Cherokee Dam
| Cherokee Dam | |
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Cherokee Dam in the 1940s
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 Location of Cherokee Dam in Tennessee
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| Official name | Cherokee Dam |
| Location | Jefferson and Grainger counties, Tennessee, United States |
| Coordinates | 36°9′58″N 83°29′54″W / 36.16611°N 83.49833°WCoordinates: 36°9′58″N 83°29′54″W / 36.16611°N 83.49833°W |
| Construction began | August 1, 1940 |
| Opening date | December 5, 1941 |
| Operator(s) | Tennessee Valley Authority |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Impounds | Holston River |
| Height | 175 feet (53 m) |
| Length | 6,760 feet (2,060 m) |
| Reservoir | |
| Creates | Cherokee Lake |
| Power station | |
| Commission date | 1942-1953 |
| Turbines | 2 x 35 MW, 2 x 33 MW Francis-type |
| Installed capacity | 136 MW |
Cherokee Dam is a hydroelectric dam located on the Holston River in Grainger County and Jefferson County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The dam is operated and maintained by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the early 1940s to help meet urgent demands for energy at the outbreak of World War II. Cherokee Dam is 175 feet (53 m) high and impounds the 28,780-acre (11,650 ha) Cherokee Lake. It has a generating capacity of 135,200 kilowatts. The dam was named for the Cherokee, a Native American tribe that controlled much of East Tennessee when the first European settlers arrived in the mid-18th century.
The South Fork and North Fork of the Holston River merge to form the Holston River proper in Kingsport, Tennessee, from which the river proceeds southwestward for just over 140 miles (230 km) across northeastern Tennessee before joining with the French Broad River in Knoxville to form the Tennessee River. Cherokee Dam is located approximately 52 miles (84 km) upstream from the Holston's mouth. The dam was built immediately downstream from a point where Mossy Creek, which flows northeastward from Jefferson City, joins the Holston to create a T-shaped formation. The dam's immediate headwaters and tailwaters still resemble this formation.
Cherokee Lake stretches for 59 miles (95 km) from the dam to the John Sevier Fossil Plant just south of Rogersville, Tennessee, and includes parts of Jefferson, Grainger, Hamblen, and Hawkins counties. The lake's Mossy Creek embayment reaches all the way to the city limits of Jefferson City. Tennessee State Highway 92 crosses the Holston just downstream from the dam.
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