The Melton Hill Dam swim beach is one of the public swim beaches the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) keeps on its dam reservations. It sits on Melton Hill Lake, the 5,470-acre Clinch River reservoir, on the south bank less than half a mile upstream of Melton Hill Dam in Loudon County. The beach is part of the Melton Hill Dam Recreation Area, a TVA day-use area that shares the shoreline with a public boat ramp, picnic grounds and the TVA campground run by Go Camp Tennessee under a partnership agreement with TVA.

The reservation is on TVA Melton Hill Dam Road off U.S. 321, roughly six miles north of downtown Lenoir City and about 30 minutes west of Knoxville. Follow the signs for the campground and day-use area. Day visitors park in the day-use lot by the boat ramp and walk a short path down to the water, and campers can reach the same beach on foot from their sites. Nothing published by TVA or the campground operator lists a parking or entry fee for day use.

The swim area is a marked section of the lake on the river's left bank at Clinch River mile 23.5, just upstream of the ramp at mile 23.4. Tennessee boating rules ban every kind of vessel inside the line of No Boating buoys, and boats near the ramp are held to Slow, No Wake, so the water inside the line stays quiet. Melton Hill is a reservoir, so there is no river current at the beach in normal conditions, though the bottom drops off as you move out and visitors have noted soft, muddy patches near the edge. TVA's swim season runs May through October. No lifeguard is mentioned by TVA or the operator, so plan on swimming without one.

Swimming and day use are free. A Maryville family guide lists the swimming area as open sunrise to sunset with free admission. The only listed charge in the day-use area is for reserving a picnic pavilion, $140 on the operator's fee schedule. Unreserved pavilions are first come, first served. Camping is a separate paid service with a two-night minimum. The campground runs from mid-March to mid-November, and office hours vary by day (865-361-0436).

Stay inside the buoy line. Boats launch and land a short distance downstream, and the dam with its powerhouse and navigation lock is close by, so do not drift toward the ramp or the dam. Water conditions can change after heavy rain, when flows on the Clinch are higher and the water turns muddy. If a sign or the campground staff report a closure or an advisory, follow it.

Beyond the beach, the reservation has two pavilions in the day-use area and two more at an overlook with benches and picnic tables, plus paved roads that work for walking and riding. Anglers fish the lake above the dam and the tailwater below it. Melton Hill Dam was finished in 1963, is 103 feet high, and is the only TVA dam on a tributary with a navigation lock. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.