“The Atlantis of Dale HollowLake”

DHL possesses a gem in historian and well-published author, Darren Shell.  Darren , along with Randall Slayton, a scuba diver and Marcus Mitchell produced a DVD documentary “Journey to Old Willow Grove: The Atlantis of Dale Hollow Lake.”

This area of Tennessee was populated and towns incorporated starting in the 1790’s. The story goes that in 1942 the town of Willow Grove was bought by the Army Corp. of Engineers. They bought out the local residents, who moved to higher ground or further away.  The Corp. tore down homes and buildings, then flooded the area, thus creating DHL. But memories of the town still remain underwater and aerial photos show remains such as the foundation of the Old Willow Grove School. Many former residents and their descendants still assemble annually for a reunion. The U.S. Army Corp. had blasted the school’s concrete steps with dynamite but the foundation and remaining concrete portions are still visible at the bottom of the lake. This structure and others appear to be much closer to the surface than they really are due to the clarity of the lake. DHL is said to have some of the clearest waters in the SE U.S.

It took Darren, Randall and Marcus in excess of six months to research, film (underwater) and produce the DVD. You can learn more at www.DaleHollowGravedigger.com

Sometime, I will share with you a local story or two about the creation of Dale Hollow Lake.

I am an advocate of Recycle & Reuse. When the remnants of the old pool were excavated, the tiles that lined some edge spots were tossed away. The site of that tossing was a steep hill. Over the past two years, debris and Mother Nature had covered the tiles. When I noticed them, I decided to Recycle. I tied one end of a rope to my waist, the other to a picnic table and shimmied down the hill. More like slid on my butt, but shimmied makes it sound like I was somewhat in control of the descent. And it saves my false sense of minimal dignity. An old Chlorine bucket for collection, a few trips back up the hill and I was ready. After cleaning the tiles as well as could be done, I laid them out and pondered.

“Brain Storm”, or more accurately “Brain Drizzle”- Under the new back deck, I had decided to put up a Flowering Vine wall to block the view of the storage area. To define the narrow beds for the plants, I could make a divider with the tiles. I cemented tiles to left over cement board from the second floor construction and WA-LA! A Border that I am calling Campground Garden Art.

Unfortunately, there are very few commodities recycled in this area, but every bit helps. And the tiles will squash the weeds underneath. In theory anyways