Oologah Lake is a 29,500-acre reservoir on the Verdigris River, created by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1960s. The Will Rogers Birthplace Ranch sits on a hill above the lakeshore, giving the site a setting that feels both pastoral and faintly melancholy — you can see the land Rogers grew up on, but much of the valley that once surrounded it is now under water.
For visitors, the lake is popular for fishing — bass, catfish, and crappie are the main catches — and for boating and water sports. There are several public access points and boat ramps. The Highway 169 dam area offers a good view of the reservoir. The surrounding land is gently rolling Oklahoma countryside, very much as it would have looked to Rogers as a boy.