Butler was the largest single community, and the only incorporated town, removed by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) throughout that entire massive, depression-era public works project to modernize and electrify the rural parts of the southeastern United States. It was originally located in eastern Tennessee, where the Roan Creek and Watauga River meet in Johnson County, and was the commercial center for the Watauga Valley ... it was the only real town in the region, with over 600 residents and more than 125 homes and businesses.
A typical southern town, it had two barbershops, two beauty parlors, markets, the Blue Bird Cafe, hardware store, drug store, a few service stations, a few hotels, three churches, a rail station, Masonic lodge, a brick City Hall, bank and doctors and dentists offices. Located in the forested hills of Appalachia, local industries were mostly wood related, and included a lumber company, a crating company, a furniture company and a casket company.
A typical southern town, it had two barbershops, two beauty parlors, markets, the Blue Bird Cafe, hardware store, drug store, a few service stations, a few hotels, three churches, a rail station, Masonic lodge, a brick City Hall, bank and doctors and dentists offices. Located in the forested hills of Appalachia, local industries were mostly wood related, and included a lumber company, a crating company, a furniture company and a casket company.
But the town also had a flooding problem, as did many others located along rivers in Tennessee in the days before the TVA. According to one Butler history, the town experienced flooding in 1867, 1886, 1901, 1902, 1916, 1924 and 1940.
In 1948, before the reservoir was filled, the town was relocated to higher ground on Tennessee State Route 67. The relocation project required construction of 54.9 miles (88.4 km) of roads and highways, three bridges, and 66 miles (106 km) of utility lines, as well as the relocation of of 1,281 graves. Some families opted to leave the graves of their ancestors undisturbed, so they are still at the old site, along with a reported slave graveyard that TVA crews never found.
The original town is now known at Old Butler ... "the town that wouldn't drown". In a 1983 drawdown to service the dam, former residents were allowed to visit the exposed site for a brief glimpse of their old town: Don Stout’s shoe store (made of stone) and the one room jail house (made of concrete) stood out from the other foundations and building pads along muddy streets that were still lined with trees ... long dead but preserved by the water.
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A brief glimpse. |
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