It’s a Man-Made Marvel
Lake Lanier is not a natural lake. It was created in the 1950s by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a reservoir for the city of Atlanta. The creation of the lake involved the flooding of over 50,000 acres of farmland and forests.
A Town Lies Beneath
Lake Lanier hides a secret beneath its surface. In fact, it hides enough secrets to fill an entire town. The town of Oscarville, once a thriving farming community, was flooded in the 1950s to create the lake. The remnants of the town, including buildings and roads, still lie submerged.
Oscarville was a small, predominantly African-American farming community located in Forsyth County. The town was home to several families who made their living through farming and other local trades. It was a tight-knit community where everyone knew each other, and they shared a common culture and history.
The residents of Oscarville were displaced, their homes and farms submerged beneath the waters of the newly formed lake.
It’s Named After a Poet
The lake is named after Sidney Lanier, a 19th-century Georgia poet. Despite his lack of direct connection to the lake or its creation, his name was chosen to honor his poetic descriptions of the Georgia landscape.
It’s Bigger Than You Think
Lake Lanier is massive. It spans 38,000 acres, has over 690 miles of shoreline, and can hold more than 1 trillion gallons of water. That’s enough to fill more than 1.5 million Olympic-sized swimming pools!
Rumored to be Haunted
There’s a chilling side to Lake Lanier that has nothing to do with the water temperature. Over the years, tales of ghostly apparitions and unexplained phenomena have circulated, leading some to believe that the lake is haunted.
Perhaps the most famous of these tales is the legend of the “Lady of the Lake.” According to local lore, a woman dressed in a blue evening gown has been seen floating above the water’s surface or walking along the shoreline.
She is believed to be the ghost of a woman who tragically drowned in the lake in the 1950s. Sightings often describe her as having a sad, lost expression, and she vanishes when approached. Whether a trick of the light or a genuine apparition, the Lady of the Lake continues to be a source of fascination and fear for visitors.
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