Take a Stroll Through History

Apr 4, 2025

In 12 years as a volunteer at the Kentucky Dam visitor center, TVA retiree Ralph Rose has seen them come from all over.

Germany. Japan. England.

“There was a man from New York, retired from a hydro plant at Niagara Falls,” Rose said in an interview with WPKY radio. “He was really interested in the hydro units. He probably stayed in the visitor center for three hours or more – he had all kinds of questions.”

And Rose was just the guy to provide answers. He started at TVA in 1967 as an apprentice electrician, retiring about 40 years later as a crew member at Kentucky Dam.

These days, he serves as a volunteer at the dam’s visitor center, offering his unique insights to the steady flow of vacationers and local folks eager to explore this engineering marvel in west Kentucky.

“You see a lot of interesting people,” said Rose, a visitor center volunteer since 2013.

Hands-On History

While they come from all corners of the earth, nearly all the visitors have one thing in common – they’re hungry to discover the Valley region and TVA’s story about power generation, economic development and environmental stewardship.

The visitor centers give guests an opportunity to explore that story through videos, displays and artifacts that spotlight the history of TVA and its dams and reservoirs.

Kentucky Dam, the longest of TVA’s dams, is one of three dams where visitor centers are open early April to late October each year. The others are Fontana and Norris dams.

Raccoon Mountain’s visitor center opens in June and closes in late October.

In coordination with Bicentennial Volunteers, Inc., TVA retirees like Rose serve as volunteers at the visitor centers, offering up firsthand accounts of TVA’s storied role in powering the seven-state region.

TVA also operates year-round visitor centers at Melton Hill, Douglas, Wilson, Guntersville, South Holston and Fort Patrick Henry, although those aren’t staffed by volunteers.

TVA social media specialist Ashley Walker and historian Pat Ezzell drive along the Tail of the Dragon near Fontana Dam.

A Visit to Fontana

At Fontana Dam’s visitor center, guests will quickly learn that it’s the tallest dam east of the Rocky Mountains. The site is visited by many Appalachian Trail thru-hikers, who often refer to the reservoir’s shelter as the Fontana Hilton because of its hot showers and other amenities.

Folks also travel to the Fontana Village area to experience the Tail of the Dragon, a stretch of road famed for its dizzying 318 turns inside of 11 miles.

TVA historian Pat Ezzell and social media specialist Ashley Walker traveled that road and stopped by Fontana Dam’s visitor center for Episode 7 of the second season of Pat and Ashley’s Excellent Adventures. They chatted about the experience in a behind-the-scenes podcast

“Fontana Dam, of course, was a wartime dam – built because the region needed electricity for industries supporting the war effort,” Ezzell said. “The visitor center at Fontana really gives you a sense of TVA’s role in World War II and how important we were to national defense.”

Support for the nation’s defense is part of TVA’s mission, as set in the TVA Act.

“We certainly did that with the dams built in the 1940s,” Ezzell said. “Fontana broke records for the amount of concrete poured. It was a tremendous effort.”

The area’s remoteness prompted TVA in the 1940s to build Fontana Village, which housed workers and their families. Travelers can still explore some of those buildings.

“It had everything – schools, beauty shop, grocery store, post office,” Ezzell said. “They built a whole community there. And that community is the basis for what is today Fontana Village Resort and Marina.”

Stay Awhile

For those who’d like to stay a spell after exploring TVA’s visitor centers, dams and reservoirs, camping has been underway since mid-March at TVA’s dam reservoir campgrounds. These include:

• Cherokee Dam Campground in Jefferson City, Tennessee
• Douglas Dam Headwater Campground and Douglas Dam Tailwater Campground, both in Sevierville, Tennessee
• Melton Hill Dam Campground near Lenoir City, Tennessee
• Pickwick Dam Campground near Savannah, Tennessee
• Watauga Dam Campground near Elizabethton, Tennessee

The Douglas Dam Tailwater Campground recently underwent restoration and repairs in the wake of Hurricane Helene, ensuring campers there will have access to all the hoped-for amenities.

And all throughout the Valley region, dozens of sites participate in TVA’s certified Camp-Right Campground program.

The Camp-Right certified campgrounds voluntarily follow environmentally friendly campground management and practices related to energy efficiency, water conservation, management of plants and trees, natural resource protection and more.