Nickajack Dam

Nickajack Dam is a hydroelectric dam in Marion County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is one of nine dams on the Tennessee River owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the mid-1960s to replace the outdated Hales Bar Dam 6mi upstream. The dam impounds the 10370acre Nickajack Lake and feeds into Guntersville Lake. Nickajack Dam is named for a Cherokee village once located just upstream from the dam (the site is now submerged). The village was the namesake for Nickajack Cave, which was partially flooded by the reservoir.LocationNickajack Dam is located 424mi above the mouth of the Tennessee River, near the point where the states of Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama meet. This stretch of the river marks a region where the river begins to exit the once treacherous Tennessee River Gorge en route to the flatlands around Guntersville, Alabama. The Sequatchie River empties into the dam's tailwaters, and the city of South Pittsburg is just over 5mi downstream from the dam. Nickajack Lake stretches northeast for over 46mi, all the way to the base of Chickamauga Dam in Chattanooga. Tennessee State Highway 156 passes just south of Nickajack Dam, and Interstate 24 passes a few miles to the north.