File:Fontana Dam, NC - 51418180906.jpg

English: Built by the Tennessee Valley Authority on the Little Tennessee River at the site of the former site of the lumber town of Fontana between 1942 and 1945, Fontana Dam is a 480-foot (150 meter) tall, 2,365-foot long (720 meter) concrete structure, and is the tallest dam in the Eastern United States. The dam was constructed during World War II to provide electricity for industry in Tennessee for the war effort, primarily the nearby Aluminum plant in Alcoa, Tennessee. The dam’s construction led to the formation of Fontana Lake behind the dam, with a depth of 440 feet (130 meter) and a surface elevation of 1,703 feet (520 meters), with an average depth of 135 feet (40 meters). The lake flooded several rural communities and towns on the Nantahala River, Tuckaseigee River, Hazel Creek, Forney Creek, and the Little Tennessee River, including Judson, Proctor, Bushnell, Almond, Japan, and Forney. The lake’s construction also led to the re-routing of North Carolina Highway 28 and the Murphy Branch of the Southern Railroad, as well as the complete inundation of North Carolina Highway 288, which was not replaced. The dam has a generating capacity of 238.5 megawatts, created by turbines in the modernist powerhouse at the base of the dam. Just east of the top of the dam is the modernist Visitor Center, once linked to the powerhouse by a funicular incline railway, which is no longer in operation. One of the most dramatic features of the dam are the two spillways with a total of four gates, which drain at a steep angle into two concrete tunnels, which emerge on the banks of the Little Tennessee River a few hundred feet downstream of the powerhouse, supplemented by an emergency spillway east of the dam. Today, the dam is a popular stop for tourists whom flock to the region for its wilderness and natural beauty, and remains an impressive engineering marvel.