Carters Lake is Located at the southern end of the Blue Ridge
Mountains and formed from the bed of the Coosawattee River
between Ellijay and Carters, Georgia.
Carters Dam is one of the few "reverse" dams in the US. The
water flows down pipes inside the mountain to generate power all day. At night, the generators are reversed and act like
huge pumps to send the water back up to the lake to be used the
next day.
Carters Lake was completed by the US Army, Corps of Engineers,
in 1975, and is operated by the Mobile District of the Corps.
Because it is included under Title 36, Chapter III, Code of
Federal Regulations, no permits will be issued for boat docks,
removal of vegetation, or shoreline alteration of any kind.
This regulation is the authority by which the Corps of
Engineers controls developments of shoreline on its projects
nationwide. It provides that private, exclusive use of
lakeshore will not be permitted at new lakes or on lakes where
private facilities or uses existed as of the date of the
regulation (December 1974).
The United States Government owns a minimum of 300 feet from
the water’s edge at all locations on the lake and an average of
100 feet on the re-regulation pool. Trees marked with red
paint indicate the property line. This land is for general
public use, and adjacent landowners have no special privileges.
The lake is a watershed, designed to help control the annual
flooding of the Etowah River Valley. The secondary purpose of
the lake is power generation. In the center of the lake, the
main channel is a thin strip with long fingers running deep
into the mountains making this an excellent place to go
canoeing.
Carters Lake is a 3,000+ acre lake offers recreational opportunities for fishermen, hunters, campers, boatmen, bikers, and hikers. Long before the creation of Carters Lake, this portion of the Coosawattee was known as one of the best whitewater rapids in the eastern United States.
