60 years and still thriving

Fontana Village Resort was originally a village housing approximately 5,000 people who worked around the clock from 1942 to 1944 constructing Fontana Dam.

60y Fontana Village Resort has a tremendous history! It all began with the New Deal to a New Century, which comprised of President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) Act on May 18, 1933. President Roosevelt needed innovative solutions if the New Deal was to lift the nation out of the depths of the Great Depression. TVA was one of his most innovative ideas. He envisioned TVAas a totally different kind of agency and asked Congress to create "a corporation clothed with the power of government but possessed of the flexibility and initiative of a private enterprise."

On May 18, 1933, Congress passed the TVA Act and right from the start TVA established a unique problemsolving approach to fulfilling its mission-integrated resource management. Each issue TVA faced- whether it was power production, navigation, flood control, malaria prevention, reforestation or erosion control- was studied in its broadest context.

Courtesy of Craig Litz Today Fontana Village Resort serves as a wonderful getaway tucked within the mountains of North Carolina. A lot has changed in 60 years, but the charm of the past still remains.

During the 1930's even by Depression standards, the Tennessee Valley was in sad shape. Much of the land had been farmed too hard for too long, eroding and depleting the soil. Crop yields had fallen along with farm incomes. The best timber had been cut. TVA developed fertilizers, taught farmers how to improve crop yields and helped replant forests, control forest fires and improve habitats for wildlife and fish. The most dramatic change in valley life came from the electricity generated by TVA dams. Electric lights and modern appliances made life easier and farms more productive.

Electricity also drew industries into the region, providing

desperately-needed jobs. During World War II, the United States needed aluminum to build bombs and airplanes,

and aluminum plants required electricity. To provide power for such critical war industries,

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TVA engaged in one of the largest hydropower construction programs ever undertaken in the United States. Early in 1942, when the effort reached its peak, 12 hydroelectric projects and a steam plant were under construction at the same time and design and construction employment reached a total of 28,000.

Construction of Fontana Dam began in 1942 and was completed in 1944. Fontana Dam was built during World War II to provide electric power for the war effort. A new town, housing some 5,000 people who worked around the clock in three shifts, sprang up in the forest, and the project broke construction records. What was once the construction village is now a resort.

Fontana Resevoir provides 238 miles of shoreline and 10.230 acres of water surface for recreation activities. The average annual rainfall at Fontana is 57.6 inches. Fontana helps control the flooding that occurs in the pat h of inundated areas as far away as Chattanooga. The dam is 480 feet high and stretches 2,365 feet across the Little Tennessee River. It has a flood storage capacity of 513,965 acre-feet. The water level in Fontana Reservoir varies about 52 feet in a normal year.

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