The lake is created by the Oliver Dam and Generating Plant, which was completed in 1959 by Georgia Power.

The lake was named for James McCoy Oliver, an executive of Georgia Power at the time.

Green Island Hills, an upscale development, is located on the lake at the mouth of Standing Boy Creek.

Between Oliver Dam and the downtown Columbus, a few miles downstream, the river drops nearly 100 feet (30 m) in elevation.

Lake Oliver is the northernmost point of the Chattahoochee Riverwalk a fifteen-mile long bicycle pathway that extends southward to Fort Moore.