Fontana Dam

We traveled to Murphy, North Carolina this morning just to see what the town had to offer.   It is an older, small town with some interesting buildings.   We lucked up on finding a really nice antique/junk store and a good restaurant.    I found some tiny vases to add to my collection for cheap!   And I found an inkwell that was only $5.      

After lunch we decided to drive to Fontana Dam which is the tallest dam in the US east of the Rockies.     Built from 1942-1945 to provide electricity in this mountain area and to prevent flooding, the dam is served by the Tennessee River and was built by the Tennessee Valley Authority which was a major developer of electricity and flood control in the mountain areas of Tennessee and NC.    In 1940 there was a major flood in this area.    

The water is drawn down in the lake about 50 feet in the winter months to prevent flooding downstream from winter rains and snow melt.  You can see the areas where this has happened in the photos.     We were able to walk across the dam (surprisingly there was no traffic) and we now can saw we walked a little on the Appalachian Trail which goes over the dam on it route through North Carolina.

We are heading home this evening as some things have come up at home that we both felt it would be better to drive tonight.  It is an easy drive but we won't be there until 10pm!