Hales Bar Dam

Hales Bar Dam was the first lock-and-dam built on the Tennessee River, completed in nineteen thirteen after eight years of difficult construction. Engineers had to battle a massive underground spring at the base of the dam that seeped through the limestone riverbed continuously, leaking so badly the structure was never truly watertight. The Tennessee Valley Authority took over the dam in the nineteen thirties, struggled with it for decades, and finally shut it down in nineteen sixty-seven, replacing it with Nickajack Dam downstream.

The old powerhouse still stands today as an event venue and distillery, with a marina nearby. Hales Bar represents the first engineering ambition to tame the Tennessee, a dream the TVA would ultimately fulfill on a far grander scale.