![]() ![]() In 2018, the last payment was paid and is being held by the state of North Carolina. But after six years, only a portion of that had been paid and the county filed a lawsuit for the remaining sum. In lieu of constructing a new road, the US Department of Interior eventually paid $52 million to Swain County in 2010. While it doesn’t make up for the upheaval that these communities had to endure, the Park Service still ferries people across Fontana Lake to visit their family cemeteries during the summer months for Decoration Days. That environmental issue was found to be too expensive to remedy and completely halted construction.Īnd that’s how this tunnel earned the moniker “Road to Nowhere-A Broken Promise,” with credit for the name rightly going to Swain County residents. It turns out that the rock surrounding the road could acidify water runoff and endanger nearby ecosystems. They also discovered a strong sulfur smell in this spot. But during the construction of the replacement-known as Lakeview Drive-someone noticed that snowflakes melted quickly on the rock. The Federal Government promised to replace that road, giving the communities access to the family cemeteries where their ancestors lie. The once-booming lumber town of Proctor was submerged as residents left for a new start elsewhere.Įven the road that led to those communities went underwater with Fontana Lake’s creation. The dam’s primary customer was the Aluminum Company of America, a Pennsylvania-based firm that was receiving US War Department aid for building aircraft, ships, and munitions that aided the war effort.Īs a result, many local communities were displaced and forced to leave behind homes that had been in their families for generations. Fontana Lake was built by the Tennessee Valley Authority in response to an urgent need for electric power during World War II. The story of The Road to Nowhere first begins with the creation of Fontana Lake, the tallest dam east of the Rockies at 480 feet. Wildberry Lodge and our greater Asheville area are part of the region known as Western North Carolina (WNC), which spans nearly 11,000 square miles.Read More: Western North Carolina (and 100+ Wonderful Places to Visit) The Story Behind The Road to Nowhere (History) Our vast size is comparable in size to the state of Massachusetts, which almost makes us a state within a state, and offers an incredibly diverse area of 3 distinct mountain ranges: high country, foothills and valleys. In this space, we have successfully blended agriculture, technology, arts, cultural and higher education centers, and a host of culinary experiences ranging from backyard barbecue to high-end dining. We also are home to a variety of obscure, strange and inexplicable features that offer wonderfully weird and wacky things to do in Western NC. What do you call a $52 million dollar dead-end in Bryson City, NC? Step into our “Way-Back” machine, way back to the 1940’s when the Tennessee Valley Authority built the Fontana Dam and Fontana Lake along the Little Tennessee River. ![]() To placate the communities that had to be relocated during dam and lake construction, the federal government proposed a new 30-mile road from Bryson City to Fontana through the new Great Smoky Mountains National Park. That’s as far as it got as environmental issues stopped construction dead in its tracks.įast-forward 30 years to the 1970’s, and… a 7-mile portion of the road had been built. ![]() A $52 million dollar settlement was reached with the Department of the Interior, North Carolina and Swain County. The road? It sits as it has existed for decades, seven miles of completed road in the middle of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. ![]()
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