Land of the Noonday Sun and Familial Ties

I stood alongside the twisty mountain road, at an elevation of 3000 ft, overlooking the 1,700-acre Nantahala Lake in southwestern North Carolina.  At the bottom of that lake lies the old town of Aquone, and what was once the North Carolina Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Forest Service Camp #10 (NC F-10).  At the age of 17 years, my paternal grandfather served about 2 months in Company 408, in that camp, in the summer of 1936.  The town and camp remnants were submerged when this area was flooded after the construction of the Nantahala Dam in 1942 to create Lake Nantahala, and the hydroelectric power critical to the success of defense projects for World War II.   

As I looked up the road, one side hugging the side of the southern Appalachian Mountains, and the other a steep drop-off into the surrounding Nantahala Forest, I remembered that my grandfather’s CCC service records listed his type of work as “road work.”  He could’ve helped build this very road on which I stood.

Since it was January, the forest was mostly devoid of leaves, providing an unobscured view of the valleys and streams below.  I tried to imagine what my teenage grandfather would’ve felt standing in this place.  He had never been outside of the bayous of Louisiana that he called home before coming here.  He came from a farming family, so surely, he felt comfortable working the earth, but up to this point, he had never experienced altitude, and certainly never had the opportunity to look down on clouds.  This must’ve been such a strange world to him.  

According to History.com, “The CCC was a work relief program that gave [>3 million] young men employment on environmental projects during the Great Depression.  Considered by many to be one of the most successful of Roosevelt’s New Deal programs, the CCC planted more than 3 billion trees and constructed trails and shelters in more than 800 parks nationwide during it’s 9 years of existence.  The CCC helped to shape the modern national and state park systems we enjoy today.”   Many of the National and State parks I’ve visited have erected monuments and/or educational placards memorializing the work of CCC workers.

I didn’t learn about his service with the CCC until decades after my grandfather’s passing, so I was never able to ask him about it.  What was his impression of the mountains?  Could his fellow workers understand his Cajun accent?  Could he understand theirs?  With over 4,500 CCC camps spread out across the country, and approximately 80 of them in Louisiana, why did he go all the way to North Carolina to work, instead of serving in one closer to home? It seems we will never know the answers to these questions. 

Fed by Nantahala Lake, the Nantahala River provides the perfect playground for a variety of watersports, including fishing and boating.  White water rapids are created when water is released from the dam, which supports world-class paddling sports downriver.    

Although not as picturesque in the winter, I’ve ridden this area in summertime and it is quite stunning.  The beautiful scenery, well-maintained twisty mountain roads, and now, a familial connection, will all keep me coming back to this incredible forest and area.