Georgia Power waited a decade to fill it.
Lake Rabun is an 835-acre Georgia Power reservoir behind Mathis Dam in Rabun County — the third lake in the same Tallulah River chain as neighboring Lake Burton, and the smaller, quieter of the two, anchored by a mountain lodge that's welcomed guests since 1922.
Lake Rabun sits just south of Lake Burton in the same Tallulah River chain of Georgia Power lakes, 835 acres and 25 miles of shoreline behind Mathis Dam — completed in May 1915, but left unfilled for a decade while Georgia Power finished the tunnel carrying water to the Terrora hydroelectric plant at Tallulah Falls. The Lake Rabun Hotel, the last surviving mountain lodge on the lake, has run its own restaurant since 1922; Glen-Ella Springs Inn covers seasonal fine dining a short drive away, and Tiger Mountain Vineyards adds an estate winery with its own Red Barn Cafe. Rabun Boat House and Bear Gap Outfitters carry the marina base out of Lakemont, and Lake Rabun Beach Recreation Area — a U.S. Forest Service campground with a sand swim beach — anchors the public access, with the Angel Falls/Panther Falls trail leading out from its campground loop. Tiger, closer to the lake than the county seat, covers the grocery run; Clayton's Rabun County Hospital, the same one serving Lake Burton, covers the emergency room.
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