Buying Property on a Private Lake is Like Shopping for Ice Cream

The private lakes of Mountain Rest, SC are really hidden jewels that only a certain few know about. These lakes are all man made and were built at the end of WWII. They are mountain valleys that have had a dam built to back up the creeks of the valley. They were built as soil conservation measures to keep the top soil from the mountains from filling up the delta areas of the Savannah River.

These lakes are : Chattooga, Becky, Mountain Rest, Crystal, Thrift and Leroy. They vary in size, elevation and what you can do on them.

Chattooga Lake was built in the late 50's by my late father in law and until the early 80's was called Fowler's Lake. The lake has national forest boundaries on 3 sides and is very pristine as the head waters of the lake come from the national forest and not another lake. This is one of two lakes at Mountain Rest that have this feature. This also makes the lake colder than other lakes. The horse power limit is 70 and there are no jet skis allowed on this lake. The gated lakefront community has about 30 house around the lake, 15 are full time residents. The lake is 45 acres.

Mountain Rest Lake was built in the early 60's by the Leroy Brown Family. The lake has national forest boundary and is spring feed from the national forest lands. This is the last private area before you get to the Chattooga Wild & Scenic River Area. This lake is divided, the larger lake is just over 35 acres and the smaller one is about 5 acres. Jet skis are allowed on the larger lake.

Crystal Lake was built by the Vissage family and they still own the majority of the land around the lake. This lake is about 35 acres, jet skis are allowed. The water from this lake comes from the lake at the Oconee State park, down the East Fork of the Chauga River through Lake Becky and then into Crystal Lake. This is the water source for the city of Westminster.

Lake Becky is a 95 acre lake with boundaries with Oconee State Park and Sumter National Forest. This lake has a 50 HP limit and no jet skis. This is the largest lake at Mountain Rest and sits at about1695 in elevation. The lake is crescent moon shaped and has about 65 houses on it, with about 40 full time families.

Thrift Lake is inside the green line on the Wild and Scenic Chattooga River, close to Pig Pen falls. This lake is very private. Only 8 homes are on the lake and the majority of the land around the lake is in a Nature Conservancy. There has not been a sale on this lake since 1995.

Lake Leroy is the lake across from the Mountain Rest Post Office. This is a private lake for the Leroy Brown heirs only. There has not been an outside sale on this lake.

Each of the lakes has a personality and is unique. I relate buying lake property in our area is like buying ice cream at the grocery store...so many kinds and flavors.

When you are ready to buy a lake front property, contact me for help in deciding what flavor will best suite you.