Smith Mountain Lake

Smith Mountain Lake State Park is a 1,148-acre (4.65 km2) state park along the shores of Smith Mountain Lake in Bedford County, Virginia near Huddleston. It is primarily a recreational area, offering water-related activities as well as camping, picnicking, hiking facilities, and a public beach. The park was opened to the public in 1983.

Smith Mountain is a mountain summit located in Bedford County, Virginia and Pittsylvania County, Virginia. Part of the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, it is home to the Smith Mountain Dam.

Smith Mountain Cooperative Wildlife Management Area is a 4,996-acre (20.22 km2) Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Bedford and Pittsylvania counties, Virginia. Located on the shores of Smith Mountain Lake, the WMA is owned by Appalachian Power and cooperatively managed by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and the Virginia Outdoors Foundation through a conservation easement that permits public access.

Penhook is a census-designated place (CDP) in Franklin County, Virginia, United States. The population was 801 at the 2010 census, up from 726 in 2000. It is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Smith Mountain Dam is a concrete arch dam located on the Roanoke River in Virginia, creating Smith Mountain Lake. The dam was built by Appalachian Power (a division of American Electric Power) between 1960 and 1963 for the purposes of pumped-storage hydroelectricity. The dam created Smith Mountain Lake as its reservoir, where recreation and real estate have become popular.

North Shore is a census-designated place (CDP) in Franklin County, Virginia, United States. The community lies along State Route 616. It is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area. Westlake Corner borders the community to the north and northwest.

Bourassa State Forest is a 288-acre (117 ha) state forest located in Bedford County, Virginia, north of Smith Mountain Lake. It is used primarily for timber production, as an outdoor lab, and as a wildlife sanctuary. The forest is adjacent to the Smith Mountain Cooperative Wildlife Management Area.Bourassa State Forest is owned and maintained by the Virginia Department of Forestry. It is open to the public for horseback riding and hiking; hunting, camping, and motorized vehicles are prohibited. Some uses may require visitors to possess a valid State Forest Use Permit.

Ajax is an unincorporated community in Pittsylvania County, in the U.S. state of Virginia.

Gwin Dudley Home Site, also known as Twin Chimneys, is a historic home site located at Smith Mountain Lake, Wirtz, Franklin County, Virginia. The site consists of two extant stone chimneys that are situated 31 feet, 8 inches apart (inside face to inside face), indicating the length of the house, which was lost to fire in the early 20th century. They were part of a house erected about 1795.A stone tablet, with the initials GD and the date 1795 inlaided into the stone, are prominently display on the south chimney, above the arch.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

Union Hall is a census-designated place (CDP) in Franklin County, Virginia, United States. The population estimate was approximately 1,091 according to a census in 2018. It is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Westlake Corner is a census-designated place in Franklin County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,553 at the 2020 census up fro 976 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area.

On the morning of August 26, 2015, news reporter Alison Parker and photojournalist Adam Ward, both employees of CBS affiliate WDBJ in Roanoke, Virginia, United States, were fatally shot while conducting a live television interview near Smith Mountain Lake in Moneta. They were interviewing Vicki Gardner, executive director of the local chamber of commerce, when all three were attacked by a gunman in a mass shooting. Parker, age 24, and Ward, age 27, died at the scene, while Gardner survived.The gunman was 41-year-old Vester Lee Flanagan II, a former reporter at WDBJ who had been fired in 2013 for disruptive conduct. After a five-hour manhunt, Flanagan shot himself during a car chase with police officers and died later at a hospital.