History UnderfootAtlanta

Still here · DeKalb County · Dam inventory GA03919

Simpson Lake

A privately owned 6-acre recreation lake in south DeKalb County. Public records give only its dam specifications, and no historical account of it turned up.

See it on the map Open its history on the map

Aerial photo of Simpson Lake, 1940
1940
Aerial photo of Simpson Lake, 2026
2026
Simpson Lake shaded by depth
Depth, modeled
Lidar terrain shading around Simpson Lake
Bare-earth lidar

From the air

Simpson Lake was full in early 2023 and mostly drained by October 2023. Three years later it is still low, with a pool covering about 40 percent of its old outline.

First seen
No lake in 1940 or 1955; it is on the 1968 aerial, so it was built between those dates.
Dam in the lidar
A straight earthen dam runs along the west and southwest shore. It is about 31 feet tall and about 387 feet long. The crest is at 738 to 739 feet, 2 to 3 feet above the 736-foot normal pool. No breach shows in the county's 2024 lidar or in the aerials.

Low water and drawdowns

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 25 ft. Treat it as an estimate; no survey of the lake bottom was found. How depth is estimated.

History

Simpson Lake is a small private lake in south DeKalb County, listed in the National Inventory of Dams as a 31-foot earthen dam, 390 feet long, holding about 6 acres and 62 acre-feet. NID gives 1960 as its completion year but cites no source for it, so treat it as unverified. The owner of record (NID data last updated 2021) is the Estate of Catherine Simpson, and the stated use is recreation. NID's last recorded Georgia inspection was in 2005; it is classed Low hazard and Not Rated. No builder, original purpose or club history was found, so the record is thin. 1

Who built it

Not established. NID records the designer as unknown, the stream as unknown and the completion year as 1960, and lists the Estate of Catherine Simpson as owner of record. That may point to a family-held recreation pond, but this is inference: no source confirms who built it or why. NHD shows an unnamed stream reach near the site, within the Camp Creek-South River watershed. 123

Timeline

  1. 1960 (per NID)NID gives 1960 as the completion year. NID 'year completed' values are often estimates and no supporting source was found, so this date is unverified. Uncertain 1
  2. May 1, 2005Most recent Georgia dam inspection recorded in NID. The dam is rated Low hazard, condition Not Rated, on a 5-year inspection cycle. 1
  3. April 20, 2021NID record last updated. It lists the owner as the Estate of Catherine Simpson and the primary use as recreation. 1

Names

Simpson Lake Dam
Dam name used in the National Inventory of Dams (NID); the record lists no alternate or former names. 1

The dam

NID: earthen dam, 31 ft high (25 ft hydraulic height), 390 ft long, with an uncontrolled spillway and uncontrolled outlet. Normal storage is 62 acre-feet, maximum 90, and surface area 6 acres. Hazard is Low and condition is Not Rated. It is state jurisdictional but not state regulated, and no emergency action plan is required. Last inspection recorded in NID: May 1, 2005, on a 5-year inspection frequency. NID record last updated April 20, 2021. No rebuild or engineering contract was found. 1

Year in the inventory
1960
Dam height
31 ft
Surface
6 acres
Average depth
about 10.3 ft
Owner type
Private

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.

Around the lake

Water

NID lists the stream as unknown. NHD shows an unnamed stream reach (reach code 03070103005692) within 400 m, in the Camp Creek-South River watershed (HUC12 030701030107). Named streams within about 2.5 km include Honey Creek, Crooked Creek, Buck Branch and South River, all in the South River drainage. The nearest named NHD pond is Browns Mill Lake, about 1.1 km away.

Visiting

Getting there

Private. NID lists the owner as an estate (as of its 2021 update), and no public access, park designation or HOA was found in the sources reached.

What you can see

Nothing confirmed. Viewing from public roads was not checked. County GIS parcel lines and current aerials would show whether the dam and pond are visible from a right-of-way.

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

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

Where to look next

Sources

  1. National Inventory of Dams, bulk CSV export (data last updated 2026-9-23), records GA03919 and GA06147 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Inventory of Dams
  2. USGS National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) MapServer, flowline and waterbody queries at NID coordinates U.S. Geological Survey, The National Map
  3. USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) MapServer, HUC12 query at NID coordinates U.S. Geological Survey, The National Map

Compiled September 2026 from the public record, with light archival coverage so far. How we know · Suggest a correction