Wandering Around North Carolina

Apr 242021

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.

The dam at Fontana Lake

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.

Not far away was the secret lab called Oak Ridge, working on the atomic bomb, that was another large user of electricity and an added reason to pursue the project.

Looking downriver from 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.

The entry bridge to the road to nowhere

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.

A picture from the internet of the front of the Dragon

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.