Fontana Dam

Fontana Dam
Fontana Dam and powerhouse (aerial view)
Official name	Fontana Dam
Location	Graham / Swain counties, North Carolina, United States
Coordinates	35°27′8″N 83°48′17″W / 35.45222°N 83.80472°W / 35.45222; -83.80472Coordinates: 35°27′8″N 83°48′17″W / 35.45222°N 83.80472°W / 35.45222; -83.80472
Construction began	January 1, 1942
Opening date	November 7, 1944
Operator(s)	Tennessee Valley Authority
Dam and spillways
Impounds	Little Tennessee River
Height	480 feet (150 m)
Length	2,365 feet (721 m)
Reservoir
Creates	Fontana Lake
Total capacity	1,443,000 acre feet (1.780 km3)
Power station
Installed capacity	238.5 MW

Fontana Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Little Tennessee River in Swain and Graham counties, North Carolina, United States. The dam is operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the early 1940s to accommodate the skyrocketing electricity demands in the Tennessee Valley at the height of World War II. At 480 feet (150 m) high, Fontana is the tallest dam in the Eastern United States, and at the time of its construction, it was the fourth tallest dam in the world.

The dam impounds the 10,230-acre (4,140 ha) Fontana Lake, which spreads across a scenic stretch of the Little Tennessee along the southwestern boundary of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Appalachian Trail crosses the top of the dam. Fontana is named for the now-inundated town of Fontana, a lumber and copper-mining hub once located at the mouth of Eagle Creek. The town's name was derived from the Italian word for "fountain."

The Little Tennessee River flows for 135 miles (217 km) from its source in the mountains of northern Georgia to its mouth along the Tennessee River opposite Lenoir City, Tennessee. Fontana is located 61 miles (98 km) above the mouth of the Little Tennessee, in a remote area where the westward-flowing river bends briefly to the south. Fontana Dam is a 30-mile (48 km) drive from the three nearest cities — Maryville, Tennessee to the west, Bryson City, North Carolina to the east, and Robbinsville, North Carolina, to the south, although the small resort of Fontana Village (which has its roots as the temporary village where many of the workers constructing the dam were housed) has developed just south of the dam. The Great Smoky Mountains rise to the north and the Yellow Creek Mountains (mostly protected by the Nantahala National Forest) rise to the south. Fontana is the uppermost of five dams on the Little Tennessee River, with Cheoah Dam being 10 miles (16 km) downstream, followed by Calderwood Dam, Chilhowee Dam, and Tellico Dam.