Let’s Talk Trash!
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Kylie is our INVESTIGATOR - 9th grader, Kylie wants to be a writer because she loves to express herself and show a part of her no one sees. As an investigator, Kylie has submitted this month’s article, Dale Hollow. What would you do if someone told you that you had to leave your house, school, even town? Well, to the townspeople of Willow Grove, Tennessee, this was their reality! It all started in 1942. At this time, men were marching off to fight in the battle of World War II; so, the families were sad. And if this wasn’t enough, the government asked the friends and families to leave Willow Grove so they can build a dam. The government tore down the whole town except for the school. The school was one of the biggest schools within miles, but is that why the school remains while the whole town is gone? There are many different stories to why the school wasn’t taken down, from the ghost called ‘lady of the lake’ to one of the founding father’s son’s burial grave being disturbed. Some people think what they think and some people have other opinions. What do you think really happened the day when the construction workers decided not to tear down the school? Every year the old town’s folk have a Reunion to remember the times they had in Willow Grove like nothing ever happened. But, should that be the
THE ATLANTIS OF DALE HOLLOW LAKE
What Lies Beneath?
Ever heard of an underwater ghost town? When the government was taking up land for civil projects like lakes and dams, sometimes whole towns got in the way. One such example is the quaint town of Willow Grove in Tennessee. Willow Grove was founded by five families from the Colony of New York who bought the land off Chief Nettle Carrier, one of the last Cherokee Chiefs in the area, around
the settler’s wives who is searching for her wedding ring. You can still explore the school house of Willow Grove if you are a certified SCUBA diver – if you dare. Source: https://localloreandgore.com/2014/04/30/what-lies-beneath- ghost-town-under-dale-hollow-lake/ Who Was Nettle Carrier? On the mountains above the head of Nettle Carrier Creek was a village of the Cherokee Indians. The site of the village is now known as the Indian Graves. In this village were two young braves who were in love with the same Indian maiden. To decide who should marry her, they went to the Chief of the tribe. The old Chief told them to each throw a sprig of green into the water of a nearby creek, and that the one whose sprig was carried the farthest by the water, should marry the girl. One threw a nettle (a flowering plant leaf), and the other a thorn. The nettle floated farthest, so this thrower married the Indian maiden, and from that day was called Nettle Carrier. The lucky Indian became chief of his tribe. Nettle Carrier was the last Indian chief to reside in this section, and tradition has it that he lived here until 1799. The Indian Territory that had been within Overton County Tennessee, in which Chief Nettle Carrier presided over, was conceded to Tennessee for use by the white man. Chief Nettle Carrier operated out of a camp located along the creek that now bears his name.
1785. Willow Grove has been cited as the first permanent white settlement in the Upper Cumberland due to their positive relations with the Cherokee. The town grew until the Wolf River dam and Dale Hollow Lake were proposed.
All of the graves had to be dug up and moved to the St. John’s cemetery outside of the flood zone. On July 18, 1942 the people of Willow Grove stood together in one last cathartic moment, to mourn the loss of their town. There are several ghosts who frequent the now drowned town, but none so common as the Old Lady of the Lake. There are multiple accounts of a whirling, rising white mist with unnatural movement coming off the lake, many of which believe is the ghost of one of
end of this mystery? What do you think?
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