Fontana Dam (also known as Fontana Village) is a town in

Graham County, North Carolina Graham County (locally ) is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 8,030, making it the List of counties in North Carolina, third-least ...

, United States. Fontana Dam is located on

North Carolina Highway 28 North Carolina Highway 28 (NC 28) is an primary state highway in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The highway runs north–south through the Nantahala National Forest in Western North Carolina. Route description NC 28 is ...

near the

Fontana Dam Fontana Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Little Tennessee River in Swain County, North Carolina, Swain and Graham County, North Carolina, Graham counties, North Carolina, United States. The dam is operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, whi ...

and the

Little Tennessee River The Little Tennessee River (known locally as the Little T) is a tributary of the Tennessee River that flows through the Blue Ridge Mountains from Georgia, into North Carolina, and then into Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. It dra ...

. The town incorporated in 2011 and had a full-time population of 33.

History

The first town called Fontana in North Carolina was a tent town of the Montvale Lumber Company in 1890. The name was given by Mrs. George Leidy Wood, wife of the vice-president of the company. A permanent town was constructed nearby in 1907 to support nearby copper mines, and an extension of the Murphy Branch of the Southern Railway was constructed from Bushnell, 15 miles away. In January, 1942, construction of the Fontana Dam began, and by 1945 this original town had been evacuated. The current town is based around the village built to support the dam construction from 1942 to 1944, so that the dam could produce electricity to power the ALCOA (Aluminum Company Of America) in nearby

Alcoa, Tennessee Alcoa is a city in Blount County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 10,978 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Knoxville, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area. As its name suggests, Alcoa was the site of a large aluminum smelting pl ...

which is south of

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

. The company was producing aluminum to make military aircraft during World War II. The cottages now rented out for visitors were employee houses. The dining hall is now a cafeteria and the commissary is now the village store. The old lodge was once a hospital and a school was also on the grounds. The children who grew up there during the dam construction times now have an association called "Dam Kids" and they keep in touch and have reunions. The Fontana Inn was dedicated on October 25, 1975. The property was transferred to Guest Services of America (GSA) then sold to Peppertree Corporation of Asheville NC in 1987. The CEO, Wayne Kinzer was later convicted of a felony and the property changed hands several times thereafter. Police services were once handled by village company police of the resort, but with Kinzer's felony conviction, the agency disbanded. The TVA police also patrolled the property which was part of a 100-year ground lease from TVA. With the disbanding of TVA police in 2012, the Graham County Sheriff Department and the NC Highway Patrol are the only police services to the area now.

Incorporation

Fontana Dam incorporated as a Town in June 2011.

Demographics

2020 census

At the 2020 census, there were 13 people and 4 households residing in the town. The population density was . There were 70 housing units at an average density of . The racial composition of the city was: 84.62%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.077%

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

Latino American Hispanic and Latino Americans are Americans who have a Spanish or Latin American background, culture, or family origin. This demographic group includes all Americans who identify as Hispanic or Latino, regardless of race. According to th ...

, and 0.077% Native American.

Economy

The town's main employer is the Fontana Village Resort, which serves 100,000 visitors annually. Fontana Dam has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

with ZIP code 28733. In addition to residents and resort guests, the post office also serves hikers on the

Appalachian Trail The Appalachian Trail, also called the A.T., is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian Tra ...

, which crosses the Fontana Dam; it is the first post office on the trail north of its southern end in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. The Fontana Dam post office was one of several scheduled to be closed in 2011, though the closings have since been postponed.

References

{{authority control Towns in Graham County, North Carolina Towns in North Carolina Communities of the Great Smoky Mountains