Douglas Dam

We went to Douglas Dam yesterday.  Douglas Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the French Broad River in Sevier County in Eastern Tennessee.  The dam is operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority which built the dam in the early 1940s to meet emergency energy demands at the height of World War II.  There was such a push by President Franklin D Roosevelt to build the dam that is was built in record time (12 months, 17 days) that has not been beaten to this day.  Douglas Dam is a straight reinforced concrete gravity-type dam that is 1705 feet long and 202 feet in height.  It holds the 28,420 acre Douglas Lake that has a 513 mile shoreline.  The dam was named for Douglas Bluff, a cliff overlooking the dam site prior to its construction.  Douglas Dam is located 32 miles above the mouth of the French Broad river but the dam does not have any navigational locks. 
Douglas Dam has a great recreational area with camping, fishing, a marina, a swimming beach, lots of picnic areas and viewing areas of both the dam and the lake.  The campgrounds (three of them) are very nice. It is a beautiful area and it gave Tim the camping and boating bug.  The beach area is very nice and on a hot day it would be very inviting.  There are several picnic tables and benches at the headwaters and the upper areas of the dam.  It is a great place to plan a day of relaxation.  We will be returning to Douglas Dam soon.