The Lost Towns Beneath American Reservoirs
Millions enjoy lakes created by U.S. dams, but few know entire towns lie underwater, their histories erased by rising waters and changing landscapes.
Throughout the twentieth century, massive dam projects transformed the American landscape. Construction of these giant hydroelectric and water supply reservoirs provided electricity, irrigation, and flood control, but in the process, erased entire communities from the map. While many people know of the recreational lakes created by filling these reservoirs, most are unaware that beneath the surface lies the remnants of dozens of towns, farms, and even graveyards.
One striking example is Kennett, California, a mining boomtown founded in the late 1800s. By the 1930s, it had schools, hotels, banks, and a lively population working in copper mining and supporting industries. However, when the federal government began building Shasta Dam as part of a massive effort to reshape California’s water supply, Kennett became a casualty. Residents gradually moved as the waters behind the dam rose, and by 1944 the town was submerged beneath what is now Shasta Lake. Today, all that remains of Kennett are underwater ruins and the fading memories of families who once called it home.
Kennett’s fate was not unique. Similar stories played out across the country as the Tennessee Valley Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tamed rivers and created lakes. In Pennsylvania, the town of Corydon vanished beneath the Allegheny Reservoir in the 1960s along with neighboring Kinzua, after the controversial Kinzua Dam project forced Seneca Nation tribal members and other residents to relocate. In Georgia, the Danville community disappeared under Lake Sinclair in the 1950s, its buildings and streets lying dormant beneath the surface.
The process of flooding a town for a reservoir was dramatic, emotional, and often traumatic for those affected. Families were forced to abandon homes, sometimes leaving behind possessions they could not take or buildings that could not be moved. Churches, schools, and businesses were demolished or left standing to be swallowed by the rising water. In some cases, even the dead were displaced; workers exhumed and relocated thousands of graves, though local lore still tells of old cemeteries lost beneath the waves.
These lost towns, seldom mentioned in history books, continue to spark the curiosity of divers and drought-stricken visitors. Whenever water levels in reservoirs drop, as they periodically do in times of drought, the ghostly outlines of streets, stone foundations, and the occasional relic resurface, briefly revealing a hidden history. In places like Lake Mead, which covers the former settlement of St. Thomas, Nevada, plummeting water levels have exposed entire buildings, prompting renewed interest in the stories of those who lived there.
Today, millions of Americans relax on lakeshores and speed across the open water without realizing the complex and often poignant history beneath their boats. For many former residents, the memories of submerged towns are still vivid, kept alive by family stories and old photographs. The lost towns beneath America’s reservoirs are poignant reminders of how the nation’s push for progress and prosperity sometimes demanded difficult sacrifices that are now literally underwater, concealed just out of sight and largely out of mind.
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