Qualla: Gad, West Virginia

Gad, West Virginia: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The town is named for the Gadd family. It sat on McKee's Creek in southern Nicholas County, a quiet farming community without any particular distinction except that it existed in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the late 1950s the US Army Corps of Engineers selected a site on the Gauley River downstream for a flood-control and recreation dam. McKee's Creek emptied into the river within the planned reservoir footprint. The Corps bought out the Gadd family land and the rest of the community. On September 3, 1966, the gates of Summersville Dam closed, and the water began rising. By the next summer, the town of Gad was at the bottom of Summersville Lake, near what is now the marina. It is still down there. On the right winter day, you can see parts of it again.

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Gad, West Virginia: Naming the Place

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Gad acquired its name from one of the families who had farmed McKee's Creek for generations - the Gadds. West Virginia is full of communities named for early settlers; the 1945 Place Name Press study West Virginia Place Names lists hundreds of them. The double-D was eventually so...

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Gad, West Virginia: The Dam

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Summersville Dam project was authorized in 1938 but delayed by World War II and post-war priorities. Construction finally began in the early 1960s. The completed earthen embankment, when it closed, would back the Gauley River into a 2,790-acre reservoir for flood control, wat...

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Gad, West Virginia: The Winter Pool

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Army Corps of Engineers manages the reservoir on a seasonal schedule. Each fall, after rafting season ends on the Gauley below, the lake is drawn down to its winter pool - sometimes as much as 100 feet below summer levels - so engineers can inspect the dam and surrounding inf...

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Gad, West Virginia: A Lake With a Town Beneath It

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Summersville Lake today is one of West Virginia's most popular recreation destinations - a clear-water reservoir surrounded by sandstone cliffs that bring climbers from across the eastern United States. The marina serves boats and pontoons in summer. The Gauley River below the da...

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