Rhea Springs, Pt. 1: Lost towns under Watts Bar Lake

SPRING CITY, Tennessee (WDEF) – Back in February, we showed you what lies underneath Chattanooga streets.

But what about an entire town under the Piney River?

This time, our News 12 Morning Team dives into a community once flourishing in Rhea County, known as Sulfur or Rhea Springs.

It’s a place hundreds of residents once called home.

News 12’s Kay Blevins and Jamal Williams have more on this underwater history lesson.

Rhea Springs is a community that was tucked inside these old trees but it’s now under these waters in this remote area of Rhea County. If you dive under, what you would find might surprise you. The remains of an old hotel, school house and community that many once called home. Way back in the middle of the woods in Rhea County, Tennessee, you will find a park… cemetery… and a beautiful view of the water.

“You think their spirits are there so to speak, you wonder exactly what life was like even though you have a picture of it.”

Under the Piney River is the remains of a small community. Rhea Springs was once home to a lavish resort, a school house and many, many residents who lived and worked there for dozens of years.

“These were people’s lives, you just wonder a whole community gone.”

Rhea County historian Pat Guffey is writing a book on the history of Rhea Springs. She has spent countless hours learning more about a community that once existed under this massive body of water.

“It was begun, as a wonderful resort for people all over the United States, people came from everywhere and stay there, and they would stay weeks at a time.”

Picture after picture shows a resort, post office, school, church and even families in front of massive homes in this community.

“You wonder what did they wear to the dance? Who did they go with? What did they cook for dinner?”

It might be hard to imagine such a successful town now under a river with only pieces of this community left today.

“With the old school you can see some of the old concrete, some of the area where the building was. The old hotel you can see the water tower were the old hotel was.”

This is all visible when the water is down in the winter months from Rhea Springs Park, the former site of Rhea Springs. So why is this town now under water? You might call it progress?

“When TVA was building the dam that was the changing point, that was the beginning of the end.”

End of an era and the beginning of the construction of the Watts Bar Dam. TVA acquired the community. So who exactly lived in Sulphur Springs and what brought so many residents to the one thousand acres of land? A medicinal spring. One that many believed healed and treated diseases with mineral water.

We dive deeper into water and learn more about this mysterious history in Part 2.

We speak with TVA officials on why they chose the area in Part 3.

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