Not to be confused with Lake Kerr, a small lake in Marion County, Florida.Kerr Lake (officially John H. Kerr Reservoir, also known as Bugg's Island Lake) is a reservoir along the border of the U.S. states of North Carolina and Virginia created by the John H. Kerr Dam. The dam construction started in 1947 and took 2,100+ workers in three shifts, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, more than four years to complete, and was finished in 1952 to produce electricity and to provide flood control.