Abandoned Towns
Aerial view of Summersville Lake's branching coves and wooded ridges around the Long Point area, where Gad lies under the water

Farm and ranch town

Gad

A farming village on McKee Creek that the Army Corps of Engineers bought out for Summersville Lake. It has been under the water since 1966, and it is best known for the dam that was almost named after it.

38°14′23″N 80°53′03″W · ≈1,575 ft (lake surface)

Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).

Under the lake

Gad lies under Summersville Lake (West Virginia Tourism, 2025), near the Long Point Marina (e-WV, 2024). Nothing of the village shows at normal lake levels. Roads and foundations reappear only during deep drawdowns for dam inspections, and we found no announcement of the next one. We have not verified current access, hours or rules at Long Point.

Overview

The town under the lake

Gad was a farming village on McKee Creek, a few miles southwest of Summersville. West Virginia Tourism says it had homes, farmland and a post office, and dates it from the early 1800s to 1960. The 1914 state survey map shows it as a cluster of houses where the road crossed the creek, with Sparks to the west and two country schools nearby. Wikipedia says the name most likely came from the Gadd family.

In 1960 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began Summersville Dam on the Gauley River. The rock-fill dam, 390 feet high and 2,280 feet long, cost nearly $48 million, and President Lyndon B. Johnson dedicated it on September 3, 1966. The Corps bought Gad, the people of Gad and neighboring Sparks moved away, and the lake, West Virginia's largest at 2,790 acres in summer, closed over both villages. e-WV places Gad near today's Long Point Marina.

The Corps usually names a dam for the nearest town. As the story is told, officials took one look at "Gad Dam" and named it for Summersville instead. When the lake is drawn down far below its usual level so the dam can be inspected, the old roads and foundations of Gad and Sparks come back into view, and Wikipedia says people have picked up marbles and trinkets on the exposed ground. West Virginia Tourism also mentions rock carvings.

Timeline

From McKee Creek to Summersville Lake

Gad on the 1914 Winona sheet, where the road crosses McKee Creek, with Sparks to the west
Gad on the 1914 Winona sheet, where the road crosses McKee Creek, with Sparks to the west · Map: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain
  1. Gad grows up as a farming village on McKee Creek in Nicholas County. West Virginia Tourism dates it from the early 1800s. The name most likely comes from the Gadd family, Wikipedia says, citing Hamill Kenny's 1945 book of West Virginia place names.
  2. The state geological survey's Winona sheet marks Gad where the road crosses McKee Creek, with Sparks to the west and the Belmont and Copenhavener schools nearby.
  3. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers starts building Summersville Dam on the Gauley River. West Virginia Tourism says Gad was sold to the Corps in the early 1960s and gives 1960 as the village's last year; its people move away.
  4. President Lyndon B. Johnson dedicates the dam and lake. The water covers Gad and its neighbor Sparks.
  5. When the lake is drawn down far below its usual level for dam inspections, old roads and house foundations from Gad and Sparks come back into view. Sources disagree on how often: Wikipedia says some winters, West Virginia Tourism says every ten years.
  6. Part of the lakeshore becomes Summersville Lake State Park, West Virginia Tourism reports.

Site map

Where the village stood

The mapped point for Gad is on open water in the arm of the lake that drowned McKee Creek, beside the Long Point area. The 1889 sheet in the historic maps below doesn't name Gad. The 1914 sheet does, at the creek crossing. The 1969 sheet shows the new lake over the valley, with a marina and a campground marked close to the old site, and the 1979 sheet labels the Summersville Lake Public Hunting and Fishing Area and Long Point. We have not found a dated report of the last deep drawdown or of what was visible then.

  • Roads and house foundations (under water)
  • Sparks, the neighboring village (under water)
USGS topographic map of the Summersville Lake arm over McKee Creek, with the Long Point roads on the right
USGS The National Map, topo. Gad's point is on the lake arm at center; McKee Creek's name is at the bottom, and the roads on the right serve the Long Point area.
Aerial view of the lake over Gad: open water at center with marina docks and a parking lot on the point to the right
Aerial imagery, same area. Open water covers the site; the marina docks and parking lot sit on the point to the right, with a road and clearings below.

Historic maps

Gad on USGS maps, 1889–1979

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Gad, 1889
Nicholas sheet, 1889, 1:125,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Summersville is the nearest town, about 11 minutes away. The route below was computed from OpenStreetMap and hasn't been driven by us. It ends on a side road off Long Point Access Road, by the water near the marina, about 120 metres from the mapped point, which is on the water. There is nothing of Gad to see from shore at normal lake levels.

USGS topographic map between Summersville and Summersville Lake with the route to Long Point drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From downtown Summersville4.6 miabout 11 min
  1. From Main Street, follow Broad Street (WV 39 / WV 41) out of Summersville, then turn right onto US 19 / WV 41.2.2 mi
  2. Turn right on Long Point Access Road (CR 19/32).1.7 mi
  3. Turn right, then bear right to the end of the route by the water.0.7 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • We haven't driven these routes, and we have no dated source on the Long Point roads or on current marina and lake-access rules.
  • The townsite is under water. Don't walk out onto exposed lakebed during a drawdown unless the Corps of Engineers allows it; we found no current Corps guidance.
  • Summersville Lake is drawn down every fall for the Gauley River releases, but Gad shows only in the much deeper inspection drawdowns.

Photos

Have photos of Gad?

We haven’t added more photographs of Gad yet. If you’ve visited, share your photos and a field report below.

Visitor reports

Been to Gad?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Gad

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our West Virginia index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. Wikipedia, "Gad, West Virginia", retrieved October 2026: McKee's Creek, the Corps purchase, the lake's 1966 opening, the Gadd family name (citing Hamill Kenny, West Virginia Place Names, 1945), the site near the marina, Sparks, roads, foundations and finds during drawdowns, coordinates.
  2. e-WV, "Summersville Lake State Park" by Skip Johnson, revised February 8, 2024: the dam's dates, cost, height and length, the dedication, the lake's size, Gad near the Long Point Marina, the dam-name story, the fall drawdown.
  3. West Virginia Tourism, "Did you know there is an underwater ghost town in West Virginia?", updated July 10, 2025: the farming village from the early 1800s to 1960, its homes, farmland and post office, the move-out, ten-year drawdowns, roads, foundations and rock carvings, the 2023 state park.
  4. West Virginia Tourism, "50 years later, we're still chuckling at the story behind this landmark's name", updated March 16, 2022: construction from 1960 to 1966, the Corps' naming custom and the "Gad Dam" story.
  5. Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, including the 1914 Winona sheet made with the West Virginia Geological Survey. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

Record5 of 10
  • Coordinates
  • On the 1914 map
  • Reason abandoned
  • Lake dates
  • Historic maps, 1889–1979
  • Post office dates
  • Population
  • Last drawdown and what showed
  • Shore access rules
  • Photos of the village
Missing items are what we'll ask readers and local sources to fill.