Guntersville, a beautiful gem in the foothills of

My favorite thing to do is to spend a weekend at Lake Guntersville State Park, which features a 100 unit hotel, a very good restaurant, pool, tennis courts, chalets, lakeview cottages, 18-hole golf course, campground, country store, hiking trails and a boat launch. Everything you need for a getaway weekend.

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

This hotel is located directly on Guntersville Lake and features a boat dock and fishing pier, in addition to lake front rooms. After passing by this hotel many, many times, my wife and I finally decided to spend a night when my wife only needed one more point to qualify for the 10,000 bonus miles Northwest Airlines was giving away. We also needed to take the boat out after a winter in storage and this hotel is located just a short distance away from the marina. Checking the internet, I found a weekend rate of $54.50 for a king size room. Arriving Saturday afternoon, we found the hotel was undergoing renovation with decks being added to each waterview room. Approximately half of the hotel's 100 rooms face the water and the other half face U.S. Highway 431. Our king size room faced the lake and we would have a great view of the lake except for the fact the window was completely covered with condensation that had formed between the double paned windows. Being a warm afternoon in April, we turned on the air conditioner but noticed no immediate effect. We decided to go to dinner, at the hotel restaurant, and let the air conditioner do its work while we were gone. After a fantastic dinner we returned to find the room had not cooled down. Calling the front desk we were offered another room (a room with two double beds on the opposite side of the lake) but my wife decided it would probably cool off during the night, which it ultimately did. The only real drawback to this hotel is its paper thin walls, which allowed us to hear our neighbors almost all night. There was also a connecting door between our room and we got to smell marijuana smoke all night. We were told by a maintenance man, who came by early Sunday morning, to look at the air conditioner, that the windows were being changed out as were the air conditioners as part of the renovation. We have already decided to come back in the fall when the decks have been added and to be closer to one of the best restaurants we have ever found. (See review of Neena's Lakeside Bar & Grille)

This state park includes a 100 unit motel and lakeview cottages.
Many of the motel units also overlook the lake.
The resort also features a restaurant, swimming pool, tennis courts, hiking trails and an 18 hole golf course.

Reid's is known for its good down home country cooking and diners come from all over to eat. Reid's also attracts a number of boaters who have spent the day at the lake and stop in on their way home.

Not only is their barbecue pork delicious but also their barbecue chicken. Simmons gives you your money's worth with a 1/2 chicken and two sides costing just $5.00.

Neena's lives up to its slogan of "Lakeside Dining at its Best." Not only is it popular with the guests of the Holiday Inn, where it is located, it is also very popular with the local population.

As we were checking in, the desk clerk told us that if we were looking for a place to eat that night, he heartily recommended Neena's. And after finishing my seafood sampler platter ($16.95) I was very glad he had. The sampler included fried shrimp, broiled scallops, shrimp scampi, stuffed crab, seafood au gratin and a fried fish fillet. I also had my choice of a baked potato or fries, along with soup, salad or cole slaw.

Other entrees included seafood au gratin, zesty shrimp kabob, and grilled marinated shrimp with assorted grilled vegetables served on a bed of rice. For $22.95, there was steak and lobster and for $18.95, there was shrimp and ribeye. The prime rib and shrimp scampi platter, which the people at the next table from us got and said was absolutely delicious, is $16.95. The next morning, while my wife slept, I returned to the restaurant for the Good Cents breakfast for $5.53, including 15 percent gratuity. I had two eggs, bacon, grits, a biscuit and a bottomless pot of coffee.

Guntersville Dam was part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal project, the Tennessee Valley Authority. The dam not only brought precious jobs to the area in the 1930's, it also brought electricity and the end of flooding in the Tennessee Valley. It also brought with it numerous recreational opportunities, including boating on the river and lake, fishing, hiking, camping and many other outdoor activities. The dam was completed on January 16, 1939 but not without the loss of three workmen during the building of the dam. Today a monument to these men stands on the north side of the dam. The dam has also become a huge tourist attraction with thousands visiting the dam each year, mainly to watch as boats go through the locks. Locking through the locks has also become a fun activity for many boaters on a lazy Sunday afternoon. To see pictures of being locked through the locks see my free form journal on locking the locks.