<Tr> <Th> Surface area </Th> <Td> 2,700 acres (11 km) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Normal elevation </Th> <Td> 1,644 feet (501 m) </Td> </Tr> <P> Summersville Lake is a reservoir located in the US state of West Virginia . The lake is formed by a rock - fill dam (Summersville Dam) on the Gauley River, south of Summersville in Nicholas County . It is the largest lake in West Virginia, with 2,700 acres (1,100 ha) of water and over 60 miles (97 km) of shoreline at the summer pool water level . Its maximum depth is 327 feet . </P> <P> The lake was constructed between 1960 and 1966 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in order to control flooding in an 803 - square - mile (2,080 km) watershed along the Gauley River and the Kanawha River . At 390 feet (120 m) tall, 2,280 feet (690 m) long, and containing 12,000,000 cubic yards (9,200,000 m) of dirt and rock, the dam itself is the second - largest rock - fill dam in the Eastern United States . President Lyndon B. Johnson dedicated both the dam and a new Summersville Post Office on September 3, 1966 . </P>

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