The contractor for the project was Elm Fork Construction Co. Lake Athens was built for recreation, flood control, and water supply.

[5] Other species include white bass, channel and flathead catfish, spotted gar, smallmouth buffalo, freshwater drum, and bowfin.

[citation needed] An 82-pound-3-ounce (37.3 kg) smallmouth buffalo taken from Lake Athens in 1993 stands as the IGFA all-tackle world record for the species.

Alligators, feral hogs, ducks, geese, dove, squirrels, white-tailed deer, and quail are among the many animals at the reservoir.

It has many types of trees including pecans, elms, oak, eastern red cedar, and walnuts.There are over 200 varieties of wildflowers at Lake Athens.

The invasive aquatic plant species giant salvinia was a nuisance on the Lake for more than twenty years but was eradicated in 2019.