Lake Lanier lies only a few miles or an hour northeast of Atlanta, Georgia, suburbs, with the Atlanta suburb of Buford touching its southeastern most shores. Its official name is Lake Sidney Lanier, after musician/poet Sidney Lanier from Macon, Georgia (1842-1881), and in honor of his poem, The Song of the Chattahoochee. 

Chattahoochee River

The Chattahoochee River feeds Lake Lanier along with the Chestatee River. With 690 miles of shoreline, Lake Lanier touches five Northeastern Georgia Counties, Dawson, Forsyth, Gwinnett, Hall, and Lumpkin. In March 2023, Lake Lanier became a political football, when first, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Naming Commission wanted to change its name.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Mobile District (USACE) manages Lake Lanier. On March 12, 2023, the USACE issued a statement announcing the pause pending further guidance from the Department of the Army. The USACE paused the renaming because a high population of local Lake Lanier residents objected to renaming Lake Lanier.

This is because “The William M. Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 created a congressional Naming Commission to replace the "names, symbols, displays, monuments, and paraphernalia that honor the Confederate States of America." The USACE has not issued further announcements about the status of Lake Lanier’s name as of August 2023. 

Lake Lanier's Namesake

There is some confusion about which Confederate soldier the lake was named for. The Buford Dam impounds Lake Lanier. Buford, Georgia, is named for Lt. Col. Algernon Sidney Buford. He served in the Virginia militia during the Civil War. Citizens named the town after him because this Sidney became president of the railroad that helped establish Buford, Georgia. 

Private Sidney Lanier worked on a blockade-running ship as a Confederate soldier but became so much more. The U.S. captured Lanier’s ship, The Lucy, and imprisoned him, and he contracted tuberculosis. He played the flute and performed, was a prolific writer of poetry, wrote one novel, became a lawyer, and ended up as a professor of literature at Johns Hopkins University in his short 39 years of life.

It remains to be seen what the renaming process will bring. This short-term moratorium on renaming Lake Lanier does not mean it will not be renamed at all. The USACE Mobile District reported that it will continue to solicit public comment about new names for the lake and dam, but said choosing them is up to Congress.

What Is the Story About Lake Lanier?

There are a few spooky backstories to Lake Lanier involving the supernatural. Lake Lanier has witnessed too many drownings. From 1994 to 2022, 140 people died by deaths from drowning and 76 people died in boating accidents. The high number of deaths is not necessarily attributed to the high number of visitors to Lake Lanier. 

One of the most famous legends tells the story of Lake Lanier’s Lady of the Lake. Delia Parker Young and Susie Roberts gunned it out of a gas station without paying and drove off of the Jerry D. Jackson Bridge, (near the Gainesville Marina today) now SR 53, while aiming to party at the Three Gables Roadhouse in Dawsonville, Georgia, north of the lake.

Different sources cite different versions of the story and how the two women’s bodies were found, but either Susie or Delia is believed to be the Lady of the Lake. She is said to be seen on SR 53 to the Jackson Bridge wandering the road in a blue dress. Others claim to have heard church bells ringing beneath Lake Lanier’s waters or have been overcome with strange feelings. 

Lake Lanier lies in the foothills of the North Georgia Mountains range, which is part of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Eerie lore and urban legends about Lake Lanier have risen in popularity on social media platforms, encouraging a myriad of believers.

Why Do They Say Don't Go to Lake Lanier?

Because of all the legends, ghostly stories, catfish the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, the high percentage of drownings, and social media exploitation, Lake Lanier is known by some as a dangerous lake. But Lake Lanier is so popular that seven to 11 million people visit it annually.

“They” say, “Don’t go to Lake Lanier because it is too dangerous.” 

Electric currents seeping into the lake from boat docks have been found to cause a few deaths on Lake Lanier. Others speculate that underwater traps cause many of the deaths. When the USACE built the lake, they did not remove many of the structures that existed, but they did remove structures and wood that could float and damage boats. 

The Oxford American reported in summer 2021 that, Lake Allatoona, forty miles to the west of Lake Lanier, receives almost the same number of visitors every year but has only one-third of the deaths. A lot of commentators on social media are the main reason people are asking this question because the commentators are focusing on the tragedies and issuing the warning to stay away from Lake Lanier. 

What Existed Before Lake Lanier?

Before the USACE built Lake Lanier, rolling hills, valleys, and waterways covered Northeastern Georgia. The region was home to towns, farming communities, railways and depots, and various mills. 

What Old City Is Under Lake Lanier?

Lake Lanier inundated one town that we know of, communities, historic sites, whole forests, roads, and cemeteries, along with barns and an old speedway where they raced cars on Saturdays, because Georgia had Sunday Blue Laws. Blue Laws in the southern U.S. states prohibited certain activities and the sales of specific products like alcohol.

The most famous town covered up by Lake Lanier is Oscarville, Georgia. Too much controversy surrounds the history of Oscarville. We will not discuss the facts here because too many accounts want to rewrite the history of Oscarville.

Suffice it to say, Oscarville sat at the confluence of the Chattahoochee and the Chestatee Rivers. Oscarville grew to a population of 40 at its peak. The other towns and communities covered up by Lake Lanier did not survive much of a historical record, and we do not know much about them. 

The Gainesville Speedway hosted its last race in 1956. It was a 100-lap track. When the water level gets low on Lake Lanier, you can see the track’s scoring tower, concession stand, and the top rows of its concrete bleachers. During Lake Lanier’s drought in 2007-2009, these speedway features were seen for the first time since Lake Lanier’s impoundment. 

Did Lake Lanier Used to Be a Town?

No, there was never a town named Lake Lanier. Sidney Lanier, from whom the lake took its name, was heralded as the “Poet Laureate of the South”. Before 1950 and Lake Lanier, there were many landmarks, roads, and schools, which also took their names from Sidney Lanier. He was a widely known and famous man from Georgia.