Les Jones

East Tennessee > History of the Dragon's Run and U.S. 129

Following up on yesterday's post, Tail of the Dragon has a great photographic history of the Dragon's Run and U.S. 129, which is a popular destination in Blount County for motorcycle riders and sportscar enthusiasts.

I instantly recognized their first picture, another version of which appears above. It's one of W.O. Garner's photos from the 1890s. Many of Garner's photos were published in the book Blount County Remembered. The book is long out of print, but you can see the photo here as part of the University of Tennessee/Blount County Public Library's online W.O. Garner collection.

Sure enough, the caption for the photo reads "W. O. Garner; 1890 - 1903; Turnpike ran from the mouth of Abrams Creek to about one-half mile northeast of Deals Gap; Toll gate cabin for the Parsons Turnpike, located near Parsons Branch Road and Deals Gap."

Parsons Branch Road is the one-way, primitive, unpaved road that begins in Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and ends at U.S. 129. Deals Gap is where the current store and hotel are located at the end of the Dragon's Run on U.S. 129. Tail of the Dragon identifies the tollkeeper in the photo as George Davis.

Tail of the Dragon also has an amazing picture of Calderwood, the factory town ALCOA built during the construction of Cheoah Dam, Calderwood Dam, and other projects. The town is much larger than I ever imagined, because very little of it remains today.

Calderwood Dam still produces hydroelectric power for the ALCOA aluminum plant in nearby Alcoa, TN. The high tension power lines that run through the Alcoa swamp behind Midland Shopping Center ferry power from Calderwood's powerhouse to the aluminum plant. There's a pullout on the Dragon by a rock wall where you get a great overlook of Calderwood Dam. Hydroelectric dam geeks may be interested in this ALCOA page, which clearly shows the impoundment below the dam.

For another, text-based history of the Dragon's Run, see Ronald E. Johnson's article. He notes that Harrison Ford's dam scene in The Fugitive was filmed at Cheoah Dam. Thunder Road, Two-Lane Blacktop, and In Dreams also used footage shot on U.S. 129.