Editors' picks across 8categories — the dock with the deepest channel, the winery with the view, the restaurant with the right wine list, the trail nobody's on at sunrise.
A brewery on 2nd Street in historic downtown Clarksville, a block from the water — house-brewed beer alongside food, the town's gathering spot. Closed Tuesdays.
Visit ↗A marina in historic downtown Clarksville, Virginia's only lakeside town — a gas dock, slips, a general store, and pontoon boat rentals.
Visit ↗A marina on the North Carolina side near Henderson, part of the Satterwhite Point & Rudd's Creek marina group.
Visit ↗A marina and campground twelve miles from Henderson off I-85, at the end of Townsville Landing Road on the North Carolina side.
Visit ↗A state park a mile east of Clarksville on Route 58, leased for recreational use since 1968 — three boat ramps with 24-hour access, cabins, campsites, an equestrian campground, and a private concession renting boats. No designated swim beach, but several campsites sit right on the shoreline.
Visit ↗Built by the Army Corps of Engineers between 1947 and 1953 on the Roanoke River in Mecklenburg County, a few hundred feet upstream from an island once belonging to descendants of Samuel Bugg — the dam that gives the lake both its official name (Kerr Lake) and its local one (Buggs Island Lake).