Nolichucky River

The Nolichucky River is a major stream draining the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina and East Tennessee.

The Nolichucky River rises as the confluence of the North Toe River and the Cane River near the tiny community of Huntdale, North Carolina. The stream succeedes the North Toe as the boundary between Yancey County, North Carolina and Mitchell County, North Carolina. Trending roughly west, it flows along the north flank of Flattop Mountain. The gorge is especially steep on its north side. Geologically, the area is underlain by predominantly by metamorphic rock of Precambrian time.

The river then enters Unicoi County, Tennessee, flowing through ranges known locally as the Bald Mountains and the Unaka Mountains. Turning northwest, the stream is bridged by the Appalachian Trail, and then, just beyond this, by U.S. Highway 19W just southwest of the Unicoi County seat of Erwin. Turning more to the north, the stream is paralled bor several miles by Tennessee State Route 81 (known locally as Nolichucky River Road), crossing into Washington County.

Shortly after entering Washington County, the river makes a horseshoe bend near the small community of Embreeville, where it is bridged by Tennessee 81 for the first time. At the northeastern end of Embreeville Mountain, the stream emerges from a large gap, and, turning west-southwest, is bridged by Tennessee 81 again. The river has now emerged from the Blue Ridge and is in the Ridge and Valley province, underlain primarily by sedimentary rock of the Lower Paleozoic Era. The river then continues west-southwest for several miles, paralleled by Tennessee State Route 107. The river leaves the roadside near the tiny settlement of Mt. Carmel From here it flows northwest over a curving course to Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park. (Contrary to the well-known, Disney-manufactured "folk song" about the frontiersman, he was not "born on a mountaintop in Tennessee", but rather in the Nolichucky River valley, which probably didn't sound as good.) This park is located near the Washington County - Greene County line.

From Crockett's birthplace the river flows southwestward, following the trends of the Ridge and Valley province's underlying geology. Bridged by Tennessee 107 just east of Tusculum College, the stream comtinues southwestward, later bridged by Tennessee State Route 350 just above an impoundment caused by Nolichucky Dam. This dam was constructed as a hydroelectric project by the former Tennessee Electric Power Company in 1912, and part of the sale of that company's assets to the U.S. Government's Tennessee Valley Authority in 1939. The TVA continued to operate the dam for electrical power purposes until the 1970s. At this point, the degree of siltation of the reservoir, called Davy Crockett Lake, had made continued efforts to operate the facility for hydroelectric purposes impracticable. The agency retired the dam as a power source, but continues to maintain it and to use it for flood control and recreational purposes. A small museum about the site's history and the utilization of electric power in general has been operated here intermittently since that time.

Just below Nolichucky Dam the river is bridged by Tennessee State Route 70. Shortly afterward, it is also crossed by Meadow Creek Road, a Greene County road. From here the stream flows almost due west, and is then bridged by U.S. Highway 321. Just before the Greene County - Cocke County line the river is bridged by Tennessee State Route 340. Shortly below this point, the river becomes the Greene County - Cocke County line. A few miles below this point it is bridged by Knob Creek Road, a Cocke County road. Slightly south of Interstate 81, Greene County, Cocke County, and Hamblen County come to a point at a massive bend in river. From this point on, the now-meandering stream forms the Hamblen County - Cocke County line. The final bridge over the Nolichucky is that on Tennessee State Route 160. The confluence of the Nolichucky with the French Broad River occurs in the upstream portion of the Douglas Lake impoundment, caused by Douglas Dam, a World War II-era TVA project. Near the mouth is the Rankin Wildlife Management Area, a reserve opeated by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

The Nolichucky is considered to be a fairly famous and historic stream in Tennessee, in large manner because it is in and associated with the part of the state that was the subject of the first extensive white settlement. The state's first governor, John Sevier, was known by the nickname "Nolichucky Jack", a reference to this stream.

See also