Our Cities

The majority of lands in the city limits (the 700-acre Berkeley Lake Properties) was developed by Frank Coggins in the late 1940s. The dam, constructed in 1948, is one of the largest earthen dams in the state. The city's namesake, Lake Berkeley (88 acres), was named after Mr. Coggins' Berkeley Blue Granite Quarries in Elberton, Georgia. In 1950, the Berkeley Lake Estates "subdivision," which included five reserved Free Pass and Repass tracts (FPR) and the residential and fishing lots around the lake, was laid out. In 1952, Calvin and Kate Parsons, along with John and Dorothy Bagwell, purchased the Berkeley Realty and Investment Company and its 700-acre property.

For many years, Lake Berkeley was primarily a summer retreat, with an assortment of fishing cottages mingling with a slowly growing number of permanent homes. The health of the lake was guarded by a small, but tenacious, core of residents, each lending their expertise and time.

In 1953, some 25 property owners met and formed the Lake Berkeley Civic Association. Besides zoning and developmental control, there were important needs such as electricity, telephones, and "an all-year road" around the lake. This need for benefits that an incorporated city could help secure brought about the creation of our charter, which was approved by the General Assembly of Georgia on March 6, 1956. A new municipality to be known as the City of Berkeley Lake was created in Gwinnett County, Georgia.