Man-made lake (Cookeville, Rutherford, Watauga: YMCA, schools, stores)

[RHutch187]

somone told me recently about a local man-made lake that still has the old town that it was built on at the bottom of it thats located somewhere in the Middle TN area. I can't remember the name of it though. If anybody knows of the posible name of it to let me know. Also if by chance if you know if scuba diving is allowed there. I thought it would be a great adventure for me and my GF to go on. Thanks in advance.

[rossc]

Watauga lake was made by TVA. The town of Butler was relocated to make way for the reservoir. I think you'll find that there a number of man made lakes in TN that displaced towns.

[RHutch187]

good to know. Do you know if any of them permit scuba diving?

[skinem]

It would never have occurred to me that scuba diving would be barred in any of the lakes...

[RHutch187]

I just thought that, what with all the buildings and what not still down there at the bottom they might consider it to danagerous for people to do so.

[yarddawg]

There's a town under Dale Hollow that a lot of people dive on, should be able to google it for info. Not my hobby so I can't give you a lot of details. I think the main attraction was the ruins of a school building or something like that. Don't expect many intact buildings at any of the drowned towns. When TVA backed up the lakes there was a lot of warning, months to years. Most of the buildings were either moved, scrapped for materials or wrecked in place to keep them from being potential navigation hazards as they disintegrated on their own.

[BirdieBelle]

I believe the school under Dale Hollow was called Willow Grove. Here are the state policies about diving in state park lakes (from state park website):

"Scuba diving will be permitted in those state park lakes which are within the borders of a park but only upon receiving a permit to do so from the Superintendent or his authorized representative. This permit will be granted upon demonstration by the applicant that he/she has received scuba certification which is granted to those successfully completing courses meeting the Revised Instructional Standards: Minimum Course Content for Entry-Level Scuba Certification , January 16, 1986, including any subsequent revision to these standards. These standards are subscribed to by: National Association of Scuba Diving Schools, National Association of Underwriter Instructors, NAVI, PADI, Scuba Schools International and the YMCA. Provided, however, the Park Superintendent may refuse to grant a permit whenever in his judgment safety conditions or park operation concerns dictate."

[Steve_TN]

The town of Old Jefferson was demolished in the1960's to form Percy Priest Lake. It was once the Rutherford county seat. An entire town exists under the lake and I hear the bulldozing wasn't done so well. That is why there are so many drowning in the lake. People go down too deep and get caught on pieces of debris.

[skinem]

Thanks, Wmsn4life...I learn something every day...I probably would have just gone without asking any one if I didn't know this. Like I said, I'da never thought you'd need to ask anyone's permission to swim in a lake.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by skinem

Thanks, Wmsn4life...I learn something every day...I probably would have just gone without asking any one if I didn't know this. Like I said, I'da never thought you'd need to ask anyone's permission to swim in a lake.

You need permission to go scuba diving, not swimming, and it's only at state parks. I believe if you're out in the middle of the lake or away from a state park you can go scuba diving at your heart's content. I think.

Dale Hollow is one of the more popular lakes for scuba diving because of Willow Grove as well as the fact that it's one of the cleaner lakes which allows a lot better visibility when you're 200 feet down. I know my friends who moved to Cookeville from California were stunned to find scuba equipment at local sporting goods stores because it never occurred to them that people would go scuba diving in a lake.

On a technical note, Dale Hollow, Percy Priest, Old Hickory, and Center Hill are not TVA lakes, they're Corps of Engineers lakes. Maybe the COE wasn't as strict as the TVA when they cleared land for lakes?