Three-quarters of a century ago the landscapes of the mountains in far western North Carolina were altered and life changed. In the decades since the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) dammed the Little Tennessee River, this rural and scenic area has seen tremendous tourist growth, many of whom are travelling the twisty and curvy roads to take in the engineering wonder that created the tallest dam east of the Mississippi River.
“The dam itself attracts up to two million visitors each year,” confirmed Scott Brooks, public relations specialist with the TVA. “The visitor center, open April through October, records about 53,000 visitors per season.”
“The building of the dam was enough to turn heads, too,” Zelerie Rogers, with the Town of Fontana Dam, told The Buzz. It was built during World War II to meet needs for power generation downstream; and secondly, for flood control for the area.
“There are many things appealing about Fontana Dam but most notable is the history of the structure. Built during WWII, the dam is the largest dam east of the Mississippi, and the third largest dam to be built in the United States,” Rogers explained. “Construction started in 1942 and completed in 1944, which broke all construction records. Workers worked around the clock in three shifts to get the project completed.”
“Fontana workers set a national record by placing 11,419 cubic yards of concrete in 24 hours,” Brooks explained. “That would be the equivalent of 2,306,341 gallons of milk.”
The dam is 480 feet high and stretches 2,365 feet across the Little Tennessee River.
To put that size in perspective, Brooks said these dimensions make it “approximately as tall as a 44-story building and as long as eight football fields.”
The 5,000 construction workers building the dam stayed in a village that was designed to be temporary but has since become part of the region’s hospitality offerings.
“The dam was built at first to power the aluminum mills downstream at Alcoa, which were turning out metal for military aircraft to support the war effort,” Brooks said. “In 1946, the remains of Fontana Village became a public resort next to the reservoir.”
That resort is still operating today and offers recreational activities such as boating, horseback riding and crafts making. But it is not alone in what it offers to the traveler coming through the mountains to see Fontana.
Visitor Center [Photo Credit: Tennessee Valley Authority]
“Without the dam there wouldn’t be a community,” Rogers said. “At one time almost 7,000 people called this place home. There was a school, a hospital, post office, theater, grocery store, and even a small jail. For relaxation and entertainment, they would hold dances on Saturday nights.
Rogers said she had a photograph of a young, 16-year-old Ronnie Milsap playing the piano at one of the Saturday dances. Millsap has ties to the region. He was born in Robbinsville, North Carolina, approximately 35 miles from the construction zone in 1943.
“After the dam was completed and people started moving off to find more work, visitors started finding their way to Fontana Dam to witness the marvel of the dam. It soon became apparent there was a need for housing for all these visitors and in 1946, under the supervision of General Ulysses S. Grant III, Fontana Village opened as a privately-run resort.”
The presence of the dam is impressive, as visitors attest. It provides a panoramic view of the Smoky Mountains; its borders adjacent to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It is also on the Appalachian Trail, the 2,000 mile trail that crosses the eastern United States from Maine to Georgia. According to the TVA website, the Appalachian Trail campsite on the Fontana Dam reservoir property is often referred to as the Fontana Hilton.
“I think the dam is majestic, and the historical significance to the war effort was tremendous,” Rogers said. “It’s also a tribute to what can be accomplished if people are willing to pull together to work for a common cause.”
While the dam’s history is significant, the reservoir also provides many recreational opportunities. Fontana Reservoir has 238 miles of shoreline and 10,230 acres of water surface with a flood storage capacity of 514,000 acre-feet. Lake levels vary throughout the year, with winter drawdowns of 56 feet common in winter. When the lake levels lower, remnants of old towns and homesteads can still be seen dotting the lakebed. These were submerged when the dam was built and forested slopes became the lake bottoms.
When Fontana Dam was built, its remote location and lack of roads provided challenges to construction. Seventy-five years later, roads in to and out of the area reflect modern design. Depending on how Fontana Dame is approached, navigating through the mountains is relatively easy.
“It’s a moderately winding road,” Brooks said of the approach to the dam and the visitor’s center. “If you have made it up the Tail of the Dragon, the rest of the way to the dam is easier. There are also approaches from Chattanooga and east Georgia that are not as challenging as the 129 route. The campgrounds are at the tailwater of the dam which is an easy approach once you get off of 129.”
Rogers said there are several places to set up camp, from the riverside accommodations at the Fontana Village resort to county-owned campgrounds and rare permit-required sites in protected wilderness areas.
But those who make it into the area can count on a full itinerary, according to Rogers.
“There are several things around the area that visitors should see,” Rogers noted. “First is the resort itself. There are still several original buildings standing from when the builders of the dam lived here. There is also an original cabin of the first settlers to Welch Cove, which is the area the village is located in.
The Appalachian Trail crosses the top of the dam before entering the Nantahala National Forest. Every visitor to the dam can say they’ve been on the Appalachian Trail just by driving across the dam,” she explained.
“Before the valley was flooded in preparation of the dam, there were several thriving communities located along the Little Tennessee River. One of those communities was called Hazel Creek. Accessible now only by boat or a very lengthy, difficult hike, the Fontana Marina provides tours during the season, and transportation to the outback area year round.
Rogers said an excursion here is like taking a step back in time, with old homesteads, vintage automobiles and several historic cemeteries. Nearby is Joyce Kilmer National Forest which contains one of the last stands of virgin forest in the eastern United States.
“The trees in this protected habitat have never been logged,” Rogers explained. “Yellow poplars are so big that four people can’t get their arms all the way around it.”
“Adjoining Graham County also has three dams located within its borders, one of which movie star Harrison Ford was featured jumping off of in ‘The Fugitive.’”
The Fontana Dam Visitor Center offers information and interesting details about the dam and construction. The visitor center is located off N.C. Highway 28 near the Tennessee/North Carolina state line. It is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily from May through October, except for major holidays.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the completion of Fontana Dam. To commemorate the event, the TVA has developed a special virtual tour of the inside of the dam to be posted on their website.
Destinations, Environmental Issues, Features, North Carolina, Open Road, Outdoors