Point of Information Crossing Richard Russell Lake, SC. Photo view while crossing the lake. Lake Russell, SC. is one of three lakes on the Savannah River between South Carolina and Georgia owned and managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Construction of Lake Russell was completed in 1984 when the lake reached full pool and became South Carolina's newest lake. Bounded at one end by the port city of Charleston and at the other by the Blue Ridge Mountains, the South Carolina Heritage Corridor contains historic, cultural, and natural resources that tell the lively story of South Carolina's centuries long evolution and culture. Learn of rice and indigo, pirates and patriots, slaves and freemen, cotton fields and mill villages, swamps and waterfalls, railroads and back roads, spirituals and bluegrass.