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Douglas Lake

1943 establishments in TennesseeBodies of water of Cocke County, TennesseeBodies of water of Hamblen County, TennesseeBodies of water of Jefferson County, TennesseeBodies of water of Sevier County, Tennessee
French Broad RiverProtected areas of Cocke County, TennesseeProtected areas of Hamblen County, TennesseeProtected areas of Jefferson County, TennesseeProtected areas of Sevier County, TennesseeReservoirs in TennesseeSouthern United States protected area stubsTennessee Valley AuthorityTennessee geography stubs
Douglas Lake Sevier County, Tennessee
Douglas Lake Sevier County, Tennessee

Douglas Lake, also called Douglas Reservoir, is a reservoir created by an impoundment of the French Broad River in Eastern Tennessee. This lake is located only a few miles from the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area, and also the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Douglas Dam was built by the Tennessee Valley Authority at a record pace from February 2, 1942, through February 19, 1943, to provide hydroelectric power and to control flooding downstream in the Tennessee River Valley. Douglas Dam is located just over 32 miles (51 km) upstream from the French Broad River's confluence with the Holston River in Knoxville, to form the Tennessee River. The Douglas Lake reservoir inundates about a 40-mile (64 km) stretch of the French Broad River between the Douglas Dam and the Irish Bottoms area near Newport. Small portions of the Nolichucky and Pigeon rivers are also impounded by the lake. During the winter months, the Tennessee Valley Authority lowers the water level to help control flooding, meet power demands, and many other objectives. This is important to know in advance to make plans to stay near the lake. The resort town of Baneberry is located on the northern shores of the lake in Jefferson County. Dandridge, the county seat of Jefferson County, is located mostly on the northern shores with a small portion on the southern. Parts of downtown Dandridge are located below the lake's operating levels, and are protected by an earthen dam.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Douglas Lake (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 35.961111111111 ° E -83.538888888889 °
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Address


37864
Tennessee, United States
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Douglas Lake Sevier County, Tennessee
Douglas Lake Sevier County, Tennessee
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Nearby Places

Chiaha
Chiaha

Chiaha was a Native American chiefdom located in the lower French Broad River valley in modern East Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. They lived in raised structures within boundaries of several stable villages. These overlooked the fields of maize, beans, squash, and tobacco, among other plants which they cultivated. Chiaha was at the northern extreme of the paramount Coosa chiefdom's sphere of influence in the 16th century when the Spanish expeditions of Hernando de Soto and Juan Pardo passed through the area. The Chiaha chiefdom included parts of modern Jefferson and Sevier counties, and may have extended westward into Knox, Blount and Monroe counties.The Spanish explorers' accounts of Chiaha provide a rare first-hand glimpse of life in a Dallas phase Mississippian-era village. The Dallas culture, named after Dallas Island near Chattanooga, where its distinct characteristics were first observed, dominated much of East Tennessee between approximately 1300 and 1600 AD. Both the de Soto and Pardo expeditions spent several days at Chiaha's principal village. In addition, the Pardo expedition constructed a fort nearby called San Pedro. This was one of five forts constructed in the interior west of Joara, the largest Mississippian-era site in modern North Carolina. Pardo constructed his largest fort there first, known as Fort San Juan. All but one of his soldiers were killed by the Native Americans in 1568, and the Spanish did not attempt further colonization in the interior. The peoples suffered high mortality from infectious diseases carried by the Europeans. Historians believe this resulted in political realignments and the rise of the Cherokee and Creek tribes in these areas. By the time English explorers arrived here in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the Chiaha area was dominated by the Cherokee.

Little Pigeon River (Tennessee)
Little Pigeon River (Tennessee)

The Little Pigeon River is a river located entirely within Sevier County, Tennessee. It rises from a series of streams which flow together on the dividing ridge between the states of Tennessee and North Carolina, with most of the flow from inside the boundary of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The river has three main forks or prongs, East, Middle, and West. The East and Middle prongs are less notable divisions of the river, with the Middle Prong emerging from the Greenbrier area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and paralleled for most of its remaining length by State Route 416 up to its confluence with the East Fork near U.S. Route 411. The East Fork is the only division in which the main stem does not emerge from the national park, formed by a series of small streams in the foothills of English Mountain draining large portions of the Camp Hollow, Pearl Valley, Ball Hollow, and Jones Cove valleys and running along State Road 339. The Harrisburg Covered Bridge is a landmark structure from the 1800s that crosses the East Fork. The West Fork is far better known because it drains the major tourist towns of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. The Old Mill of Pigeon Forge, a working grist mill constructed in 1830 by Isaac Love on a milldam impoundment of the West Fork in downtown Pigeon Forge, is one of the best examples of 19th century hydropower technology, as well as being one of the most photographed mills in America. The confluence of the West and East forks is at Sevierville at Forks of the River. From there the stream continues to flow northward, paralleled by State Route 66, until its confluence with the French Broad River just downstream from Douglas Dam. Despite its name, it is not a tributary of the nearby Pigeon River, which flows into the French Broad well above Douglas Dam and the resultant reservoir.