Smith Mountain Lake

Smith Mountain Lake is a large reservoir in the Roanoke Region of Virginia, located southeast of the City of Roanoke and southwest of Lynchburg. Initial proposals were made in the late 1920s to dam the Roanoke River and the Blackwater River at the Smith Mountain gorge to generate electricity. Construction on the dam began in 1960 and was completed in 1963. The lake reached its normal water level in March 1966. It is the largest lake contained entirely within the Commonwealth of Virginia. The lake covers 20,600 acres and has over 500 miles of shoreline. The majority of the south shore lies in Franklin County, while Bedford County makes up the northern half, with the Roanoke River as the dividing line. The area lies in a broad valley nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of rural south-central Virginia. Before the lake's creation, farming and logging were the primary industries. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the area around the lake remained rural and remote with tobacco farms and other agriculture. Marinas provided the bulk of public access in the early years of the lake. Residential growth has been steady since the mid-1980s and increasingly upscale with large lakefront houses, condominiums, and communities centered on golf courses. The lake has attracted many who commute to Roanoke and Lynchburg and many retirees, many of whom have relocated from the Northeast. Boating, water skiing, wakeboarding, riding personal watercraft, and sailing are common activities. Fishing for striped bass is especially common. The lake has hosted several professional fishing tournaments. Striped bass are stocked into the reservoir using fingerlings grown out from the spawn of fish that have migrated from downstream Kerr Reservoir to the vicinity of Brookneal. The striped bass fishery produced multiple former state record striped bass caught during the 1980s and 1990s. Smith Mountain Lake State Park opened in 1983 and provided a beach and a section for swimming. About a dozen private marinas provide various public access opportunities. American Electric Power is licensed to operate the Smith Mountain Project by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. In 1998, FERC required AEP to devise and implement a shoreline management plan.