I can't believe there are some on here who simply think FDR promised the county a road. It was a federal government contract, a legal, binding document between the TVA, the State of NC and the PEOPLE of Swain Co. NC. The state fulfilled their part of the 1943 Agreement by building the road from Bryson City up to the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. That part of the road is known as "New Fontana Highway." That is the one Heath's communities' road branches off of. The TVA's part of the agreement was to build a road to replace the flooded road, it would lead back up into that area allowing people to return to their family members' graves and link up with Deal's Gap TN. The people were forced to sell their land... 44,400 acres of the land taken to build Fontana Dam/lake was not going to be flooded and some of the people were told they could return to their land, buy it back at the same cost they were paid. The acreage was measured from the air...so if you are familiar with the mountain terrain, you know the landowner is losing out when it is measured by the air as the mountain land is not flat. They were paid the second lowest rate in history for their land.
Those who had their land taken by EMINENT DOMAIN which you all seem to think is fine and grand, they were not paid their land's value. If they refused to sell, they weren't given any for their land and were threatened with jail for hindering the war effort.
All of the people who are opposing the road ought to be ashamed. YOu should all remember the great sacrfice made by these people in time of war. Fontana Dam was built to supply hydroelectric power to the ammunitions factories in Oak Ridge TN so the bomb could be built to end the war and save more lives than would be saved as it went on. I guess everyone would rather be speaking German and having not having the freedoms we have today?
I think everyone should learn about what these folks went through ... half the population of Swain County was displaced at the time. There were several small towns on the North Shore of Fontana Lake. For the one who said Swain County is just looking to get lucky and he/she wouldn't give them a dime, maybe you should realize that the reason Swain County always ranks 1st, 2nd or 3rd in highest unemployment rate and highest poverty rate in the state is because the government owns 86% of the land. There is no tax base, the main industry here is tourism. The road would bring in more tourists which would provide more jobs. If you read the Environmental Impact Studies put out by Arcadis, the group doing the studies about the Road (independent group) you can see how the road will help the area. Take their word for it. The figures don't lie.
That is not an 'untouched' wilderness area. There were several small towns there... in the 20's there was a movie theater with plush velvet seats. The foremen of Ritter Lumber company had 2 story houses with marble fireplaces. Tehre still are some houses up there including the Hall Cabin which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The area is rich in history and culture. There are 600 miles of old roads and old road beds there. The reason it took so long to start building the road (New Fontana Highway then the Road to Nowhwere which goes 6 miles into the park)is because Swain County was still paying off the government bond debt on the road flooded by Fontana Lake until the early 70's. Then the road was stopped due to the Sierra Club saying they would be cutting into anakeesta rock--it was a ploy to stop the road. Even the top man from the Federal Highway Commission admitted that was not a concern, they deal with that all the time and know how to keep the acid from leeching on it.
Also they have jacked up teh cost of building the road. Comparable roads have been built for much less... an independent road firm estimated the cost much lower also. Who cares what the park service wants road or not? The contract when the land was turned over from the TVA to the Park service after the war, it was understood the park service would take over the TVA's part of the contract to complete the road. It was understood, a promise to the people who lived in Swain County at the time that the road would be built that as soon as the war ended, congress would appropriate money for it to be built. It wasn't a question about "if the money will or won't be appropriated" it was understood that it would be... there are copies of letters which clearly state that in a time when men's words meant something.
To the person who said his family cemeteries aren't in the forest but in populated areas. These people's family were buried near their small towns and homes also at the time. The government moved graves which would be under the waterlevel but for the ones on the 44,400 acres, they were told it was not necessary to relocate the graves and there was no time for that...they were told, "As soon as the war ends, we will build a road to replace the one which willb e flooded by the lake then you can go home and can go visit your relatives' graves."
Think how you would feel if you were a woman whose husband was away at war and you were with your 5 children, the youngest two in diapers. TVA officials knock on your door and say, "You have to sell your house and land, this is the price we are giving you." and you respond, "This land has been in my husband's family for several generations, it is not for sale, you will hav eto talk to him"... then they threaten to put you in jail for hindering the war effort. YOu have no one to watch your children...you are forced to sign the papers. Then you and all your neighbors, whole town are forced to move. Three years after the war has ended you are living over an hour away and you think your husband has died in the war. But what has happened is he has returned home and found the road to it flooded, the house burned by the government, no way to reach his family, no neighbors to ask where his family is. The people got no relocation assistance at all. The amount they were paid was less than 1/3 the land's value. This actually did happen. It took the husband 3 years to find his family.
