Where is Claytor Lake?
Claytor Lake is in Pulaski County, Virginia: a 21-mile impoundment of the New River created in 1939 behind an Appalachian Power Company hydroelectric dam. Claytor Lake State Park sits on it at Dublin. The shore is shaped by the dam's federal license: the project boundary generally follows the 1,850-foot contour, and Appalachian Power owns nearly all the land below it.
In 1939 a hydroelectric dam turned a stretch of the New River into a lake
Claytor Lake begins in 1939. That year Appalachian Power Company built a hydroelectric power facility and dam on the New River in Pulaski County, and the river backed up behind it into a lake 21 miles long.
The dam is one of five the Department of Wildlife Resources lists on the New River in Virginia. It still runs under a license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which Appalachian Power holds for what it calls the Claytor Project, and that license is what ties the dam to the rules on the shore today. A different stretch of the same river is followed by a state park built on an old rail line, described in what the New River Trail is.
DWR describes the lake stretching northeastward across the Pulaski County countryside, and Pulaski County's own plan files it there too. That places it outside Carroll County, Grayson County and the City of Galax, the localities of the Twin Counties. Pulaski's courthouse, planning office and zoning ordinance are listed with the other counties on the six counties page.
A state park at Dublin with about four miles of lake frontage
The easiest fixed point on the lake to find is Claytor Lake State Park, at 6620 Ben H. Bolen Dr., Dublin, VA 24084, phone 540-643-2500.
DCR gives the park 472 acres and approximately four miles of lake frontage. DWR's Claytor Lake page, which places the park on the north side of the lake, says 497 acres. Neither page explains the other's figure, so an acreage for the park is best quoted with the agency that published it.
For someone trying to picture the lake, the park is the easiest anchor, because it has a street address a map will find and a phone number that answers for it. Hours and fees are DCR's to publish and to change, so the park's own page is the place to check them rather than any summary.
4,363, 4,472 or 4,500 acres: three public sources, three sizes for one lake
Ask how big Claytor Lake is, and the answer depends on which public page you open.
| Source | Lake area | Other figure it gives |
|---|---|---|
| Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources | 4,363 acres | 21 miles long |
| Pulaski County comprehensive plan | 4,472 acres | Approximately 100 miles of shoreline |
| Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation | 4,500 acres | 21 miles long |
The length is the number the state agencies agree on: DWR and DCR both give 21 miles. For area, three sources give three figures about 137 acres apart from low to high, and nothing in any of them settles one figure over the others. A listing sheet, a news story or a page like this one does best to name the agency behind whichever acreage it prints.
The shoreline figure needs the same care. Approximately 100 miles of shoreline appears in Pulaski County's plan and in no state or federal source cited here, so it is the county's number and should travel with the county's name.
Below the 1,850-foot contour, Appalachian Power owns nearly all the ground
Where the lake sits on a map is one question. Where a private lot ends along it is another, and the dam's license answers most of that second question.
Appalachian Power's shoreline page says the Claytor Project boundary is generally the area within the 1,850-foot elevation contour, except where a survey defines it beyond that line. With few exceptions around the lake, the company owns all the property below the 1,850-foot contour, and full pond is at 1,846 feet. Where it does not own that ground, Appalachian says it still holds land rights along the shoreline through flowage right and easement deeds.
That arithmetic matters to anyone looking at lake property. At full pond the water stands four feet of elevation below the contour that generally marks the project boundary, so in most places the ground between a private lot above that contour and the water belongs to Appalachian Power. What riparian rights a particular lot carries, and whether its deed line reaches the water at all, is settled by the deed, a land surveyor and Appalachian Power's project boundary, with an attorney for the rights that follow, not by the view from the porch.
Pulaski County's development ordinance is built on the same line. It draws a Claytor Lake Overlay District whose boundary follows the project boundary, sets the lake's base elevation at 1,846 feet, and requires approval from APCO for any development or use of property inside the district. The FERC license separately obliges Appalachian to manage occupancy and uses of project lands and waters, including boat docks, piers and erosion control structures; the permits behind a dock are covered in whether you can build a dock on the New River.
Looking at property along the Claytor Lake shore?
Send the road or tax map number, and Lowell will read the parcel and point out where its deed line, the 1,850-foot contour and Appalachian Power's boundary need checking. No cost, no obligation.
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We'll be in touch shortly with an honest read.
Questions this raises
Does a Claytor Lake lot usually own the ground down to the water?
Usually not. Appalachian Power says that, with few exceptions around the lake, it owns all the property below the 1,850-foot elevation contour, and full pond is 1,846 feet. Where it does not own that strip, it holds flowage right and easement deeds. Whether a particular deed reaches the water is a question for the deed itself, a land surveyor and Appalachian Power's project boundary.
Which acreage figure for Claytor Lake is correct?
No single one is settled. The Department of Wildlife Resources gives 4,363 acres, Pulaski County's plan gives 4,472 and DCR gives 4,500. The state park on the lake is 472 acres to DCR and 497 to DWR. The one size the state agencies share is the length, 21 miles, so quote any acreage with the name of the agency that published it.
What approval does Pulaski County require inside the Claytor Lake Overlay District?
Pulaski County's development ordinance says any development or use of property located in the Claytor Lake Overlay District requires approval from APCO, which is Appalachian Power. The district's boundary follows the Claytor Project boundary, generally the 1,850-foot contour except where a survey extends it. The county's Community Development office, which reviews dock and zoning permits, can confirm what else applies to a parcel.
Where this page's facts come from
Every rule, office and figure above traces to one of these. Rules change; check the office before you act on one.
- Claytor Project shoreline FAQs Appalachian Power
- Unified Development Ordinance, July 2025 (PDF) Pulaski County, Virginia
- Comprehensive Plan, land use chapter (PDF) Pulaski County, Virginia
- Community Development Pulaski County, Virginia
- Claytor Lake State Park Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation
- Claytor Lake Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources
- New River Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources