Lake Blue Ridge: The Mountain Lake That Powers a Getaway

Three miles southeast of downtown, the mountains open onto 3,290 acres of clear water ringed almost entirely by national forest. Lake Blue Ridge is the centerpiece of a Fannin County getaway — a place for boating and beach days in summer, fall color over the water in autumn, and some of the best walleye fishing in Georgia year-round.

A dam older than the TVA

Here’s a fact that surprises a lot of people: although the Tennessee Valley Authority manages Lake Blue Ridge today, the TVA didn’t build the dam. Blue Ridge Dam — an earthen embankment about 175 feet high — was built by a private utility, the Toccoa Electric Power Company, in the late 1920s and completed around 1930, before the TVA even existed. The TVA acquired it in 1939. Originally built purely for hydroelectric power, the dam now also helps with flood control on the Toccoa River.

On the water

Public Forest Service boat ramps put you on the lake for skiing, tubing, or a slow pontoon cruise, and the Lake Blue Ridge Marina rents pontoons, kayaks, and paddleboards if you didn’t bring your own. For a beach day, head to Morganton Point on the north shore, which has the lake’s designated swimming area plus a Forest Service campground — the spot to book if you want to sleep by the water.

When to go

Summer is for the water — boating, swimming, and lazy afternoons on a rented pontoon. But many locals will tell you the lake is at its best in fall, when peak foliage (typically late October into early November) sets the surrounding ridges ablaze and mirrors them on the water. It’s the same scenery that fills the area’s thousands of rental cabins every leaf season.

Cover photo: Lake Blue Ridge Marina, by jwshaw via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Sources include the Tennessee Valley Authority, the U.S. Forest Service, Georgia DNR, Explore Georgia, and the Fannin County Chamber of Commerce.