Visiting This One Mountain Lake In Tennessee Is Like Experiencing A Dream

Tennessee isn't home to the craggy, sky-sweeping mountains of the west, but our Great Smoky Mountains still tend to be some of the most beautiful in the nation. The Great Smoky Mountain National Park is actually the most popular and visited national park in the United States, and folks flock to the cabins and lakes that speckle the eastern edge of the state all year long. Douglas Lake may not be stuck quite in the middle of all the mountainous ballyhoo, but it makes for a gorgeous visit just the same. Have you been?

Douglas Lake is also known as the Douglas Reservoir, a self-made lake that can be found in Eastern Tennessee. Located only a few miles from the ever-famous cities of Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, it's known to both locals and tourists alike.

The lake itself was created after the impoundment of the French Broad River in 1943. Since its inception, the incredibly clear and fertile lake has been used for recreation and fishing by folks from near and far.

The Nolichucky and Pigeon Rivers are the main tributaries to Douglas Lake, though during the wintertime rainstorms the lake has been known to raise fifteen to twenty feet in a single weekend. Yikes!

The shoreline remains rugged and highly natural, with only 17 percent of it currently developed. The TVA controls the remainder of the shoreline, and it has remained blissfully wild.

The history of the lake is as interesting as the water is clear, let us tell you. The Douglas Dam was built in the aforementioned early 1940s, from February 2, 1942, to February 19, 1943. The dam was meant to provide hydroelectric power to the Tennessee River Valley while also working to control flooding.

Vacation in Dandridge and make your way to Douglas Lake for the day, perhaps stay in the resort town of Baneberry.

Douglas Lake is quietly beautiful and forgotten, for the most part, hardly attracting the heaps of folk that Radnor in Nashville or Center Hill Lake near Smithville brings in on the daily. Visit for a quiet respite, we all need one every once in a while.

You can find more information on Douglas Lake on their official website, perfect for planning your summertime vacation.