"Road to Nowhere"

The "Road to Nowhere" is the droll nickname of an unfinished six-mile stretch of highway that is the result of an unfulfilled promise by the U.S. government to a small community in Swain County. The genesis of the road began in the 1930s and 1940s, when the federal government and the Tennessee Valley Authority took over 67,800 acres of public and private land in Graham and Swain Counties to build Fontana Dam, creating Fontana Lake and part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In compensation for the land, which had been owned by many families for generations, the government promised to reimburse Swain County for the loss of flooded Highway 288, which had provided access to the area. Another assurance was the construction of a road approximately 30 miles long that would follow the northern shore of the lake and help substitute for the highway and allow the displaced residents access to their family cemeteries.

Begun in the 1940s, this road, called Lakeview Drive, extended about six miles by 1969 but was stalled by environmental issues. Although Congressman Charles Taylor and Senator Jesse Helms obtained $16 million in federal funding for the North Shore Road Project in October 2000, the road was never completed, partly because of the projected costs of construction. It remains a sensitive issue for area residents, who continue to view the "Road to Nowhere" as a broken promise.

Despite the difficult social and political issues surrounding the road, it offers some of the least-crowded views of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Beginning about three miles outside of Bryson City, the drive provides views of Fontana Lake and the Tuckasegee River as well as encounters with woodlands and many small streams. Several hiking trails, like the approximately 44-mile Lakeshore Trail, lead from the road to some of the highlights of the park, including its highest peak, Clingman's Dome, reached by Noland Creek Trail.