Lakeview Drive (The Road to Nowhere)

In the early 1940s, the creation of Fontana Dam and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park flooded several small Appalachian communities in Western North Carolina. Hundreds of families were forced to abandon their homes, farms, and ancestral cemeteries. To ease the sting of displacement, the federal government signed an agreement promising to construct a new road along the north shore of Fontana Lake, allowing former residents and their descendants easy access to the isolated family burial grounds.

Construction began on what was officially named Lakeview Drive, but it quickly ran into environmental and logistical hurdles. By the late 1960s, crews had built about six miles of road winding high above the lake, culminating in a 1,200-foot-long concrete tunnel bored through a ridge. Shortly after the tunnel was completed, construction halted permanently when geologists discovered that further excavation would disturb highly acidic rock, threatening to poison local trout streams with runoff.

For decades, the project remained in limbo, a literal road to nowhere. The half-completed route became a physical monument to a broken government treaty, fueling resentment among locals who still wished to visit their family graves. After decades of political stalemates and environmental debates, a final settlement was reached in 2010. The federal government agreed to pay Swain County $52 million in lieu of finishing the road, permanently cementing the route's unfinished status.

Today, Lakeview Drive is one of the most unusual roadside attractions in the Great Smoky Mountains. Visitors can drive the scenic, winding road, enjoying panoramic views of Fontana Lake, before arriving at a barricaded parking lot. From there, a short walk leads to the mouth of the massive, dark tunnel. Walking through its damp, echoing interior is a slightly eerie experience, after which hikers can connect to several trails that lead deep into the quiet backcountry where the old communities once stood.