Lake Jocassee

By Debbie Fletcher

The creation of Lake Jocassee by Duke Power Company's massive Keowee-Toxaway Project in the late 1960s and early 1970s flooded a quaint mountain valley whose earliest recorded history was in 1539, when Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto led an expedition through the present-day Jocassee Gorges.

In 1971, hundreds watched the slow retreat of the Whitewater, Thompson, Horsepasture, Toxaway, and Keowee Rivers as they formed one large lake, smothering homes, lands, and farms in the process. Years of monitoring the water flow through the valley proved initial estimates correct, and Lake Jocassee became the deepwater source it was intended to be, providing an adequate supply of water to generate electricity. Today, a new generation enjoys many recreational activities on what is known as the "Jewel in South Carolina's Crown," a pristine lake surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains in Oconee and Pickens Counties.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Apr 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9781439643068

Debbie Fletcher

Debbie Fletcher's roots go deep into Jocassee Valley, where her family owned Camp Jocassee for Girls and the Attakulla Lodge, a seasonal hotel. Her love of Jocassee began during her many summer trips to visit the family's homestead. Fletcher shared her personal Jocassee memories in Whippoorwill Farewell: Jocassee Remembered.

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1974.

INTRODUCTION

Created by Duke Power Company’s massive Keowee-Toxaway Project, Lake Jocassee was full pond (elevation 1,110 feet) in 1973, reaching depths of 350–400 feet. Straddling the line between South Carolina’s upstate Oconee and Pickens Counties and reaching into North Carolina, it is a pumped storage facility whose hydroelectric station generates 710 megawatts of electricity. The Jocassee dam is 385 feet high and 1,750 feet long, the length of nearly six football fields placed end-to-end. Jocassee is a 7,500-acre lake that has 75 miles of navigational shoreline (or approximately 90 miles of botanical shoreline). The crystal waters of five wild rivers—Whitewater, Thompson, Horsepasture, Toxaway, and Keowee—were corralled like wild horses, forcing a slow retreat that took two years to inundate the secluded mountain valley of Jocassee, once the ancient home of the Lower Cherokee Indians, who were eventually displaced by the British and other European settlers.

The January 26, 1965, announcement of Duke Power Company’s Keowee-Toxaway Project did not take most Jocassee residents by surprise; there had been talk among the locals for years of a possible dam being built on the Keowee River. Although somewhat expected, the creation of Lake Jocassee (and the ensuing loss of Jocassee Valley) caused emotions to run high. Losing beloved family lands and homes is never easy to accept, but the increasing demands for electric power prevailed. Jocassee residents watched as their homes were either burned or bulldozed. One man even took matters into his own hands and set fire to his home rather than allow the power company the satisfaction. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) had built two gauging stations on the Whitewater and Keowee Rivers for the purpose of tracking the water flow through the valley. There was an abundant supply of water to feed both Lakes Jocassee and Keowee. By June 1966, clearing of the basin had begun. The first 100 feet of Lake Jocassee’s shoreline was clear-cut to an elevation 1,000 feet as a safety precaution for recreational use. Jocassee Valley was rich with timber, too much to harvest completely before the lake would fill. Deep in the lake, entire forests were left intact. Scuba divers today can swim through standing forests in water as shallow as 125 feet. Eerily devoid of leaves, the trees and limbs still stand strong in the frigid water.

Several significant dive sites have been established in the lake. The most popular site, easily reached by boat for recreational diving, is an area known as the Quarry. The Jocassee dam is an earthen, rock-filled dam, and much of the rock was blasted from a mountain directly to the left of the dam (as seen from the Lake Jocassee side). This blasting and removal of rock created a sheer rock wall that rises about 100 feet from the surface of the water. The resulting giant stair steps below the water have lent themselves to the placement of unique underwater features, such as a Chinese junk, a basketball goal, a motorcycle, and a soft drink machine, as well as other more whimsical items that include a row of flamingos prancing across the lake bottom and an extraordinary collection of pirate skeletons dressed in elaborate garb. Training platforms are also in place for divers seeking certification. Across the lake at one of the remote boat ramps, a walk-in site for divers and diving students has been created. Again, training ramps and whimsical items are placed for the divers’ enjoyment.

Another popular dive site for more advanced divers is the Mount Carmel Cemetery, made popular in the movie Deliverance. The movie scene in which graves are being exhumed for relocation was an actual event. Prior to inundation, loved ones were given a choice of having a family grave left intact or relocated. The cemetery is under 138 feet of water. Some tombstones, headstones, open graves, and grave curbing remain in place. The foundation of Mount Carmel Baptist Church still remains, as well as the large juniper tree that was a landmark at the church cemetery.

Attakulla Lodge was a seasonal hotel in Jocassee Valley from the early 1900s to 1951. Guests were provided bed and board, which included three meals a day and a place to sleep. Although it was standard procedure for all buildings to be razed prior to inundation, a series of events led to Attakulla Lodge being left intact. Initially, it began to float as the lake filled, but the interior masonry chimney acted as an anchor, pinning it to the lake floor. Although the lodge now rests on its side, it is mostly intact and is an exceptionally interesting dive site for divers with the rare trimix certification. The location of the Lodge is a closely guarded secret in order to protect not only the fragile dive site, but also the lives of divers who might try to dive on it without proper training.

The former site of Camp Jocassee (for girls) sits in 318 feet of water. With the exception of the stone