It was pointed out to me that many people had little concept as to the size of Tellico Lake, one of the smallest of the seven beautiful lakes in the Knoxville area.
Twenty five miles southwest of Knoxville, Tellico Lake begins in the mountains of Cherokee National Forest with the Little Tennessee River and Chilhowee Lake.
It flows to the channel connecting Tellico Lake, Ft Loudoun Lake, and the Tennessee River. From there you can boat to the Gulf of Mexico.
So just how big is Tellico Lake? According to TVA, Tellico Lake has 357 miles of shoreline.
The following facts will put this in perspective:
The driving distance between Atlanta, GA and Jacksonville, FL is 346 miles.
The driving distance between New York, NY and Pittsburgh, PA is 370 miles.
The driving distance between Jacksonville, FL and Miami, FL is 350 miles.
The driving distance between Los Angeles, CA and San Francisco, CA is 380 miles.
The driving distance between Las Vegas, NV and Phoenix, AZ is 302 miles
Another thought – if you could drive at interstate speed along all the entire shoreline of Tellico Lake, it would take you 4 – 5 hours.
And this is one of the smallest of the seven lakes within 40 minutes of our office.
Two of our seven area lakes [Norris and Watts Bar] are both over 700 miles of shoreline.
That explains why our area lakes are sometimes called the “Great Lakes of The South”
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