Chapel Hill Park Lake

From the air

Chapel Hill Park Lake did not exist in 1955. By 1968 the dam was new and the lake full, and it has held the same outline since.

First seen

In 1968 the lake is already full and the dam's unpaved crown looks freshly built; the valley was still woods in 1955.

Dam in the lidar

The dam at the south end carries a road. It is roughly 330 to 400 feet long, with a crest about 5.7 feet above the lake. The steep downstream face is about 27 feet high. Ground falls about 44 feet to the creek bed 200 feet downstream. No breach shows. The spillway is not visible.

Read from aerial photos taken between 1940 and 2026 and from DeKalb County 2024 lidar, then checked by a second reading. How the photos were read.

Depth

Modeled from the shoreline shape and the dam inventory’s average depth: deepest point about 31 ft. Treat it as an estimate; no survey of the lake bottom was found. How depth is estimated.

History

Chapel Hill Park Lake Dam is a 40-foot, 360-foot-long earth dam that the National Inventory of Dams lists as county-owned, recreation-only and completed in 1969, a year NID often estimates. It holds about 10 surface acres and 135 acre-feet at normal level. Georgia EPD's June 2025 inventory still lists it. DeKalb County held a groundbreaking for park renovations on December 8, 2010, and ran free Gateway to Fishing youth events at the park's fishing pond in September 2022 and in May and August 2023. Who built the dam, why, and on what stream are not documented in anything found. 12345

Who built it

Not established. NID lists the designer as 'DEKALB CO.', the owner type as Local Government, the primary purpose as Recreation and the year completed as 1969, with the stream field 'Unknown'. That points to a county project, but no source read says who built the dam, when the park land was acquired, or whether the pond predates the park. 1

Timeline

1. 1969NID gives 1969 as the year the dam was completed. NID years are often estimates and no second source confirms it, so it is a lead rather than a fact. Uncertain 1
2. May 2005NID records the dam's last inspection as May 2005, on a 5-year inspection frequency. It still lists the condition as Not Rated. 1
3. December 8, 2010DeKalb County Recreation, Parks and Cultural Affairs held a public groundbreaking at Chapel Hill Park for planned renovations, per an AJC notice. The notice as read does not mention the lake. 3
4. September 17, 2022DeKalb Parks and Georgia DNR held a free Gateway to Fishing session for youth ages 5-17 at the fishing pond at Chapel Hill Park, 8 a.m. to noon. 4
5. May 20 and August 11, 2023DeKalb Parks and Georgia DNR held two more free Gateway to Fishing sessions for youth ages 5-17 at the Chapel Hill Park fishing pond, announced May 4, 2023. 5
6. June 2025Georgia EPD's Safe Dams inventory, updated June 4, 2025, still lists Chapel Hill Park Lake Dam in DeKalb County as Classification II. 2

Names

Chapel Hill Park Lake Dam

Name in both the federal NID and the Georgia EPD dam inventory; it is the dam's name, not a separate lake name. 12

Chapel Hill Park fishing pond

DeKalb County calls the water at Chapel Hill Park 'the fishing pond' in its 2022 and 2023 youth fishing announcements. Linking that pond to this dam rests on the park name and location, not on a document that names both. 45

The dam

NID: earth dam, 40 ft high (33 ft hydraulic height), 360 ft long; uncontrolled spillway and outlet; 135 acre-feet normal and 144 acre-feet maximum storage; about 10 surface acres; drainage area not recorded. NID hazard is Low and condition is Not Rated; its last recorded inspection is May 2005 on a 5-year cycle, and the record was last updated April 2021. Georgia EPD's June 2025 inventory lists the dam in Classification II (state ID 044-047-00865, maximum storage 144 acre-feet) with no owner name. NID's Low hazard and EPD's Class II are different rating schemes, so the two are not necessarily in conflict. No rebuild, repair or drawdown record was found. 12

Year in the inventory

1969

Dam height

40 ft

Surface

10 acres

Average depth

about 13.5 ft

Owner type

Local Government

Figures from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ National Inventory of Dams. Its “year” is often a rebuild or survey date, and average depth is storage divided by area.

