[4] The majority of lands in the city limits (the 700-acre (2.8 km2) Berkeley Lake Properties) were developed by Frank Coggins in the late 1940s.

In 1952, Calvin and Kate Parsons, along with John and Dorothy Bagwell, purchased the Berkeley Realty & Investment Company and its 700-acre (2.8 km2) property.

For many years, Berkeley Lake was primarily a summer retreat, with an assortment of fishing cottages mingling with a slowly growing number of permanent homes.

This need for benefits that an incorporated city could help secure brought about the creation of its charter, which was approved by the General Assembly of Georgia on March 6, 1956.

In November 1996, residents supported a referendum for the issuance of a bond to be used to purchase one of these tracts, approximately 63 acres (250,000 m2) of undeveloped forest land.

[5] Berkeley Lake is in western Gwinnett County, bordered by Duluth to the east, Peachtree Corners to the south and west, and Johns Creek to the north.