1939 Map of Bluff City

About this map

Bluff City and the surrounding river bottomlands are captured here in a 1939 Tennessee Valley Authority field examination, just as the region’s landscape began to shift. The confluence of the South Fork Holston River and the Watauga River dictates the settlement patterns, with family-named mills and small farming communities dotting the banks. Local infrastructure is anchored by the Southern railroad and the Andrew Johnson Highway, which cuts a straight path through Piney Flats.