Delia Woodard Watkins, born in Swain County, was 16 when construction started on Fontana Dam. The dam, completed in 1945 by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), is built on the Little Tennessee River and is located near Fontana Village in Graham…
Della Jackson is interviewed by Edward Clark Smith in 1986 as a part of the Western North Carolina Tomorrow Black Oral History Project. Born in 1905, Jackson talks about growing up in Mill Spring where she worked hard on the farm, but didn’t realize…
Delsie Pettit Love is interviewed by Lorraine Crittenden on September 11, 1986 as a part of the Western North Carolina Tomorrow Black Oral History Project. Love was born in 1893 in Andrews. She recalls her mother’s funeral when she was four years…
Dennis Proffitt is interviewed by a Smoky Mountain High School student as a part of Mountain People, Mountain Lives: A Student Led Oral History Project. Proffitt was born in 1952 and moved to Sylva from Yancey County when he was six years old. He…
Scott McKenzie interviews Dennis Rogers on November 23, 2004 for the Western North Carolina Oral History Project. Born January 31, 1958 in Jackson County, Rogers has been a lifelong member of the AME Mount Zion Church, which his great grandfather,…
Dera Smith Simpson is interviewed by Edward Clark Smith on February 17, 1986 as a part of the Western North Carolina Tomorrow Black Oral History Project. Born in 1898, Simpson discusses her family members and growing up on the farm in Union County,…
Diana Watts grew up in Macon County and has lived there for most of her life. She recounts her experience during and after the 2004 Peeks Creek mudslide. The disaster claimed the life of her aunt and uncle. She was working as a nurse at the time, and…
Former Highlands Town Board member Donnie Calloway discusses what it was like growing up in Highlands and the effects of tourism on the town over time. He talks about living and working in Highlands, the purchase of the Old Edwards Inn, the current…
Doris Couch Clayton talks about living in Tent City which was created to temporarily house the families of Tennessee Valley Authority workers involved in the Fontana Dam project until Fontana Village could be built, Dam Kids reunions, and the…
Grimsley discusses the years she lived in Fontana Village while her father worked on the structural steel portions of Fontana Dam, the moves the family had to make due to her father working on other dams for the Tennessee Valley Authority,…