40 graded lakes within 4 hr of downtown
Driving from Memphis to a lake worth swimming in
Mckellar Lake is the closest graded water to Memphis, 16 min away, and it grades D. Lower Lake grades B and takes 1 hr 13 min — 57 min more in the car, each way, for water that clears the bar.
Every lake below is ranked by how long the drive is, and labelled with the water-quality letter it earned. Closest is not the same as cleanest, and this page will not pretend otherwise.
Closer, or cleaner — the whole ladder
40 lakes, sorted by drive time from downtown Memphis. Letters in range: 3 A, 6 B, 8 C, 9 D, 14 F. Some of the best water is over a state line — this list crosses into Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky. The furthest entry is Swan Pond at 3 hr 6 min.
| Drive | Lake | Grade | Road miles | County | Size | Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 min | Mckellar Lake | D | 6.7 | Shelby County, TN | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 24 min | Horn Lake | F | 13.7 | DeSoto County, MS | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 51 min | Horseshoe Lake | F | 32.5 | Crittenden County, AR | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 8 min | Tunica Cutoff Lake | F | 43.7 | Lee County, AR | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 13 min | Lower Lake | B | 58.7 | Panola County, MS | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 16 min | Lake Poinsett | C | 59.9 | Poinsett County, AR | 540 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 17 min | Lake Austelle | C | 53.1 | Cross County, AR | 66 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 19 min | Walnut Lake | F | 52.6 | Tunica County, MS | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 19 min | Snow Lake | F | 58.3 | Benton County, MS | 130 ac | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 22 min | Chewalla Lake | B | 58.6 | Marshall County, MS | 0 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 25 min | Sixmile Lake | F | 60 | Tunica County, MS | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 28 min | Flower Lake | D | 53.4 | Tunica County, MS | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 34 min | Lake Hogue | F | 71.3 | Poinsett County, AR | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 37 min | Bear Creek Lake | F | 73.1 | Lee County, AR | 520 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 38 min | Lake Frierson | C | 80.3 | Greene County, AR | 335 ac | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 42 min | Enid Lake | D | 77.8 | Yalobusha County, MS | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 46 min | Storm Creek Lake | F | 75.6 | Phillips County, AR | 510 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 53 min | Tippah County Lake | C | 83.5 | Tippah County, MS | 144 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 59 min | Horseshoe Lake | F | 77.3 | Coahoma County, MS | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 2 hr | Des Arc Lake | C | 101.8 | Prairie County, AR | 350 ac | ✓ Public |
| 2 hr 4 min | Lake Charles | F | 106 | Lawrence County, AR | 562 ac | ✓ Public |
| 2 hr 5 min | Elvis Presley Lake | B | 104.7 | Lee County, MS | 331 ac | ✓ Public |
| 2 hr 8 min | Trace State Park Lake | C | 102.6 | Pontotoc County, MS | 565 ac | ✓ Public |
| 2 hr 9 min | Desoto Lake | F | 89.8 | Coahoma County, MS | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 2 hr 15 min | Tombigbee State Park Lake | C | 110.3 | Lee County, MS | 60 ac | ✓ Public |
| 2 hr 17 min | Desoto Lake | F | 94.6 | Phillips County, AR | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 2 hr 23 min | Pool B | B | 122.9 | Itawamba County, MS | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 2 hr 24 min | Reelfoot Lake Blue Basin | D | 102.1 | Lake County, TN | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 2 hr 27 min | Tunica Cutoff Lake | F | 60.1 | Tunica County, MS | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 2 hr 30 min | Pool C | B | 124.7 | Itawamba County, MS | 1,642 ac | ✓ Public |
| 2 hr 31 min | Pickthorne Lake Along Eastern Most Levee. | D | 139.9 | Lonoke County, AR | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 2 hr 35 min | Barnett Lake | D | 122.6 | White County, AR | 245 ac | ✓ Public |
| 2 hr 49 min | Reelfoot Lake Upper Blue Basin | D | 114.8 | Obion County, TN | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 2 hr 50 min | Lake Mirandy | A | 137.5 | Sharp County, AR | 61 ac | Not recorded |
| 2 hr 53 min | Beaverfork Lake | D | 164.6 | Faulkner County, AR | 1,394 ac | Not recorded |
| 2 hr 55 min | Pool A | B | 131.2 | Monroe County, MS | 914 ac | ✓ Public |
| 2 hr 57 min | Pool D | A | 128.3 | Itawamba County, MS | 1,992 ac | ✓ Public |
| 2 hr 57 min | Pool E | A | 130.4 | Prentiss County, MS | 851 ac | ✓ Public |
| 3 hr 1 min | Aberdeen Lake | C | 141.1 | Monroe County, MS | 4,121 ac | ✓ Public |
| 3 hr 6 min | Swan Pond | D | 168 | Ballard County, KY | Not recorded | Not recorded |
What the numbers are, and are not
Drive times and road miles are one-way road routing from downtown Memphis to the nearest public road at each lake, over the OpenStreetMap network via OSRM (router.project-osrm.org) over OpenStreetMap, driving profile, free-flow. Free-flow means no traffic model and no time of day, so a weekend morning will beat these numbers and a Friday afternoon will not.
The letter is the lake’s A–F water-quality grade: clarity, total phosphorus and chlorophyll-a measured over years, not a rating of the beach, the boat ramp or the view. An A describes the lake’s record; it does not clear the water for a particular afternoon. Lakes with no letter are not listed here, because the letter is the only axis this page ranks on.
Size and access come from the lake record where the agency published them. “Not recorded” means nobody documented it — it is a gap in the paperwork, not a statement about the lake.
More lakes near Memphis
Nearby cities
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Lower Lake in Panola County, Mississippi. It grades B and the drive is 1 hr 13 min, or 58.7 road miles. The closest graded lake of any kind is Mckellar Lake at 16 min, and it grades D.
57 min each way. Mckellar Lake is 16 min out and grades D; Lower Lake is 1 hr 13 min out and grades B.
30 of the 40 lakes here have a public access point on the record, and the closest is Horn Lake, 24 min away, grading F. The rest of the table shows "Not recorded" where no access point was documented, which is not the same as no access — check with the managing agency before you trailer a boat.
By road, from downtown Memphis to the nearest public road at each lake, over the OpenStreetMap road network. They are free-flow times: no traffic, no time of day, no stops. Treat them as the floor, and add for rush hour and for the last stretch to the water.
No. The letter summarises years of phosphorus, nitrogen, algae and turbidity measurements — it describes the lake, not this afternoon. A beach closure, a bloom, or a heavy rain can change conditions on an A lake overnight. Check the lake's own page for its measurement record, and check the managing agency for current advisories before you get in.
Stay by the water, not by the highway
Cabins, hotels and rentals around Lower Lake in Panola County — the closest lake to Memphis that grades B. 1 hr 13 min from downtown.
Top-rated places to stay near Lower Lake
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