The Sunken Town of Gad, West Virginia

The story of Gad, West Virginia. A town that was sunken beneath the Summersville lake in 1966 with the creation of the Summersville dam. I hope you enjoy! I had a lot of fun putting this together.

0:00 Prologue
0:41 Chapter 1: Origins and History
6:16 Chapter 2: The Summersville Dam
9:15 Chapter 3: The Atlantis of Appalachia
12:50 Chapter 4: New Gad: Fallout 76
15:05 Chapter 5: Final Thoughts and Epilogue

✪ The music in this video was sourced from the Fallout 76 'Wastelanders' game soundtrack.

✪ Summersville Dam & Gauley River Whitewater History

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[aaronheater]

Lol, that last little bit of lore about the naming of the dam is a locally famous story that you hear about from time to time when the old folks start talking about the good old days.

[dallasdavis]

there was a few towns covered over by the tygart lake as well a couple hours away from summersville

[rshuler]

Over at Sutton Dam, Earnie Carpenter wrote a song about his family’s farm being flooded for the dam. Elk River Blues…hauntingly beautiful fiddle tune.

[JoeB-rx]

I lived in St Albans WV on the Kanawha River and you pronounced it perfectly.

[hannah_]

Hi! I'm a local and live only a few minutes from Summerville. Though it's been quite a long while, I have walked in the area where Gad used to be when the lake was drained. I can confirm that there are no houses or cars at the bottom of the lake that are still standing. Like I said, I was pretty young when I went on this walk, but I'm almost positive that there is very little left of this community. I vaguely remember seeing the remnants of an old stone staircase and finding a few pieces of pottery but nothing like full buildings. I don't know where they got this information, but it would be super cool if it was true though lol. Thank you for making this video and compiling the information about this awesome little bit of history!

[jockoharpo]

Nearby Centraia, WV was moved when the Elk River near Sutton, WV was flooded as it was named Sutton Lake.

[portercoogan]

I told my mother in law about Gad, she would crack up and say let's go to the gad dam lake!

[TomasMartinoLlamas-xfxx]

My father was from Beckley and he remembers when they were blasting the rock walls and clearing debris out before the completion. He said they would have big beer parties down in there celebrating the last few days and nights before they started letting the water run in and fill up. He also said there are many old broken down cars still at the bottom from the 1930’s and 40’s.

[GroovyNewLife]

Oh this is so interesting! I didn't know about this place.I really love your vids!!

[bjellison]

Lake Stephen's is the one with the intact town. And town is used very lightly. There's a tractor and several silos. It's so deep though few do the scuba diving there

[williamblake]

There was a few cinder blocks left that got exposed at winter pool back in the 80's.
Those probably became ad hoac boat anchors years ago.

[Slimson]

When the Corps of Engineers made all of their lakes during the Flood Act there is a clause to leave no standing structures such as homes and bridges intact. All homes are bulldozed or moved out of the area that will be flooded. Bridges are blown up and left to fall into old river beds they once stood over. Also, standing timber that may possibly affect recreation boaters are clear cut and sold for Timber sales.

I worked for the USACE in PA and one structure they left intact but gutted under the lake was an old dam and powerplant. There are zero houses and zero intact structures like some may say.

[kayqueue]

A family of Gadds, William Warwick Gadd and most of his adult children, moved west from Franklin County, Virginia, in the 1830s into what would become Mercer, Logan, Wyoming and Webster counties, West Virginia. Some went on to Rockcastle County, Kentucky.

[richarddrum]

One of the more interesting and comical stories I was told after joining the Corps of Engineers in 73. There are a number of past towns and communities that have been submerged beneath impounded lakes throughout the US, many were relocated to new locations, some, like Gad were lost.

[frankmorris-hykm]

My grandmother and grandfather house was moved from Sparks when they were building Summersville lake to Poe and is still there today my aunt lives there now

[RetiredMemeLord]

if you think a small town underwater is something, try having a bus with the all the bodies underwater and have built a bridge over it

[melissabotkin]

Dale hollow lake in Kentucky has the school still intact and tou can see it from the sky! You should do a doc on that. Very interesting too

[alvashoemaker]

THANK YOU for sharing this history…! 👍🏼👍🏼🙂👠👣

[kevinmckinney]

I was raised around summersville and the two boats located at salmon run that are shown the white one and the one that is shown next to it are still there my mom goes horseback riding around GAD when they drain the lake

[tommyreimrock]

Flagstaff, Maine is a town here that was flooded over by the Dead River.