Burnsville Lake

On the Little Kanawha River, southeast of Burnsville in Braxton County, West Virginia, is Burnsville Lake, which serves as both a recreational and flood control reservoir. The Flood Control Act of 1938, passed by the US Congress, gave Burnsville Lake its green light.

The Burnsville Lake project's dam was built beginning in the summer of 1972, and it was finished in September 1976. The lake project regulates the runoff from a 165 square mile (427 km2) drainage area. The dam is an embankment dam made of rock fill that rises 84.5 feet (25.8 meters) above the streambed. The crest length is 1,400 feet, and the top elevation is 839 feet (256 m) above sea level (430 m).

Since the dam's backwaters would flood both currently inhabited places and the locations of ancestors' homes, many residents of Burnsville and the surrounding communities opposed its construction. Both residents and cemeteries had to be relocated. Prior to the dam's construction, Burnsville inhabitants had to go to Bulltown for recreational opportunities.

Location: Braxton County, West Virginia