4 Notes on Visiting Allatoona Dam
Allatoona Dam is on the Etowah River in Georgia, near Cartersville. It is an incredible piece of infrastructure, and I got to visit it on one of my visits to Red Top Mountain State Park.
The dam has a really cool visitor center
I wouldn’t say the Army Corps of Engineers is one of the most well-known public land agencies in America, but they definitely manage a lot of recreational space for Americans. And all of their properties usually have a visitor center of some type, and this one does, and it has a very well done, very well maintained little museum. It tells the history of the area, the history of the lake, and from both the natural and human perspectives.
And the biggest bonus is that on the land surrounding the visitor center and overlooking the dam, there are American Chestnuts which are being restored slowly to their native range. And the ones that are at the dam’s property are surprisingly mature. They’re over 20 feet tall and producing chestnuts—worth the visit alone.
There are incredible views both of the lake and downstream towards Cartersville
The visitor center is up above the dam, and the dam itself is situated on a small gorge. And so the contrast in topography is pretty incredible. Most of the hillsides are hardwoods, and so late in the fall, there are incredible colors looking down the canyon. And of course across the lake there are amazing views. Especially in the morning you get a pretty incredible sunrise and in the evening a good sunset looking down the gorge. There’s nice picnic areas and a few small hiking trails.
The dam is truly multipurpose
The dam’s reason for construction back in the 1950s was to stop the flooding of Rome, Georgia, which is downstream and has always just been horrifically flooded, all the way up until the creation of the dam. But it’s fascinating to learn in their little museum that it creates all sorts of other benefits.
Most people in Metro Atlanta know the dam and Lake Allatoona as one of Georgia’s biggest destinations for recreation, for boating, for fishing, for generally being on the lake. It’s also responsible for the creation of Red Top Mountain State Park and several other parks dotted all around the lake.
And of course as a bonus it generates electricity which is useful for peak production. It regulates the flow of water for farmers downstream and upstream and provides general wildlife benefits for animals in Georgia.
America’s Small Public Attractions Are Underrated
America has so much public land, and over the decades, we’ve developed so many museums and visitor centers. And while Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, the monuments in Washington DC get attention because they deserve attention. I think that people ignore the incredible diversity and opportunities of our small public attractions by paying attention to only the biggest and the best. The museum at Lake Allatoona is not huge, but it’s fascinating and it’s never crowded. You can have it all to yourself even on the weekend.
It’s at a small scale, but it’s also free and interesting and accessible and absolutely worth checking out if you are in or near Cartersville, Georgia. Also, it’s very easy to get to from I-75. So, if you’re just passing through to Florida, I definitely recommend it as a non-commercial stop with a little bit of nature and a little bit of walking.
