Lake Gaston
Virginia Side — Brunswick & Mecklenburg Counties
A 20,300-acre Dominion Energy reservoir on the Roanoke River — 35 miles of water from Kerr Dam to Gaston Dam, with a near-zero drawdown that makes fixed docks and boathouses standard. The Virginia side sits in Brunswick and Mecklenburg counties on the northern shore. Eighty miles from Raleigh-Durham, 90 miles from Richmond. The Roanoke River chain running through this lake has produced more state record blue catfish than any other water system in the country.
Show Off Your Lake Gaston
Monster blues, striper topwater, Virginia sunsets over the boathouse — submit a photo and we'll feature it here.
Submit a Photo →How Lake Gaston Was Built and Who Owns It
Lake Gaston was created in 1963 when the Virginia Electric Power Company — now Dominion Energy — built the Gaston Dam on the Roanoke River in Thelma, North Carolina. The dam was constructed to generate hydroelectric power, not for flood control, which is why Lake Gaston behaves fundamentally differently from Army Corps reservoirs like Kerr Reservoir just upstream. There is no Army Corps, no seasonal guide curve drawdown, and no flood-storage management cycle. Dominion runs the lake under a license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and the FERC license requires Dominion to maintain a stable pool year-round.
The dam contains four hydroelectric generators with a combined capacity of 224 megawatts. Lake Gaston is fed by water released from Kerr Reservoir upstream — the Roanoke River flows from the Kerr Dam into Lake Gaston, and then from the Gaston Dam into the smaller Roanoke Rapids Lake downstream. This makes Lake Gaston the middle link in a three-dam hydroelectric chain on the lower Roanoke River, one of the few places in the country with three operating hydro projects in close geographic proximity.
Dominion Energy owns the lake and all land up to the project boundary — a line that varies by location from approximately 204 feet above mean sea level at the Gaston Dam to approximately 217 feet where the lake approaches Kerr Dam. This boundary, sometimes called the high-water mark, is where private residential lots end and Dominion property begins. No private landowner owns waterfront on Lake Gaston in the conventional sense: your lot runs to the project boundary survey line, and Dominion's land — including the shoreline and the lakebed — extends from that line to the water and beneath it.
The Virginia Side: Brunswick and Mecklenburg Counties
The northern shore of Lake Gaston sits in Virginia. Brunswick County holds the majority of the Virginia shoreline — the eastern and central northern shore from near the North Carolina state line westward toward the lake's midpoint. Mecklenburg County holds the westernmost Virginia shoreline where the lake approaches Kerr Dam. The communities of Bracey and Macon are on the Virginia side; Bracey in Brunswick County is the primary Virginia-side hub for marina access, boat ramps, and lake services.
For Tax Year 2025, Brunswick County Virginia charges $0.500 per $100 of assessed value for real estate, confirmed in the Virginia Department of Taxation TY2025 Local Tax Rates publication. Mecklenburg County charges $0.360 per $100 — the same low rate that applies to properties on the Kerr Reservoir Virginia side in Mecklenburg County. The difference between owning in Brunswick County versus Mecklenburg County on the western end of the lake is $140 per year on every $100,000 of assessed value — on a $500,000 home, that is $700 per year. Over a 20-year hold, $14,000 in cumulative tax difference between the two Virginia counties.
Why the Stable Pool Changes Everything
The most important practical fact about Lake Gaston for a waterfront buyer is the near-zero seasonal drawdown. Dominion's FERC license requires a stable operating pool; the lake does not follow a Corps-style seasonal guide curve that drops the water level five or six feet in winter to maintain flood storage capacity. The result is that fixed docks and boathouses are the standard at Lake Gaston — not floating dock systems designed to accommodate 20 or 30 feet of seasonal variation. A dock built correctly at Lake Gaston works the same in February as it does in August.
This stable-pool reality shapes the entire ownership experience. Insurance is simpler because flood zone exposure is lower. Due diligence is simpler because buyers do not need to verify guide-curve winter depth at the dock — the pool they see in August is approximately what they will have in January. And dock construction is simpler because fixed-height structures are standard rather than the exception.
Everything We Cover on Lake Gaston VA
Independent research on the Virginia side — Brunswick and Mecklenburg counties, Dominion dock permits, and Virginia tax law.
This is exactly the stuff a Lake Gaston specialist helps you navigate. Want an introduction?
Find My Lake Gaston Specialist →Ready to connect with a verified Lake Gaston specialist?
Tell us what you're looking for and we'll match you with someone who knows this lake.
Find My Lake Gaston Specialist →