Hiwassee, North Carolina

Hiwassee Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Hiwassee River in Cherokee County, in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is one of three dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the late 1930s to bring flood control and electricity to the region. The dam impounds the Hiwassee Lake of 6,000 acres (2,400 ha), and its tailwaters are part of Apalachia Reservoir. At 307 feet (94 m), Hiwassee Dam is the highest overspill dam east of the Mississippi River and is second only to Grand Coulee dam in the nation. At the time it was completed, it was the highest overspill dam in the world. Hiwassee Dam is the third highest dam in the TVA system, behind only Fontana and Watauga. The dam and associated infrastructure was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. Hiwassee Dam is classified by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a high-hazard dam, meaning a dam failure may pose a deadly threat to nearby residents. The dam's condition is not made available to the public due to security concerns. Hiwassee Dam is named after the Hiwassee River. The river's name is derived from the Cherokee word for savanna, or large meadow. Two of the tribe's towns along the river in the 18th century were also called Hiwassee.

Hiwassee Lake is a man-made reservoir in Cherokee County, North Carolina. It lies along the Hiwassee River created by the Hiwassee Dam which finished construction in 1940. Hiwassee Lake stretches along the river for approximately 22 miles (35 km) to the town of Murphy, North Carolina. It has 180 miles (290 km) of shoreline, a storage capacity of 434,000 acre⋅ft (535,000 dam3), and 205,590 acre⋅ft (253,590 dam3) of flood storage. Hiwassee Lake is 6,000 acres (2,400 ha). Its tailwaters are part of Apalachia Lake. The reservoir's operating level varies by roughly 38 feet (12 m) in a typical year. The southwestern arm of the reservoir over Persimmon Creek is known as Persimmon Lake. It reaches to a smaller dam which contains Cherokee Lake. The Nottely River also flows into Hiwassee Lake from North Georgia.

Ogreeta is an unincorporated community in Cherokee County, in the U.S. state of North Carolina.

Hiwassee Dam High School (HDHS) in Murphy, North Carolina serves grades 9–12 and is one of three high schools in Cherokee County Schools. It is the westernmost public school in the state of North Carolina. As of 2007 it had a full-time teaching staff of 20 teachers giving an average of 11 students per teacher. Enrollment is 139 students. The school's capacity is 361 students.

Friendship is an unincorporated community in Cherokee County, North Carolina.

Fields of the Wood is a Christian religious park of more than 200 acres (81 ha) in Cherokee County, North Carolina, owned by the Church of God of Prophecy—a Holiness Pentecostal denomination. It is best known for the largest representation of the Ten Commandments in the world, measuring 300 feet (91 m) wide across a mountainside.

Grape Creek is an unincorporated community in Cherokee County, in the U.S. state of North Carolina.

Hanging Dog Creek is a stream in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is a tributary to the Hiwassee River. Some say the name Hanging Dog is a corruption of "Hanging Maw", a local Cherokee, while others believe the name stems from an incident when Indian's dog was "hung up" in river debris before being rescued.

Owl Creek is an unincorporated community in Cherokee County, North Carolina, United States, ten miles northwest of Murphy. It was named by a family of Cherokee people who lived in the area, named uguku (owl). They lost their land to the United States during Indian Removal. Their family members still live in the surrounding counties.

Cherokee County is the westernmost county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It borders Tennessee to its west and Georgia to its south. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,774. The county seat is Murphy.

The Nottely River is a river in the United States. The river originates in the Blue Ridge Mountains in northern Georgia. The river flows for 51.1 miles (82.2 km) into the artificial Hiwassee Reservoir in North Carolina. The Nottely River is dammed in Georgia, creating Lake Nottely. Arkaqua Creek is a tributary.

Apalachia Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Hiwassee River in Cherokee County, in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The dam is the lowermost of three dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the early 1940s to provide emergency power for aluminum production during World War II. While the dam is in North Carolina, an 8.3-mile (13.4 km) underground conduit carries water from the dam's reservoir to the powerhouse located 12 miles (19 km) downstream across the state line in Polk County, Tennessee. The dam and associated infrastructure were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. Apalachia Dam is classified by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a high-hazard dam, meaning a dam failure may pose a deadly threat to nearby residents. The dam's condition is not made available to the public due to security concerns. Apalachia Dam is named for the crossroads community of Old Apalachia, located near the dam site in North Carolina, and the community's L&N railroad stop, known simply as Apalachia, which was further downstream on the Tennessee side of the state line.