The lake that swallowed Rabun County's biggest town.
Lake Burton is a 2,775-acre Georgia Power reservoir in Rabun County, dammed on the Tallulah River in 1919-1920 — the first and largest of six lakes strung along the river, and the smallest, quietest lake in this guide's Georgia Mountains stretch, with a single 1925 marina and a family boat dock carrying nearly its whole commercial base.
Lake Burton sits in the Georgia mountains near Clayton, 2,775 acres, 62 miles of shoreline, and a maximum depth of 120 feet, created when Georgia Railway and Electric Company — now Georgia Power — dammed the Tallulah River, completing the dam in December 1919 and reaching full pool the following August. It's the first and largest of six lakes strung along the river behind Georgia Power dams — Burton, Seed, Rabun, Tallulah Falls, Tugalo, and Yonah, in that order downstream. The flooding submerged the town of Burton, once Rabun County's largest community. LaPrade's Marina, operating since 1925 and rebuilt in 2008, is the lake's only full-service marina, carrying three restaurants and an ice cream parlor; Anchorage Boat Dock, family-run since 1967, covers the north end near Timpson Creek. Moccasin Creek State Park adds camping, the Burton Trout Hatchery, and the Hemlock Falls waterfall trail on the western shore, while the Georgia Power-run Timpson Cove Beach covers public swimming on the north end. The Lake Burton Civic Association keeps the calendar: a Wooden Boat Parade each spring at LaPrade's Marina and a July 4th fireworks show from Billy Goat Island. Clayton, the Rabun County seat, covers the grocery run and the hospital.
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