Lake Oliver

Lake Oliver 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 ...

on the

Chattahoochee River The Chattahoochee River forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida - Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chatta ...

, which lies south of Goat Rock Dam (

Goat Rock Lake Goat Rock Lake is a reservoir on the Chattahoochee River, which lies directly south of Bartlett's Ferry Dam (Lake Harding) and north of Lake Oliver Lake Oliver is a reservoir on the Chattahoochee River, which lies south of Goat Rock D ...

). The lake is created by the Oliver Dam and Generating Plant, which was completed in 1959 by

Georgia Power Georgia Power is an electric utility headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was established as the Georgia Railway and Power Company and began operations in 1902 running streetcars in Atlanta as a successor to the Atlanta Consolida ...

. The lake was named for James McCoy Oliver, an executive of Georgia Power at the time. Oliver Dam has four turbine units, and the dam itself is 70 feet tall and long. At the southern end of the

, Lake Oliver is relatively wide but quickly narrows and becomes almost riverine at the northern end of the lake, at the foot of the Goat Rock Dam upstream. Public access to the lake is limited to one marina owned by the City of Columbus. Since Lake Oliver is entirely within the city limits of

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it ...

, the shore is densely settled on both the

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

sides. Green Island Hills, an upscale development, is located on the lake at the mouth of Standing Boy Creek. Given the amount of settlement, there are many private access points to the lake. In the summer, the lake is very crowded with recreational activity. The other three seasons usually see anglers fishing for sunfish. Lake Oliver also serves as the municipal water supply for Columbus. The location of Oliver Dam is approximately at the

Fall Line A fall line (or fall zone) is the area where an upland region and a coastal plain meet and is typically prominent where rivers cross it, with resulting rapids or waterfalls. The uplands are relatively hard crystalline basement rock, and the coa ...

of the Chattahoochee River. Between Oliver Dam and the downtown Columbus, a few miles downstream, the river drops nearly in elevation. Lake Oliver is the northernmost point of the Chattahoochee Riverwalk a fifteen-mile long bicycle pathway that extends southward to

Fort Benning Fort Benning is a United States Army post near Columbus, Georgia, adjacent to the Alabama–Georgia border. Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve component soldiers, retirees and civilian employees ...

. {{authority control LOliver Geography of Columbus, Georgia Bodies of water of Lee County, Alabama Oliver Oliver Protected areas of Muscogee County, Georgia Tourist attractions in Columbus, Georgia Oliver Oliver Bodies of water of Muscogee County, Georgia