Recent travels revealed a curious and heartbreaking story of theft, violence and hundreds of lives turned upside down. It all centers around this lovely peninsula between two major rivers, a unique and breathtaking landscape settled by a handful of families many generations ago.
Between the Rivers as it was lovingly called by its former residents, has now been reclaimed as Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area (LBL).
The two rivers; Tennessee and Cumberland flow parallel thru the rural western Kentucky countryside with a long narrow peninsula between, before they join to meet up with the big brown Ohio River to then pour into the mighty Mississippi. Small communities built up along these rivers, establishing businesses, churches and recreation. As rivers do, they would flood from time to time, causing stress, damage and heartache for the residents. After a major flood in 1937 in came the US Army Corp of Engineers to save the day with a brilliant plan; a dam to control the water level and while we are at it lets create affordable electricity for the residents in the area. Welcome the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), created in 1933 by FDR as a “federally owned corporation”, to protect the public from the selfish private utility companies. And so it started…
Theft #1 – Tennessee River Valley
The building of the Kentucky Lake dam caused the flooding of the Tennessee River valley which meant that the houses and towns that had developed along this resource were now going to be underwater. By 1944 the dam was up and running. The river rose more than 50 feet to create the largest man-made lake east of the Mississippi.
“The construction of Kentucky Dam and its reservoir required the purchase 320,244 acres (129,598 ha) of land, 48,496 acres (19,626 ha) of which had to be cleared. 2,609 families, 3,390 graves, and 365 miles (587 km) of roads had to be relocated. 65 new bridges were built, 7 were rebuilt, and 3 were razed. The Illinois Central Railroad— which crossed a bridge just downstream from the dam— was rerouted to cross the top of the dam. The communities of Johnsonville and Springville in Tennessee, and Birmingham in Kentucky were completely inundated by the project. A protective dike was constructed at Big Sandy, Tennessee to protect the town from reservoir backwaters.[1]” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Dam)
Theft #2 – Cumberland River Valley
Kentucky Lake was deemed such a success by TVA plans were made to impound the Cumberland River allowing both waterways to be the same level for easy navigation between the two new reservoirs. So Lake Barkley was created in 1966 affecting another 136 miles of river, swallowing up even more homes, communities and farms.
While eminent domain is straight-up-theft, it does appear that their was some community support for the TVA acquiring the land the lakes would cover. Towns were moved and most people received compensation for their land. It’s the third act in this tragedy that brings tears to my eyes and rage in my gut.
Theft #3 – Between the Rivers
In 1963, JFK wanted more national wildlife areas. There was this unique land mass sitting between TVA’s new lakes. The conspiracy was hatched to
remove 100% of the residents from this ridge. This is a tragic case of win-win strategies not being practiced. This rural, hard to access area had a small population of residents who were happy to live in small villages where self sufficiency and shared resources were a way of life. The TVA went in and closed down the towns, offering the residents a below market value for their homes. Those who declined this offer were threatened, harassed and finally forcefully removed from their lands. These were the same lands their ancestors were given as payment for service in the revolutionary war. The irony!
To top it all off, family farms scattered throughout were removed yet the state later created an artificial “tourist display” replica of a small family farm. Are you kidding me?!
I have been to other areas where the state was unable to purchase all the land to form a public area and the residents who did not want to sell seemed to live peacefully within the greater project on embedded parcels. Why this could not be done in this area will continue to be a mystery.
Instead the TVA flexed it’s muscles, created enemies and evicted people from their homes. In the 1990’s the leadership of the TVA wanted to move away from projects that required tax money funding, with the goal to operate solely on the funds from power services provided. Laudable, if they had not stolen so many of the resources to establish their projects. In 1998, the Land Between the Lakes was handed over to the US Forest Service who still manages it today.
Want to learn more? Check Out:
Feds Bulldoze and Burn Americans’ Homes in LBL Project
Faces & Stories: The People of Land Between the Lakes
Between the Rivers: History of the Land Between the Lakes by Betty J. Wallace