Hiwassee | |
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Village | |
| Coordinates: 35°08′56″N84°10′17″W / 35.14889°N 84.17139°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | North Carolina |
| County | Cherokee County, North Carolina |
Hiwassee is a small village in Cherokee County, North Carolina, United States, [1] which sits next to the Hiwassee Dam and the artificially created Hiwassee Reservoir, on Hiwassee River.
Hiwassee Dam had its own post office from 1937 until 1958. [2]
The desire to open a library at the dam's construction site led to the creation of North Carolina's oldest regional library. Nantahala Regional Library was founded May 1, 1937. The village's branch closed in an unknown year but other library locations remain. [3]
Hiwassee Dam High School, the westernmost public school in the state, opened in fall 1939. Four schools (Reid Chapel, Hill, Postell, and Shearer) were consolidated to create HDHS. Three others (Clark, Friendship, and Violet) consolidated with HDHS in the 1940s and 50s. HDHS moved into a new building in 1956. [4]
The Hiwassee Dam Fire Department started in 1974. A station was constructed around the late 1980s. New stations were built in 1992, 2012, and 2021. [5] The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office opened a substation in Hiwassee Dam in September 2024. [6] In 2023, the county planned to build a $1.6 million park with walking trails and a playground near the Hiwassee Dam schools campus, but the project was put on hold in 2024 due to limited local funding. [7]
The dam itself was constructed between 1936 and 1940 by the Tennessee Valley Authority as part of Roosevelt's New Deal policy. Hiwassee Dam is still maintained by the TVA. It has a height of 307 feet (94 m), spans a distance of 1,376 feet (419 m) feet across the Hiwassee River, and produces 185,000 kilowatts of electricity.
Hiwassee Dam was the world's tallest "overflow" dam until the completion of the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River in Egypt in the early 1970s. The depth from the top of the spillgates to the bedrock at the face of the dam is 285 feet.
The reservoir serves recreational, power generation and flood control purposes. It is surrounded by the Nantahala and Cherokee National Forests and is almost adjacent to the Appalachia Reservoir. Both reservoirs are important for local wildlife such as deer. The reservoir is relatively shallow with an average depth of 142 feet (43 m) and can exceed depths of 200 feet (61 m) in places. [8]
Clay County is a county located in the far western part of U.S. state North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 11,089. The county seat is Hayesville.
Macon County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 37,014. Its county seat is Franklin.
Graham County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,030, making it the third-least populous county in North Carolina. Its county seat is Robbinsville.
Cherokee County is the westernmost county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It borders Tennessee to its west and Georgia to its south. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,774. The county seat is Murphy.
Andrews is a town in Cherokee County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,667 at the 2020 census.
Murphy is a town in and the county seat of Cherokee County, North Carolina, United States. It is situated at the confluence of the Hiwassee and Valley rivers. It is the westernmost county seat in the state of North Carolina, approximately 360 miles (580 km) from the state capital in Raleigh. The population of Murphy was 1,608 at the 2020 census.
Hayesville is a town in Clay County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 311 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Clay County.
The Nantahala National Forest is the largest of the four national forests in North Carolina, lying in the mountains and valleys of western North Carolina. The Nantahala is the second wettest region in the country, after the Pacific Northwest. Due to its environmental importance and historical ties with the Cherokee, the forest was officially established on January 29, 1920, by President Woodrow Wilson. The word "Nantahala" is a Cherokee derived word, meaning "Land of the Noonday Sun." In some spots, the sun reaches the floors of the deep gorges of the forest only when it is high overhead at midday. This was part of the homeland of the historic Cherokee and their indigenous ancestors, who have occupied the region for thousands of years. The Nantahala River runs through it.
Apalachia Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Hiwassee River in Cherokee County, in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The dam is the lowermost of three dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the early 1940s to provide emergency power for aluminum production during World War II. While the dam is in North Carolina, an 8.3-mile (13.4 km) underground conduit carries water from the dam's reservoir to the powerhouse located 12 miles (19 km) downstream across the state line in Polk County, Tennessee. The dam and associated infrastructure were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. Apalachia Dam is classified by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a high-hazard dam, meaning a dam failure may pose a deadly threat to nearby residents. The dam's condition is not made available to the public due to security concerns.
