Lake Allatoona , Georgia
Posted by: 
GA Cacher
N 34° 09.974 W 084° 43.825
16S E 709202 N 3782915
The coords take you to the parking lot of the Allatoona Lake Visitor's Center. The dam overlook day camps and boat launch are nearby.
Waymark Code: WM26D2
Location: Georgia, United States
Date Posted: 09/12/2007
Views: 88
Lake Allatoona (rarely called Allatoona Lake, its government name) is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lake in Georgia, located in northwestern metro Atlanta.
The lake is mostly in southwestern Cherokee County, but a significant part is in southeastern Bartow County, and a small part in Cobb County near Acworth. Red Top Mountain State Park is located on its shores, and Cartersville is the nearest large town.
The lake was authorized by the Flood Control Acts of 1941 and 1946. The riverside town of Allatoona was destroyed by the creation of the lake.
The lake is popular for summer recreation, including boating served by several private marinas and public boat ramps. Acworth Beach is an area where the red clay soil has been covered with white beach sand, and roped off with floats for safety from boaters.
Allatoona also supplies much of the drinking water for the three counties it is in. The lake is supplied by the Etowah River, and its major tributary the Little River, as well as smaller streams like Allatoona Creek and Noonday Creek. The Allatoona Dam holding back the lake was built on the Etowah, which in turn merges into the Coosa River downstream (northwest) at Rome. The watershed upstream (mostly northeast) of Allatoona covers about 1,100 square miles (2,850 km²).
The lake's full summer pool is 840 feet (256 m) above mean sea level, though during major droughts it has dropped as much as 13 feet (4 m) below this, exposing dangerous obstacles such as old tree stumps and former hills which are normally submerged at a safe depth. Its maximum capacity or flood stage is +23 feet (7 m) [863 feet (263 m) AMSL], though it has never been known to reach this level, and flooding of boat ramps and other lakeside facilities begins to occur well below it.
In the late 1980s, prolonged drought exposed vast portions of the lake bed revealing tree stumps, roads, foundations of houses (Wilson's farm) and stayed that way for two years. Grass grew in some places and children were seen to mow the grass and play baseball on the newfound vacant lots.
The general contractor for construction of Allatoona Dam was National Constructor Inc. The total cost of the Allatoona project for construction, land, clearing, and relocation was $31,500,000 in 1950. Allatoona serves seven authorized purposes:
1. Flood Control 2. Hydropower generation 3. Water supply 4. Recreation 5. Fish and wildlife management 6. Water quality 7. Navigation
The power plant began operation January 31, 1950. Since 1957 the summer pool elevation has been 840 feet (256 m). Since 1957 the winter draw down has been 823 feet (251 m). Two municipalities withdraw water from the lake. The City of Cartersville uses 12 million gallons (45 million liters) per day. Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority uses 43 million gallons (163 million liters) per day.
In 1998 Allatoona clocked 86,813,126 hours, which were more visitor hours than any of the other 450 Corps of Engineer projects in the United States and exceeded that in 2006 with more than 92 million visitor hours.
Hydroelectric power generation at Allatoona returns more than $3.5 million to the Federal Treasury annually.
The Corps collected more than $1 million in Camping and Day Use fees in 2006.
Visitors to Allatoona spent more than $12 million for consumable goods in 1999.
The presence of Allatoona Dam has prevented nearly $80 million in flood damages since 1950.
The record high water on Allatoona of 861.19 feet (262.49 m) occurred on April 9, 1964.
From 1950 through 2006, 281 drownings have occurred in Allatoona.
Allatoona Pass was the site of an intensive 8-hour battle during the Civil War in 1864. More than 1500 Union and Confederate soldiers were killed, wounded or missing.
The Corps of Engineers has 662 campsites on Allatoona.
Visit Instructions:
To post a visit log to this waymark you need to visit and write about the actual physical location. Any pictures you take at the location would be great, as well.