![]() Today, you can drive up Lakeview Drive, park your car right before the tunnel, and walk through the tunnel to the other side. In 2010, the federal government agreed to pay Swain County $52 million for the failure of completing the road. Why? According to the federal government, they found environmental issues with rocks leaking acid that made them permanently halt construction of the 30-mile road with only 1/5 of it completed. After driving 6 miles from Bryson City, you'll come to a 1/4 mile tunnel through the mountains. ![]() Lakeview Drive was created, and plans were in place were in place for it to connect Bryson City and Fontana, 30 miles away.Ĭonstruction of Lakeview Drive ended abruptly ended in the early '70s, leaving Bryson City residents with a Road To Nowhere. One of the stipulations of the agreement between Swain County and the federal government was that the government would replace the road that was flooded with a new road. Many residents of the area were forced to leave before the area was flooded. Actually, it's more like a tunnel to nowhere.Īccording to Bryson City's Chamber Of Commerce, in the '30s and '40s, the federal government received a huge tract of land from Swain County for the creation of Fontana Lake and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Learn more about the Road to Nowhere and the history of Swain County at the Swain County Heritage Museum in downtown Bryson City.The Road To Nowhere is just that, a road to nowhere. The others are inaccessible or not decorated at the request of families. Today, the North Shore Cemetery Association hosts decorations at 28 of those cemeteries. ![]() Thirty-five known cemeteries were rendered inaccessible except to those willing to walk cross-country or cross the lake in a boat and walk to the cemeteries.īy the mid-70's, a few recognized these cemeteries were in bad shape and efforts were begun to gain access for care, maintenance, and decorations. These lands are now called the " North Shore" and after being acquired by the TVA, the lands were given to the National Park. Roads that were inundated by the rising flood waters of Fontana Lake made these towns and communities inaccessible. Swain County lost 25% of their populations, who relocated throughout Western North Carolina, East Tennessee, and North Georgia. Almost overnight, the communities of Fontana, Ritter, Proctor, Medlin, Bone Valley, Walker Creek, Wayside, Marcus, Dorsey, Japan, Chambers Creek, Bushnell, Alarka, Almond, Judson, Forney, Noldand, Goldmine, and Epp Springs disappeared. With the flooding of the area to build the Dam, over 1,300 families were displaced. Most don't know that many Swain County residents called the area "home" for many years, or that there were churches, schools, mining, farms, orchards, large scale timbering, and communities throughout. With the Dam in place, the Little Tennessee River was flooded and Fontana Lake was formed in its place. Many towns and communities were "cleared out" or eliminated by the Tennessee Valley Authority's acquisition of land for the Fontana Dam and the subsequent acquisition of land from Swain County by the Department of the Interior for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Fontana Dam was constructed by the Tennessee Valley Authority to meet the need to generate electricity for Oak Ridge. With WWII underway in the 1940’s, there was an increased need for electricity to produce aluminum and research being conducted at Oak Ridge TN for the top secret Manhattan Project.
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