This is just one story. It shouldn't be a decision made by the "leadership" of Swain Co... even though one county commissioner is a road supporter... it was a contract between the people who livedin Swain County at that time. Some of the county commissioners in the election before last one said they were for the road and then after teh election changed their stance.
There were some people who were in the Sierra Club who came to some of the road hearings opposing the road and heard the stories and changed over to supporting the road. In Gatlinburg, there were people from other countries at the Road h earing there to oppose the road. We asked them why they were against the road. One said she liked the pretty trees at Slickrock Wilderness Area. She wasn't in the same park! Turned out most were foreign students who had been told to come and say they were against the road. She wasn't aware there were towns and houses there, she didn't know there are roads and old road beds there which can be linked up to cut costs and cut environmental damage.
I think it's a sad day when people don't do what is right. Before speaking up you should familiarize yourself with what happened there. Listen to stories about how the land was taken by eminent domain and how that part was above the high water mark. It was all important for the war effort. We all love our freedoms we should remember the sacrifices made by people such as athe ones from the small towns which were there along the North Shore of Fontana Lake.
IT would be nice if you would go to some of the cemetery visits... you would see how inadequate transportation is and how the Park service does all in its power to discourage people from visiting. They don't provide enough boats, one time the boat didn't return. They never have enough all terrain vehicles to give the people a ride all the way there... nice some of you can go and hike miles and miles. The cemetery groups let the older people ride first, the others walk, sometimes 6 miles for one visit. It's an all day think and leaving early, getting back late and sometimes never having gotten to go all the way to the cemetery due to not enough transportation. There are roads, the park service drives on them. One time the park service loaded up some of the older people in a horse trailer, it had hauled manure the day before and had not been cleaned out. The trailer came unhitched from the truck and rolled down the hillside into the lake. The people were badly bruised. That is what the Park service calls "adequate transportation."
The area has so much history, it would be great to tell the story of the area and the people there in addition to the road, a museum would be a good think, the story needs telling lest everyone forget it!
That would be Torie.
I also pinged the other seemingly ALgore like limosine liberals to your reply.
NCmtnGirl, you go girl! :^)
Ah yes. Because the atomic bomb was dropped on Berlin wasn't it? Oh that's right. Germany was defeated by conventional means. So Oak Ridge had nothing to do with it did it? So, no I'm not 'ashamed'
The point is
A) it is unpopulated now and
B) it's a national park.
Think how you would feel if you were a woman whose husband was away at war and you were with your 5 children, the youngest two in diapers. TVA officials knock on your door and say, "You have to sell your house and land, this is the price we are giving you." and you respond, "This land has been in my husband's family for several generations, it is not for sale, you will have to talk to him"... then they threaten to put you in jail for hindering the war effort. YOu have no one to watch your children...you are forced to sign the papers.
Three great uncles in the area lost some or all of their land to the government for other 'projects'. Care to try again?
You still haven't explained where this road's going to go. Hwy 28? That's the only viable exit. Are you kidding me?!? Take 28 to 129, yeah that'll be fun for the whole family...
What do you plan for it? Pigeon Forge of the East? Because Lord knows that place turned out so well....
You see Dane's never been there. He talks a good game but he has no idea what in the hell he's talking about. I have and still have kin up that away. I don't have a dog in this hunt as much as the folks of Swain County but I do feel considering it is going to affect land I know further out I should be able to voice an opinion. Yes there are old roads out there. Yes there are old small mountain towns out there. And yes there's quite a few cemetaries out there. But I see nothing that can be gained by cutting another road through some beautiful land other than to allieve an old promise by the government. Hell if we're sticking to promises we should really turn a good bit of it back to the Cherokee shouldn't we? Considering that's the other side of my family, I'm all for that!! ;)
The area has so much history, it would be great to tell the story of the area and the people there in addition to the road, a museum would be a good think, the story needs telling lest everyone forget it!
Again we agree. And I'm not fully against the road, but you know and I know that two lane roads turn quickly into four lanes once the tourists find it. And I don't think anyone can gain from having another main road cutting across there. That's my concern.