Hiwassee Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Hiwassee River in Cherokee County, in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is one of three dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the late 1930s to bring flood control and electricity to the region. The dam impounds the Hiwassee Lake of 6,000 acres (2,400 ha), and its tailwaters are part of Apalachia Reservoir. At 307 feet (94 m), Hiwassee Dam is the highest overspill dam east of the Mississippi River and is second only to Grand Coulee dam in the nation. At the time it was completed, it was the highest overspill dam in the world.
Chatuge Dam is a flood control and hydroelectric dam on the Hiwassee River in Clay County, in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The dam is the uppermost of three dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the early 1940s for flood storage and to provide flow regulation at Hiwassee Dam further downstream. The dam impounds the 7,000-acre (2,800 ha) Chatuge Lake, which straddles the North Carolina-Georgia state line. While originally built solely for flood storage, a generator installed at Chatuge in the 1950s gives the dam a small hydroelectric output. At the time it was built, Chatuge Dam was the highest earthen dam in the world until the Aswan Dam was built in Egypt in 1964. The dam and associated infrastructure was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.
Cherokee County Schools manages the 13 public schools in Cherokee County, North Carolina, United States, with an enrollment of 3,079 students and a 13.25:1 student-to-teacher ratio.
Murphy High School (MHS) is a public high school in Murphy, North Carolina. It serves grades 9–12 and is one of only three high schools in the Cherokee County Schools system. The MHS campus is sandwiched between U.S. Route 19 and the Valley River. The high school shares its campus with Murphy Middle School and the Cherokee County Schools Bus Garage. As of 2007 the school had a full-time teaching staff of 42 teachers giving an average of 12 students per teacher. It has a GreatSchools rating of 5/10 and an average community rating of 4/5 stars. In the 2024-25 school year, 437 students were enrolled. The school has a capacity of 746 students.
Hiwassee Dam High School (HDHS) in Murphy, North Carolina serves grades 9–12 and is one of three high schools in Cherokee County Schools. It is the westernmost public school in the state of North Carolina. As of 2007 it had a full-time teaching staff of 20 teachers giving an average of 11 students per teacher. Enrollment is 139 students. The school's capacity is 361 students.
Lake Chatuge is a man-made reservoir in Towns County, Georgia, and Clay County, North Carolina. It was formed by the Tennessee Valley Authority's construction of Chatuge Dam in 1942. The lake is relatively shallow with depths of 30 feet (9.1 m) and reaches 144 feet (44 m) by the dam. In an average year the water level varies 10 feet (3.0 m) from winter to summer to provide seasonal flood storage. Lake Chatuge is the highest major lake in the state of Georgia. It takes up 7,000 acres and is 13 miles (21 km) long.
Topton is an unincorporated community in Cherokee County, North Carolina, United States. Topton is located on U.S. Route 19, U.S. Route 74, and U.S. Route 129, 7.5 miles (12.1 km) east-northeast of Andrews.
Hiwassee Lake is a man-made reservoir in Cherokee County, North Carolina. It lies along the Hiwassee River created by the Hiwassee Dam which finished construction in 1940. Hiwassee Lake stretches along the river for approximately 22 miles (35 km) to the town of Murphy, North Carolina. It has 180 miles (290 km) of shoreline, a storage capacity of 434,000 acre⋅ft (535,000 dam3), and 205,590 acre⋅ft (253,590 dam3) of flood storage.
Peachtree is a community located in Cherokee County, North Carolina. It is named after the numerous peach trees found in the area.
Mission Dam is a dam on the Hiwassee River in Clay County, in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The dam is located between Hiwassee Dam and Chatuge Dam. The city of Andrews, North Carolina built the dam in 1924 at a cost of $500,000 to supply energy. The dam is the oldest on the river. Nantahala Power and Light bought the facility in 1929 and upgraded it in 1943. Unlike other dams on the river, it is operated by Duke Energy instead of the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Nantahala Regional Library is the oldest regional library in North Carolina and one of the first regional libraries formed in the United States. Its headquarters is in Murphy, North Carolina. The library has branches in Cherokee, Clay, and Graham counties.
Municipalities and communities of Cherokee County, North Carolina, United States | ||
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| Other communities | ||
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| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
