LakeLanier.com is proud to present the only book about Lake Lanier.

“Lake Sidney Lanier” by Robert David Coughlin tells the story of our lake in 400 fascinating pages.

The book’s subtitle is “A Storybook Site”, chosen after the author read a story about how perfect the location was for a a lake. In 1946, Army engineers surveyed a narrow river valley at the boundary of Gwinnett and Forsyth Counties. Mason J. Young, then South Atlantic Division Chief, looked out over the open expanse from one hillside to the next and exclaimed:

“This is a storybook site for a dam … I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better site!”

The construction of Lake Lanier spanned nearly the entire decade of the 1905s. In the book you’ll experience the development of North Georgia from the early 1800s to the sweeping post-war river and harbor legislation of the 1940s and on to the building of the lake itself, including the acquisition of over 50,000 acres of private land for public use; the ground breaking in 1950; construction of the dam, bridges and highways.

This book details the history of Lake Lanier using over 700 historical and contemporary photographs, official documents and letters, newspaper articles, maps, interviews and more.