Boone Lake is a reservoir in Sullivan and Washington counties in northeastern Tennessee, formed by the impoundment of the South Fork Holston River and Watauga River behind Boone Dam.[1] Boone Reservoir’s 4,400 acres extend along the South Fork Holston River forming two river extensions. According to TVA, “at maximum pool level, one arm of the lake extends about 16 miles up the South Fork Holston River, and the other extends approximately 15 miles up the Watauga River".
The dam and reservoir are maintained and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The lake has a surface area of about 4,400 acres (18 km2)[2] and a flood-storage capacity of 75,829 acre-feet (93,534,000 m3). Water levels in the reservoir fluctuate over a range of about 20 feet (6 m) over the course of a year.[1]
Boone Lake may house one of the smaller lakes that the state has to offer, but the lakefront real estate packs a southern punch - with the average cost of shorefront property sitting at a cool $1.37 million according to a 2020 study.[3] This places Boone Lake as the sixteenth most expensive lake shorefront property in the United States. At the time of the study, the dam repair was still underway; greatly reducing the accessibility, aesthetics and shoreline of the lake.
