Lake Wedowee, Alabama

Alabama Power's newest lake, and its clearest

Lake Wedowee — officially the R.L. Harris Reservoir, named for company director and vice president Rother L. "Judge" Harris — is the newest of Alabama Power's fourteen hydroelectric developments, completed in April 1983 by damming the Tallapoosa and Little Tallapoosa Rivers. It covers 10,660 acres across 271 miles of shoreline, stretching 24 miles from end to end in the rolling hill country of east-northeastern Alabama near the town of Wedowee. Outdoor Alabama frequently describes it as one of the finest lakes in the Southeast, driven largely by exceptional water quality: like Lake Tuscaloosa, Wedowee runs clear and comparatively low in fertility, which produces a genuine trade-off between beautiful, deep water and modest average fish size discussed in full on our fishing page.

One county, start to finish

Every acre of Lake Wedowee sits within Randolph County, which genuinely simplifies the property-tax and permitting picture compared with lakes like Logan Martin that straddle two counties, or Wateree that spans three. The county seat and the town of Wedowee itself sit directly on the lake, with the Randolph County Revenue Commissioner's office handling all property tax matters for the entire shoreline. This single-county structure is one of the more underrated conveniences of buying here, especially for a first-time Alabama lake buyer trying to avoid cross-jurisdictional confusion.

Closer to Atlanta than you might expect

One genuinely distinctive fact about Lake Wedowee's location: Atlanta, Georgia sits roughly 70 miles away, while Birmingham is meaningfully farther. This makes Wedowee a real option for Atlanta-area buyers seeking an Alabama lake home rather than fighting for a spot on Georgia's more crowded lakes, and it shapes a meaningful share of the local buyer pool. Locally, the town of Wedowee is small — a population around 820 — with basic services including a small local hospital, while Roanoke, about a dozen miles away, offers additional healthcare and home-care services.

What every buyer should check before touring

Every dock, boathouse, or shoreline structure on Lake Wedowee requires an Alabama Power permit through the company's Shoreline Management office in Wedowee, and as on every Alabama Power lake, there is no automatic transfer of that permit to a new owner — verifying permit status is essential due diligence before you make an offer. The reservoir operates under a FERC hydroelectric license, and periodic relicensing proceedings can influence shoreline rules over time, so staying current on Alabama Power's relicensing materials is worthwhile for a long-term owner. The pages below cover permits, real cost, taxes, and the honest trade-offs of this lake in full depth.

What Lake Wedowee is not

Be direct with yourself about what this lake does not offer. It is not close to a major Alabama city — Wedowee is genuinely rural, and everyday conveniences, specialist healthcare, and an airport all require a real drive rather than a short one. It is not a fertile trophy-bass lake either; the same clarity and depth that make it beautiful also limit its forage base, an honest trade-off covered in full on our fishing page. And it does not have Logan Martin's or Weiss Lake's density of established lakefront neighborhoods, since it is a newer, less densely developed reservoir. What it does offer is exceptional water quality, one of the simplest tax pictures in Alabama, and genuine proximity to Atlanta for buyers willing to look across the state line for their metro fix.

A note on the tornado risk

East Alabama, including Randolph County, sits in a region with real tornado activity, and the area has recorded significant severe-weather events in recent decades, including an EF4-strength tornado within about 20 miles of Wedowee in 2021. This is not unique to Lake Wedowee — most of inland Alabama shares similar exposure — but it is worth factoring into your insurance conversation and, if severe-weather preparedness matters to you, into how a specific property is sited relative to storm shelters or safe rooms in the area, a question worth asking any seller directly during your tour.

Wedowee Creek and the lake's namesake fishery

One of the lake's most fertile and productive tributaries, Wedowee Creek, sits on the Little Tallapoosa arm of the reservoir and is regularly cited by Alabama's wildlife biologists as one of the better largemouth bass locations on the entire lake. It is a useful example of how much variation exists across even a single Alabama Power reservoir: the main body of Lake Wedowee runs clear and comparatively low in fertility, while a handful of tributary creeks like this one buck that pattern and reward anglers willing to explore beyond the open water, a pattern worth remembering the next time someone tells you Wedowee is not a fishing lake.

A lake still finding its full identity

Because Lake Wedowee is the newest lake in Alabama Power's system, it has not accumulated the same decades of established community history that lakes like Lake Martin or Weiss carry. For some buyers this is a real draw: more undeveloped shoreline remains available, and the lake's character still feels less fully built-out than some of its older sisters. For others who want the mature amenity infrastructure of a longer-established lake community, that same relative youth can feel like a trade-off worth weighing honestly before you commit.