Lake Hartwell, South Carolina

Lake Hartwell is one of the largest lakes in the Southeast, and it is the kind of place that reveals its size slowly. Long fingers of water reach into wooded coves, wide main channels open toward the horizon, and the shoreline runs for 962 miles across two states. On the South Carolina side, the lake lies within Anderson, Oconee and Pickens counties, in the northwest corner of the state where the Upstate meets the Georgia line.

The lake belongs to a chain of Upstate waters. Lake Jocassee sits in the mountains to the north, Lake Keowee lies below it, and Lake Hartwell follows to the south, closest to the interstate and to the towns that grew up along the Savannah River basin. Where Lake Keowee is known for its private golf communities and clear mountain character, Lake Hartwell is known for its scale, its public access and the number of different places from which it can be enjoyed.

This page is a guide to the lake itself, the parks and towns around it, the things to do on and beside the water, and the kinds of homes found along its shoreline.

Lake Hartwell is a reservoir. It was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1950 and built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, with construction running from 1955 to 1962. The first generator came online on April 27, 1962. The dam stands seven miles below the point where the Tugaloo and Seneca Rivers join to form the Savannah River, and the lake fills the valleys of those rivers and their tributaries.

The Corps manages the lake, its dam and the large amount of public land around it. That land, 23,563 acres in all, is a major reason the lake feels open. Parks, boat ramps, campgrounds, wildlife areas and undeveloped shoreline sit alongside the private shoreline, so large parts of the lake can be reached by anyone.

The lake carries the name of Nancy Morgan Hart, the Revolutionary War figure remembered in this part of Georgia and the Carolinas, whose name also appears on the nearby town of Hartwell and on Hart County in Georgia.

At full pool the surface sits at 660 feet above sea level. The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources lists the average depth at 45 feet and the maximum depth at 185 feet, which gives the lake both broad shallow coves and deep main channels.

Lake Hartwell is built for time on the water. The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources counts 45 boat ramps and five marinas with pumpout service on the lake, and the Corps of Engineers maintains additional public access areas. Boating, paddling, swimming, sailing, jet skiing and slow afternoons on a pontoon all fit comfortably on a lake of this size.

Fishing

Fishing is one of the lake's defining activities. The Department of Natural Resources describes Lake Hartwell as a fishing hotspot, with three species of black bass, striped and hybrid bass, black crappie and bream. Striped bass and hybrid bass are stocked in the lake every year by the Department. The lake also has fish attractors, loaner tackle available through the state program and fishing access points for people who do not own a boat.

The Bassmaster Classic

The lake's reputation reaches well beyond the Upstate. Lake Hartwell has hosted the Bassmaster Classic, the championship event of professional bass fishing, in 2008, 2015, 2018 and 2022. The tournament returns to the lake on March 19 to 21, 2027, with Green Pond Landing and Event Center in Anderson County serving as a takeoff site.

Camping and Public Land

The Corps of Engineers operates about nine campgrounds around the lake, bookable through Recreation.gov, and the state parks add more camping of their own. Between the campgrounds, the day-use areas and the surrounding public land, the lake offers a long list of places to hike, picnic, camp and watch the sun go down over open water.

Four state parks touch the shoreline, two in South Carolina and two in Georgia.

Sadlers Creek State Park

Sadlers Creek State Park occupies 395 acres on a peninsula near Anderson, with water on several sides. It is a place for picnicking, camping, fishing and walking beside the shoreline.

Lake Hartwell State Park

Lake Hartwell State Park lies near Fair Play in Oconee County and offers lakeside recreation and camping on the South Carolina side of the water.

Hart State Park, Georgia

Across the state line, Hart State Park near the town of Hartwell, Georgia covers 147 acres on the lake.

Tugaloo State Park, Georgia

Tugaloo State Park, also in Georgia, sits along the upper reaches of the lake where the Tugaloo River widens into the reservoir.

Lake Hartwell is surrounded by a ring of towns, each with its own relationship to the water. On the South Carolina side they include Anderson, Clemson, Seneca, Westminster, Townville, Fair Play, Starr and Central. On the Georgia side the lake touches Hartwell, Lavonia and Martin.

Anderson

Anderson is the county seat of Anderson County and sits just off Interstate 85. The 2020 Census counted 28,106 people, making it the 16th most populous city in South Carolina. Its downtown is a historic district with an arts center, a county museum and a park that hosts events through the year.

