Remaking the Landscape for Recreation and Economic Development: The Impact of Tims Ford Reservoir on Franklin County, Tennessee

Abstract

This thesis is an examination of the Tennessee Valley Authority's Tims Ford reservoir project and its impact on the residents displaced by the lake. Among the promised benefits of the lake was a surge in economic development and prosperity for the people of the area.

Using the records of TVA, oral histories, and newspaper articles as well as the primary documents, photographs, home movies, and ephemera collected and carefully preserved by residents, this thesis finds that while some benefit came from the project, it fell far short of supporter's claims.

This thesis adds to the scholarship on TVA and displaced communities. It also adds to the field of southern community studies. Tims Ford played a key role in TVA's post-war mission, and the lost communities of the Elk River Valley are an undeniable part of that story.