Watauga Lake, located east of

Elizabethton, Tennessee Elizabethton is a city in, and the county seat of Carter County, Tennessee, United States. Elizabethton is the historical site of the first independent American government (known as the Watauga Association, created in 1772) located west of both t ...

, is the local name of the Watauga Reservoir created by the

Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolin ...

(TVA) with the 1948 completion of the TVA Watauga Dam. The Cherokee National Forest surrounds both the

Watauga Reservoir and Wilbur Reservoir in an area of northeast Tennessee that TVA describes as being located "...in some of the most beautiful country in the Tennessee River watershed."

History

Construction of

Watauga Dam Watauga Dam is a hydroelectric and flood control dam on the Watauga River in Carter County, in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the 1940s as part of efforts to contro ...

began in early 1942 but was curtailed later that year in favor of other

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

building efforts. Work on TVA Watauga Dam resumed in 1946, and finished at the end of 1948, impounding both the

Watauga River The Watauga River () is a large stream of western North Carolina and East Tennessee. It is long with its headwaters in Linville Gap to the South Fork Holston River at Boone Lake. Course The Watauga River rises from a spring near the base ...

and Elk River for the purposes of

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

, hydropower generation and downstream navigation on the Tennessee River and Reservoir system. WataugaDamMarker

The original town of Butler, Tennessee, now sits at the bottom of Watauga Lake. "New" Butler was relocated to higher ground above the summer pool edge of the TVA reservoir. Other nearby Tennessee cities and communities include

Hampton Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia *Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region * Hampton, Victoria Canada * Hampton, New Brunswick *Ha ...

, Elizabethton, Roan Mountain, Mountain City, Johnson City, and Bristol. Watauga Lake covers parts of

Johnson Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...

and Carter Counties. Another much smaller nearby lake that is not part of the TVA system is the Ripshin Lake located SW of Roan Mountain.

Specifications

According to the 2004 TVA River and Reservoir Operations Study, Watauga Lake is approximately long, with of shoreline. At the TVA summertime water level target "full pool", the lake surface covers 6,430 acres (26 km²) and the estimated depth of Watauga Lake is 265 feet (81 m) at the dam. At full pool, Watauga's elevation is the highest of all TVA lakes at 1,959 feet (597 m) above sea level. Watauga Lake is regularly released by TVA schedule into Wilbur Reservoir (Wilbur Lake) and impounded by the TVA

Wilbur Dam Wilbur Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Watauga River in Carter County, in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is one of two dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority. The dam impounds Wilbur Lake, which extends for abou ...

. Water levels in TVA Watauga Reservoir vary about in normal years to provide for seasonal flood storage and for the augmentation of flows of water during drier seasons. Watauga has a flood-storage capacity of .

Recreation

More than half of Watauga Lake's shoreline lies within the Cherokee National Forest and cannot be developed. Recreational uses include boating, fishing, water-skiing, and camping. There is no horsepower limit or speed limit for boats operating on the lake. Several fee-based public and private boat launch ramps provide access on the Hampton side of the reservoir. The release of impounded water from both TVA Watauga Dam and TVA Wilbur Dam provides additional downstream riverine recreational opportunities such as

whitewater rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

, and kayaking on the

. Several Cherokee National Forest recreations are location along its shores. Houseboat owners have been conducting a large annual July 4 Boat Parade on Watauga Lake since 2001. The Watauga Lake boat parade starts at 2:00 p.m.Fishspringsmarina.com
Fish Springs News 5th Annual Boat Parade.

Connection with U.S. Interstate Highway System

''(Travel to Watauga Dam and Watauga Dam Overlook):''
I-26

Interstate 26 Interstate 26 (I-26) is a main route of the Interstate Highway System in the Southeastern United States. Nominally east–west, as indicated by its even number, I-26 runs from the junction of U.S. Route 11W (US 11W) and US 23 in K ...

Exit 24 at Johnson City then east
US 321

Tennessee State Route 67 State Route 67 (SR 67) is a state-maintained highway in northeastern Tennessee, including a four-lane divided highway segments in both Washington County and Carter County, and part of a significant two-lane segment passing over the Butler Brid ...

to Elizabethton, then left at intersection of
US 321

briefly on US321/US19E across Gilbert Peters Bridge over the

and onto

Tennessee State Route 91 State Route 91 (SR 91) is a state highway in the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of Tennessee, in the area known as the Tri-Cities region. The route connects Johnson City with Damascus, Virginia via Elizabethton, Hunter, and Mountai ...

turning right onto Blue Springs Road and then to Watauga Dam. ''(Travel to Watauga Lake opposite side of reservoir from Watauga Dam and Watauga Dam Overlook):''
I-26

Exit 24 at Johnson City then east
US 321

to Elizabethton, then left on
US 321

to Hampton and Watauga Lake.

Influence of weather

References

External links

Watauga Lake, Tennessee Watauga Lake map and trout stocking program information
{{authority control Watauga River Protected areas of Carter County, Tennessee Protected areas of Johnson County, Tennessee Reservoirs in Tennessee Tennessee Valley Authority Cherokee National Forest Bodies of water of Carter County, Tennessee Bodies of water of Johnson County, Tennessee 1948 establishments in Tennessee