Bryson City, North Carolina -
Road to Nowhere

The Road to Nowhere was promised to the citizens of Swain county during World War II when the government needed a dam to power the Alcoa Aluminum factories to build airplanes for the war. The waters of the new lake covered major sections of NC HWY 288. The government made everyone leave that lived on high ground, whether they wanted to or not, taking over 44,000 acres of people's land. There are family cemeteries all over that area, as well as a town site called "Proctor" on Hazel Creek.

Swain county has been fighting for over 60 year to get the road completed. It would go from the tunnel to Fontana Dam and tie into NC HWY 28. My family was one of those displaced by the project and the family's home site is on Nolands Creek 3 miles from the lake. I would love to have this road finished.

Honor the 1943 Agreement and build the road. [Micheal Stephenson, 04/16/2008]

There is a highway leading out of Bryson City for a few miles, then through a tunnel through a mountain, which suddenly stops. It is known as the "road to nowhere" and is the result of a broken promise by the Federal Government (I think) to build the remainder of the road, to replace one sunk when the TVA built Fontana Lake during the early 1940s. [Kevin D. Burnett, 05/04/2002]