North Shore of Fontana Lake

A Remote Wilderness Section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Discover a magical place on the North Shore of Fontana Lake for boating and fishing and access to remote, historic areas of the Park such as Hazel Creek and Eagle Creek. Abundant in nature-related activities, explore this vast wilderness for a unique perspective on the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This area is not accessible by car, however the Lakeshore Trail - accessible at Fontana Dam or the Road to Nowhere - provides access to Fontana Lake wilderness campsites and Hazel Creek backcountry. Fishing guides will help you get to the unique fishing spots for native trout at Hazel Creek and Eagle Creek. Tour guides will take you on North Shore cruise, or take you across the lake to some remote hiking areas.

Discover a Magical Place on the North Shore of Fontana Lake

The Story of the North Shore

During World War II, there was an increased need for electricity to produce aluminum and research being conducted at Oak Ridge TN. Fontana Dam was constructed by the Tennessee Valley Authority to meet the need to generate electricity for Oak Ridge. Many towns and communities were "cleared out" or eliminated by the Tennessee Valley Authority's acquisition of land for the Fontana Dam and the subsequent acquisition of land from Swain County by the Department of the Interior for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. With the Dam in place, the Little Tennessee River was flooded and Fontana Lake was formed in its place.

Most don't know that many Swain County residents called the area "home" for many years, or that there were churches, schools, mining, farms, orchards, large scale timbering, and communities throughout. With the flooding of the area to build the Dam, over 1,300 families were displaced. Almost overnight, the communities of Fontana, Ritter, Proctor, Medlin, Bone Valley, Walker Creek, Wayside, Marcus, Dorsey, Japan, Chambers Creek, Bushnell, Alarka, Almond, Judson, Forney, Noldand, Goldmine, and Epp Springs disappeared. Swain County lost 25% of their population, who relocated throughout Western North Carolina, East Tennessee, and North Georgia.

Roads that were inundated by the rising flood waters of Fontana Lake made these towns and communities inaccessible. These lands are now called the "North Shore" and after being acquired by the TVA, the lands were given to the National Park. These public lands are accessible only by boat or by hiking in along the Lakeshore Trail. The North Shore is a pristine wilderness area that can be easily discovered by contacting one of the guided tour operators below. Or if you have your own boat, kayak or paddleboard and would like to launch from a boat ramp, the nearest public boat ramp to the North Shore is Cable Cove.

Decoration Days

The folk custom of Decoration Day has been a long tradition of maintaining the gravesites of loved ones in the Smoky Mountains. Families who were removed from the “North Shore” in 1943 when Fontana Dam was completed were directly impacted by the rising waters of Fontana Lake. Others were indirectly impacted, because Fontana Lake covered most of a road that had run along the north side of the Little Tennessee River before the dam was built.

A promised new road would have allowed these families to once again access the old home sites and 27 cemeteries. But by the 1960s the construction ceased at a point just beyond a tunnel under a mountain ridge, and now known as the “Road to Nowhere”.

Today, access to these cemeteries and old family homesteads is only by water. Fontana Village Resort and Marina offers transportation by pontoon shuttle to these cemeteries in the Smokies on Decoration Days. The North Shore Cemetery Historical Association maintains a Facebook page with their Decoration Days schedule of events and locations.