ALL I NEED IS MY PASSPORT

April 2021

Fontana Dam, North Carolina

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was a paragraph in my 6th grade history book.

The TVA is a federally owned corporation created by congressional charter on May 18, 1933, to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development to the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected by the Great Depression.

I believe that was the entire paragraph in my history book.  When you visit one of the largest dams you realize there is far more to the story.

Not far from Smoky Mountains National Park is the Fontana Dam.  Built in 1941 it had been on the concept books for quite awhile to service ALCOA (Aluminum Company of America).  Politics and money kept it from becoming a reality, the war made it happen.

When the US entered into World War II there was a huge spike in the demand for aluminum for aircraft, ships, and munitions. This created a huge spike in the need for electricity and TVA began construction on the Fontana Dam.

At 480 feet high, Fontana is the tallest dam in the Eastern United States. The dam  was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.

Bryson City, NC

This has never been a travel blog about hotels and restaurants, but we had the pleasure of staying at the Everett Hotel in Bryson City.  Bryson City is a sweet town south of the Smoky Mountain National Park.  It is a convenient place to stay and appears to be gentrifying if one believes the real estate agents haunting the sidewalks of their offices.

The Road to Nowhere – Bryson City NC

I had read about the Road to Nowhere, but thought it would be too hard to find, until driving out of Bryson City and past this sign.

With the creation of the Fontana Dam and thus Fontana Lake many locals of Swain County lost their homes and the highway that served their towns.

The Federal government promised to replace the highway with a new road. The most important reason was to provide access to the old family cemeteries that were left behind.

Construction was stopped when it was found that building the road would cause irreparable damage to the eco-system.  Thus the road to nowhere and broken promises.

On weekends throughout the summer, the Park Service ferries groups of Swain County residents across Fontana Lake to visit their old family cemeteries for Decoration Days and family reunions.

Tail of the Dragon

Leaving Bryson and the Road to Nowhere we travelled along Highway 129 along the edges of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The road has 318 curves, is littered with motorcycles, and fast cars.   There is a speed limit, one we tried to adhere to, not quite enough turn outs for us slower drivers and only one policeman sitting in wait at the end.  The entire area is served by stores at the beginning and end of the road to sell T-shirts, drinks, snacks and the photos of you taken by the many professional photographers staked out along the road.

Somewhere in the middle is Deal’s Gap with a giant dragon made from spare parts.  Deal’s Gap was so filled with people that I could only get a photo of the Dragon from the roadside.

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Cheoah Dam

Driving in and around the area one encounters the Little Tennessee River.  Down another long winding road is the Cheoah Dam.  Built in 1916 it was the first built by the Tallasee Power Company.  It was made famous when Harrison Ford stood atop it for the dramatic jump scene in The Fugitive.

The end of our day was spent driving 289 miles to our next destination.  Here are some shots from that drive.

April 2021

Shell Oil Clam Shell Station

This is the last Shell Oil clamshell station in the United States.

A local Shell gasoline marketer, had eight similar stations built in the 1930s by R.H. Burton and his son, Ralph.

The buildings were constructed of bent green wood, wire and concrete stucco.

The station had a second life as J. Don Watson’s lawn mower repair business in the 1970s and 80s  After falling into disrepair it was rescued by the North Carolina Preservation society and is now registered on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Bunker Hill Covered Bridge

The Bunker Hill Covered Bridge is a National Civil Engineering Landmark, and is one of the 221 known remaining lattice truss bridges in the country.  This bridge is the only remaining example in wood of the Improved Lattice Truss patented by General Herman Haupt.

In a letter,  Haupt explained his design which is “composed of a system of braces and counter braces arranged at equal angles in opposite directions and pinned with wooden pins to horizontal chords at top and bottom. Theory, observation, and experiment all agree in favor of the conclusions that one half of the inclined pieces are of no use as counterbraces and badly answer the purpose of ties, that from their inclined position they are exposed to a very considerable cross strain, which tends to split the timbers along the line of pins, and that the pins of the lower intersections are caused to bear a disproportionate share of the weight.”

The Grave of Chang and Eng Bunker

Chang and Eng Bunker (a surname they did not take until retiring in the United States) were born in Siam (now Thailand) in 1811. Joined at the chest by a bridge of cartilage, the duo traveled the world as the famed “Siamese Twins” .

After years on the road, the brothers bought a small farm in the town of Traphill and settled down to lives as gentleman farmers. In 1843, they married Adelaide and Sarah Anne Yates, sisters native to the area. The brothers ran the farm and lived together until tensions between Adelaide and Sara Anne forced them to set up separate households. Between their two marriages, the brothers sired 21 children.

The Town of Mayberry

Andy Griffith was born in Mount Airy, North Carolina. The Andy Griffith Show was not filmed in Mount Airy, but to honor Griffith, the city recreated some of the sights from TV show. You will find the Mayberry Courthouse, Floyd’s Barbershop, and Goober’s Filling Station.