Watauga Lake

Watauga Lake
View from Watauga Dam looking across the lake toward Rat Branch Boat Landing.
Location of Watauga Lake in Tennessee, USA.
Location of Watauga Lake in Tennessee, USA.
Watauga Lake
Location of Watauga Lake in Tennessee, USA.
Location of Watauga Lake in Tennessee, USA.
Watauga Lake
LocationCarter / Johnson counties, Tennessee, United States
Coordinates36°19′59″N 82°01′55″W / 36.33306°N 82.03194°W / 36.33306; -82.03194
Lake typereservoir
Primary inflowsWatauga River, Elk River
Primary outflowsWatauga River
Basin countriesUnited States
Max. length16.3 mi (26.2 km)
Average depth16.0 m (52.5 ft)
Max. depth265 ft (81 m)
Shore length1104.9 mi (168.8 km)
Surface elevation1,959 ft (597 m)
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Watauga Lake, located east of Elizabethton, Tennessee, is the local name of the Watauga Reservoir created by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) with the 1948 completion of the TVA Watauga Dam.[1]

According to lake expert Holly C Ward, Watauga Lake is the third cleanest in the country.[2]

The Cherokee National Forest surrounds both the Tennessee Valley Authority 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".[3]