Cathy Hendee - Your Official Atlanta Realtor

Several years ago, there was a momentary plague of bumper stickers urging us to "Ski Lake Claire!" While there may indeed be a 4.7 acre Lake Claire Park (the green area on McClendon Ave on the map), there is, alas, NO Lake Claire. However, there is, in fact, a Lake Claire neighborhood starting east of Candler Park and also bounded on the South by the Georgia Southern Railroad tracks and De Kalb Avenue. On the East is the city of Decatur, and on the North, well, it gets too complicated and there may not be any official boundaries, anyway. Just know that the Druid Hills neighborhood claims the parks south of Ponce de Leon Avenue, so Lake Claire goes no further north than them.

The "Lake" in Lake Claire refers to Lakeshore Drive, which in turn refers to an artificial "Lake Ponceana" which is now dry. Lake Claire comprises several separate developments which became incorporated into Atlanta (but De Kalb County) starting in 1910.

Around 1200 homes range in type from craftsman to bungalow, 50's cottages, exotics and modern, mirroring the eclectic mix of residents. Lake Claire sits atop the Eastern Continental Divide, meaning that all water in it flows into the Gulf of Mexico. A little further east and rivers flow to the Atlantic.

During the 1980's a group of homeowners in Lake Claire banded together to purchase ~7 acres of land. This became the Lake Claire Community Land Trust which, while private land, is available for use by the neighborhood and to well-behaved others.

While there is no Lake Claire, this Atlanta neighborhood was originally designed to as a subdivision. The attractive neighborhood has many investors building new homes here.
Lake Claire sits on the Eastern Continental Divide (which the R.R. tracks follow), which separates rivers flowing to the Atlantic from those flowing to the Gulf of Mexico. Lake Claire is on the Gulf side. The entire neighborhood is within the City of Atlanta, in DeKalb County. Adjacent communities include Candler Park (west) Druid Hills (north) Decatur (east) and Kirkwood to the south.