The Anderson Arts Center occupies a former freight warehouse, with exposed brick walls and heart pine floors as the backdrop for exhibitions, studios and classes. Carolina Wren Park, just off Main Street, hosts concerts, movie nights and an annual Shakespeare performance. The Anderson County Museum tells the story of the county in the heart of downtown. On the edge of the city, the Anderson Sports and Entertainment Center spreads across about 300 acres with an amphitheater, athletic fields, trails and a lake with a park. Anderson University, a private university, adds its own campus life to the city.

Clemson

Clemson is a city in Pickens and Anderson counties built beside Clemson University, which was founded in 1889. The 2020 Census counted 17,681 people. The city sits on a finger of Lake Hartwell just off Interstate 85, and the lake and the campus share a landscape of water, wooded hills and open green space. The university's calendar, with its lectures, performances and athletics, gives the lakeside area a lively rhythm throughout the academic year.

Seneca

Seneca, in Oconee County, takes its name from the nearby Cherokee town of Isunigu, which English colonists called Seneca Town. The 2020 Census counted 8,850 people. Seneca is the principal city of the Seneca micropolitan area, which covers all of Oconee County, and it sits close to both Lake Hartwell and Lake Keowee.

Westminster, Townville, Fair Play, Starr and Central

These smaller South Carolina communities line the lake's western and southern shores. Fair Play is home to Lake Hartwell State Park, Townville and Starr sit along the quieter coves of the lower lake, Westminster lies in northwestern Oconee County, and Central sits near the Clemson end of the lake. Together they give the shoreline its small-town character, with country roads, boat ramps and cove after cove of water views.

Hartwell, Lavonia and Martin, Georgia

On the Georgia side, the lake touches the town of Hartwell, Lavonia and Martin. Hart State Park and Tugaloo State Park give the western shore a strong public presence, and the lake is a shared landscape for the communities on both sides of the line.

Lake Hartwell is unusually easy to reach for a lake of its size. Interstate 85 runs along the north shore for about 19 miles and crosses parts of the lake, linking it to Anderson, Clemson and the rest of the Upstate. The Savannah River Scenic Byway crosses the lake on South Carolina Highways 24 and 187, including the Calvin Wesley Belcher Bridge, which gives drivers some of the widest views of open water in the region.

Within the lake area, state and county roads connect the towns and the parks. Boat ramps, marinas and public landings appear along most of them, so the water is rarely far from the road.

The three great lakes of this corner of the Upstate each have their own character. Lake Jocassee, created in 1973 in the mountains, has its public access concentrated at Devils Fork State Park. Lake Keowee, created by Duke Energy in 1971, is home to the private Cliffs communities, The Reserve at Lake Keowee and Keowee Key. Lake Hartwell is the largest of the three, with the broadest public shoreline and the closest link to Interstate 85.

Anyone drawn to the region can explore all three in a single trip. Our Lake Keowee and Greenville guides, linked below, cover the rest of the Upstate.

The shoreline of Lake Hartwell offers an unusually wide range of housing types, and no two stretches of water feel quite the same. Prices are not listed on this page, because the linked live listings always show the current numbers.

Lakefront single-family homes

Individual lakefront homes line the coves and main channels of the lake in Anderson, Oconee and Pickens counties. Many have private docks, covered boat slips and decks that open directly toward the water, and the landscape runs from wooded coves to broad open views down the main channel.

Lakefront condominiums

Condominiums beside the lake, including some in the Seneca and Clemson area, offer a lower-maintenance way to be on the water.

Waterfront homesites

For those who want to build, the lake offers waterfront and water-access homesites along its coves. Dock permits and shoreline rules are managed by the Corps of Engineers, so any build begins with the Corps' guidelines.

Gated lake and golf communities

Chickasaw Point is a gated golf and lake community on the northeast shore of the lake in Oconee County. It has an 18-hole golf course, a marina, a community beach with a pavilion and a community boat ramp and dock. The 2020 Census counted 718 people in the community.

Foxwood Hills is a lakefront community in northwest Oconee County, with a Westminster address, centered on the lake.

Neighborhoods near the water

Beyond the named communities, dozens of neighborhoods across the lake's South Carolina shoreline offer lake access, and homes farther from the shore are close to the boat ramps, parks and marinas.

To see what is available now, use the Search Properties button below, which opens South Carolina listings filtered to Lake Hartwell. For a private conversation about a lakefront home, a homesite or the value of a property you own, use the Private Valuation button or contact SZ INC. Realty.