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1961 Map of Fontana Dam

Name: 1961 Topographic Map of Fontana Dam
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1970
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1970

About this map

Fontana Lake dominates this 1961 survey of the Graham and Swain county border, showing the landscape following the massive Tennessee Valley Authority hydro-electric projects. The map centers on the high Fontana Dam, which impounded the Little Tennessee River and altered the topography of the Great Smoky Mountains. At Fontana Village, the worker-housing-turned-resort is well established, featuring the Lady of The Lake Chapel.

Evidence of the area's pre-inundation history remains in the upland labels, including the settlement of Proctor and family burial sites like Payne Cem and Cable Branch Cem. The Appalachian Trail snakes along the ridges of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, passing through Sassafras Gap and by the Lookout Tower on Shuckstack. Industrial history is noted at the Fontana Copper Mine, while the southern portion of the sheet is defined by the Yellow Creek Mountains and the dense reaches of the Nantahala National Forest.