbing. It also offers hiking and biking trails, water activities, and camping areas.

Gallery

Image:SummersvilleDam.jpg, Summersville Dam. Image:SummersvilleLake.jpg, Aerial view of the lake. Image:Summersvilledamspillway.jpg, Spillway and tailwaters. Image:Summersvilledamspillwaycloseup.jpg, Detail of spillway.

Popular culture

* Summersville Lake is a location in the game

Fallout 76 ''Fallout 76'' is a 2018 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is an installment in the ''Fallout'' series and a prequel to previous entries. Initially set in the year 2102, players ...

References

External links

Summersville Lake water levels and out follow

Army Corps of Engineers Summersville Lake site

Enel North America operates the powerplant
{{authority control Bodies of water of Nicholas County, West Virginia Reservoirs in West Virginia 1966 establishments in West Virginia IUCN Category V Gauley River