Summersville Lake - Fun for Everyone

Summersville Lake, the largest lake in West Virginia, is a man-made reservoir near Summersville. It was constructed between 1960 and 1966 by the US Army Corps of Engineers in order to control flooding along the Gauley and Kanawha Rivers, as well as to provide recreation and enable fish and wildlife management. The Summersville Dam, a 390 ft x 2280 ft structure and the second largest rock fill dam in the Eastern United States, was built to hold back the water. Usually dams are named after the nearest town with a post office. The nearest town to the dam was the town of Gad. However, instead of calling it the Gad Dam (insert joke here), they named it the Summersville Dam. This broke a long-standing tradtion in the naming of dams.

The lake is excellent for boating and fishing. Small mouth and large mouth bass, crappie, channel catfish, bluegill, walleye, and the occasional rainbow trout can be found in the lake's clean, clear waters. The lake has rock cliffs and boulders and other cover which provides an ideal environment for the fish to live in.

The lake is also excellent for scuba diving. The lake has an average visibility of 20 to 45+ feet and a maximum depth of 327 feet, and the water temperature ranges from 60 to 80+ degrees. From this it is easy to see why Skin Diver Magazine calls Summersville Lake the "Little Bahamas of The East." Scuba diving and snorkeling are very popular in this lake, as there are numerous boulder gardens, overhangs and swim-throughs to explore.

As well as the water activities, visitors to the lake can also enjoy activities such as camping, hiking, rock climbing and wildlife viewing.