The Bluestone Dam and Lake

Along the road from Pipestem to Hinton in West Virginia, you will run into the Bluestone Dam and lake.  This over 10 mile stretch of water provides visitors with boating and fishing opportunities.  Around the blue waters are places for picnicking and camping.  The area also provides more activities to keep you and your family very busy.

The Bluestone Dam’s construction started in early 1941, was halted in 1944 because of WWII, and recommenced in 1946.  The concrete gravity dam was finished in 1949 and situated approximately upstream from where the New and Greenbrier Rivers met.  This massive dam is about 165 feet high and over 2,000 feet long.  The latest information on the dam is because fears of flooding at the site, engineers had 8 feet of anchors and thrust blocks added to the height to tie the dam into the bedrock.  They enhanced the spillway and did other major improvements to keep the dam safe.