Newsroom Articles

Art for the People

Staff artist Robert Birdwell captured TVA’s work on canvas. His work adorns the visitor center at Fort Patrick Henry Dam.

Torpedo Testing at Hiwassee

Hiwassee Dam and the reservoir it created are both known for beautiful scenery, canoeing and rafting. But in the 1940s and ‘50s, Hiwassee also played a key role in serving the nation’s defense.

Watts Bar Getaway

After Watts Bar Dam was complete, an enterprising Michigander bought up the construction workers’ housing and launched a successful resort.

What Democracy Can Do

At the outset of World War II, Congress approved the Douglas Dam Bill to provide power for the war effort. TVA workers toiled day and night, and the dam was finished in just over a year.

The Lost Towns of Pickwick

TVA’s dams transformed the Tennessee Valley region and improved life for many of its residents. For some, though, the unified plan meant sacrificing home and community for the greater good.

A Dam of Firsts

Built in the relative peacetime of the early 1960s, Melton Hill Dam piled up an impressive list of firsts, from navigation to appropriations to recreation.

Running Hot and Cold

Tims Ford Dam supports a thriving trout fishery and the endangered boulder darter.

TVA’s Great Falls Dam began operations in January 1917 as a premier project of the Tennessee Electric Power Company. It was purchased 22 years later by TVA and remains the quirkiest hydro project in the portfolio.

The Little Dam That Could

Ocoee Dam No. 2 flume ensconced on the National Register of Historic Places.

From War Machine to World-Class Whitewater

When Ocoee Dam No. 3 was built to help meet energy needs during wartime, it was thought there would be little recreational interest in the project. Flash forward 50 years, and you get an Olympic whitewater course and a world-class tourist destination.

The Global View

By the time the Tennessee Valley Authority set out to reclaim the environmentally devastated Copper Basin – near Ocoee Dam No. 1 – the area was so barren the scar on the Earth could be seen from outer space.

TVA’s Mightiest Dam

In dedicating the massive Kentucky Dam, President Harry S. Truman summed up the success of TVA, a formula comprised of modern science, good management and common sense.

The Name Game

What’s in a name? TVA dams reflect the history of the Tennessee Valley region.

The Quiet Beauty of Nottely

The secret is out: Nottely Dam and its reservoir, tucked away in the mountains of North Georgia, provide some of the most gorgeous scenery and best fishing in the Southeast.

The TVA Quilt

A modernistic quilt, made in the 1930s by wives of men working on Wheeler Dam near Muscle Shoals, Alabama, represents support and guidance of the African-American community by TVA.

The Mountaintop Marvel

Initially scorned, TVA’s pumped storage generating plant inside Raccoon Mountain became one of the engineering wonders of the Tennessee Valley region.

Building a Better Life for the Tennessee Valley

The Unified Development of the Tennessee River System plan laid out the strategy for building dams that would transform the Valley region. It also gave TVA an identity and vision that continues to drive the company today.

A Dam for the People

Wilson Dam was built for WWI, but the war ended before it could spin up its turbines. After years spent in limbo, the dam gained new purpose with the founding of TVA.

A Reign of Harmony

TVA’s dams—especially Norris—have had an undeniable influence on modern architecture. But when the world-renowned architect Le Corbusier visited America in 1946, he was most impressed by TVA’s transformation of the Tennessee Valley.

The Grand Old Dam

Beautiful, venerable Wilbur Dam – one of the oldest in the TVA system, encapsulates much history and serves the Tennessee Valley in many ways even today.