The Grim And Mysterious History Of Lake Lanier's Many Deaths

Up until the early 19th century, the area that became Lake Lanier in Georgia was a dry, unflooded region populated largely by the Cherokee Nation. After the Cherokee people were expelled from the region between 1830 and 1850 in what became known as the Trail of Tears, the area was populated by both Black and

Up until the early 19th century, the area that became Lake Lanier in Georgia was a dry, unflooded region populated largely by the Cherokee Nation. After the Cherokee people were expelled from the region between 1830 and 1850 in what became known as the Trail of Tears, the area was populated by both Black and white people who settled there after the Civil War. 

The region became Forsyth County, and until the early 20th century, roughly 1,100 Black people owned land in the area in a community known as Oscarville. But a second expulsion occurred in 1912 when a white lynch mob murdered 24-year-old Robert "Big Rob" Edwards and attacked the Black residents of Oscarville, forcing them to flee the county, according to Oxford American. Subsequently, the white residents of Forsyth County took possession of the land using a legal principle known as adverse possession, writes Georgia Exhibits.

Roughly 40 years later, a third expulsion came in the form of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, who decided to make a lake near Atlanta, Georgia, in order to provide, among other things, hydroelectric power, water, and flood protection to nearby counties. But according to CNN, although the government offered people some money in exchange for the land, the families were ultimately unable to survive on the money from the government. In total, roughly 700 families sold 56,000 acres of land to the U.S. government, and the rest was taken as part of eminent domain justification.

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