Visiting

Getting there

Chapel Hill Park is a DeKalb County park at 3985 LeHigh Blvd, Decatur, which the county describes as having multi-use sports facilities and open green space. The county held youth fishing events at its fishing pond in 2022 and 2023. Current hours, and whether the pond is open to walk-up public fishing outside those programs, were not found. Check with DeKalb Recreation, Parks and Cultural Affairs (404-371-2000, per the county page) before visiting.

What you can see

A fishing pond at the park, used for county youth fishing programs as of 2023. Whether the earthen dam and spillway are visible from public areas is not documented; park land and dams are look-only, no digging.

Look, don’t dig. Parks, cemeteries and preserves are off limits to digging and collecting, and private land needs the owner’s permission to enter.

Open questions

• Which stream does the dam impound? NID says 'Unknown', and the drainage area is recorded as 0.
• Was the lake built with the park around 1969, or is it older, for example a farm pond that the county acquired?
• Do the NID coordinates fall on the pond inside Chapel Hill Park? The Census address point is about 130 m off, which is not close enough to be sure.
• When and how did DeKalb County acquire the land?
• What did the December 2010 renovations and a fishing pier bid (DeKalb ITB 17-100875, seen only as a title in search results, page no longer retrievable) involve, and did they touch the lake or dam?
• Why does NID rate hazard Low while Georgia EPD lists Classification II?

Know something? Write to hello@historyunderfoot.org. Family papers, photos and deeds often settle these.

Where to look next

• Georgia EPD Inventory of Dams (June 2025), the spreadsheet row for state ID 044-047-00865. Ask Safe Dams for its inspection and classification file. (Georgia EPD Watershed Protection Branch, Safe Dams Program)
• AJC notice 'DeKalb County to hold groundbreaking at Chapel Hill Park' (December 2010): full text for the scope of renovations (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• DeKalb bid ITB 17-100875, Chapel Hill Park Fishing Pier Construction (2017): the county's old PDF link returned 404, so ask DeKalb Purchasing for the scope and site plans (DeKalb County Purchasing)
• UGA 1938-40 DeKalb aerial photographs: check whether a pond or stream valley exists near 33.6728 N, 84.2258 W before 1969 (UGA Libraries / Digital Library of Georgia historic aerials)
• USGS topographic quadrangles for that coordinate, pre-1969 and post-1970 editions, to bracket when the lake first appears (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (topoView))
• DeKalb County parks bond and greenspace records for Chapel Hill Park land purchase dates (DeKalb County Recreation, Parks and Cultural Affairs)
• Photograph and subject files on the Panthersville and Chapel Hill Road area (DeKalb History Center archives)
• Board of Commissioners minutes and Legistar items mentioning Chapel Hill Park, its pond or dam (DeKalb County Legistar)

Sources

1. National Inventory of Dams record GA01335, Chapel Hill Park Lake Dam (queried live from the NID FeatureServer, Sept 29, 2026; data last updated April 2021) U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Inventory of Dams
2. Inventory of Dams (updated June 4, 2025), row for Chapel Hill Park Lake Dam, state ID 044-047-00865 Georgia EPD, Safe Dams Program
3. DeKalb County to hold groundbreaking at Chapel Hill Park (December 8, 2010 event, 3984 Lehigh Blvd) Atlanta Journal-Constitution
4. DeKalb Parks Partners with Georgia DNR to Host 2nd Gateway to Fishing Program (Sept 17, 2022 event) DeKalb County, GA
5. DeKalb Parks Partners with Georgia DNR to Host 3rd Gateway to Fishing Program (May 20 and Aug 11, 2023 events) DeKalb County, GA