The name
Tanasi (Cherokee ᏔᎾᏏ; also recorded as Tenasi, Tanase, Tenassee and Tunissee) was an Overhill Cherokee town on the Little Tennessee River in what is now Monroe County, near Vonore. Its monument says Tanasi “attained political prominence in 1721 when its civil chief was elected the first ‘Emperor of the Cherokee Nation,’” and that about the same time the town’s name was applied to the river. By the mid-1700s neighboring Chota — the “mother town” — had overshadowed and absorbed it.
The first recorded spelling “Tennessee” as we write it today is on Henry Timberlake’s 1762 map. In 1796 the name was chosen for the nation’s sixteenth state — see When Tennessee was North Carolina.
Under the lake
TVA’s Tellico Dam on the Little Tennessee was begun in 1967 and completed in 1979. Its reservoir covered the Tanasi and Chota sites, along with other Overhill towns; archaeological surveys in the 1970s recovered thousands of artifacts beforehand. TVA itself titles its account of the project “It’s Complicated”: the dam was delayed for years, including by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1978 snail darter case, TVA v. Hill. Tellico generates no electricity; a short canal sends its water to the generators at Fort Loudoun Dam in Loudon County. Memorials to Tanasi and Chota stand on the lakeshore.
The TVA waters downstream
Below Fort Loudoun, the Tennessee River runs through a chain of TVA lakes. Watts Bar Dam (begun 1939, completed January 1942) backs up Watts Bar Lake for 72 miles, along the shores of Roane and Meigs Counties; its power helped supply the Manhattan Project at Oak Ridge. Chickamauga Dam (1936–1940), just above Chattanooga, created Chickamauga Lake, which stretches 59 miles up to Watts Bar Dam — named for the Chickamauga people who broke from the Cherokee Nation in the 1700s. Together they gave Meigs County about 225 miles of shoreline.
Meigs County’s own Cherokee story is at the mouth of the Hiwassee: Blythe Ferry, where thousands of Cherokee people crossed the Tennessee during the 1838 removal. The site was dedicated in June 2026 as Cherokee Trail of Tears State Park — see Meigs County.
- 1721 Tanasi’s chief named the first “Emperor” of the Cherokee
- 1762 Timberlake’s map spells “Tennessee”
- 1796 The new state takes the name
- 1838 Removal crossings at Blythe Ferry, Meigs County
- 1940 · 1942 · 1943 Chickamauga, Watts Bar and Fort Loudoun dams completed
- 1979 Tellico Dam completed; Tanasi and Chota under the lake
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Sources
Checked Oct 27, 2026 · We summarize; follow these for the full history. No hours or fees on this page — check official sites before you go.