Hiwassee, North Carolina

Hiwassee is a small village in Cherokee County, North Carolina, which sits next to the Hiwassee Dam and the artificially created Hiwassee Reservoir, on Hiwassee River.Hiwassee DamThe 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, spans a distance of 1,376 across the Hiwassee River and produce 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.Hiwassee ReservoirThe reservoir serves recreational, power generation and flood control purposes. It is beautifully situated surrounded by the Nantahala and Cherokee National Forests and almost right next to the Appalachia Reservoir. Both reservoirs are important for local wildlife such as deer. The reservoir is relatively shallow with a average depth of 142 ft (44 m) and can exceed depths of 200 ft in places.