The tallest dam east of the Rock­ies at 480 feet, Fontana Dam was was built by the Ten­nessee Val­ley Author­i­ty in response to an urgent need for elec­tric pow­er dur­ing World War II. Con­struc­tion began in 1942 and was fin­ished in just 36 months. Sur­round­ed by the Great Smoky Moun­tains Nation­al Park, the Nan­ta­ha­la Nation­al For­est, and deep riv­er gorges, Fontana ranks among the most beau­ti­ful dams in the world. In addi­tion to pro­vid­ing hydro­elec­tric pow­er and flood con­trol for the region, the lake cre­at­ed behind the dam on the Lit­tle Ten­nessee Riv­er is a pop­u­lar site for many kinds of out­door recre­ation. With a his­to­ry reach­ing back more than 100 years into the log­ging and min­ing indus­tries that flour­ished in the area at the turn of the 19th cen­tu­ry, Fontana Vil­lage today is a year-round vaca­tion des­ti­na­tion resort, with a lodge, cab­ins, camp­grounds, mari­na, and pro­gram­ming that includes tra­di­tion­al music, car club and motor­cy­cle gath­er­ings, out­door activ­i­ties and spe­cial hol­i­day events.