Lake Braddock is a

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

in the community of

Burke Burke is an Anglo-Norman Irish surname, deriving from the ancient Anglo-Norman and Hiberno-Norman noble dynasty, the House of Burgh. In Ireland, the descendants of William de Burgh (–1206) had the surname ''de Burgh'' which was gaelicised ...

Fairfax County Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of Northern Virginia and borders both the city of Alexandria, Virginia, Alexandria and ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, United States. Lake Braddock is created by an impoundment on a tributary stream of

Pohick Creek Pohick Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 tributary stream of the Potomac River in Fairfax County in the U.S. state of Virginia. It takes its nam ...

, itself a tributary of the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augu ...

. In 1969, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and the Northern Virginia Soil District signed contracts which allowed the construction of the dam impounding the tributary of the Pohick creek in Burke. The $138,500 cost of the dam, intended as the first of eight to control soil erosion and flooding in the Pohick watershed, was split between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Yeonas Development Corporation, the latter of which intended to build a 1000-unit development on the surrounding 400 acres. The ultimate cost of the dam creating the 19-acre lake was $93,000 to the U.S. Government and $104,000 to Yeonas. The fact that the lake included no public recreation facilities despite being financed with public money was the subject of controversy, and led to the amendment of the

Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act The United States Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act of 1954 () is a United States statute. It has been amended several times. Under this Act, the Soil Conservation Service at the Department of Agriculture provides planning assistance ...

in 1972 to require public access to all such facilities constructed in the future.

References

Braddock Protected areas of Fairfax County, Virginia Braddock Braddock {{FairfaxCountyVA-geo-stub