Lost Beneath Kentucky Lake: Towns that Vanished

 

Across the United States, large-scale infrastructure and conservation projects have required communities to uproot, relocate, or disappear altogether—sometimes in the name of progress, sometimes preservation, often both. The western Kentucky lakes region offers a particularly vivid lens into that experience: a place where front porches were rebuilt in neat new rows, where cemeteries were carefully moved to higher ground, and where, even now, when the water drops, the past can feel startlingly close to the surface.

Beneath the waters of Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley lie the footprints of towns, farms, churches, and crossroads communities that once thrived along the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers.

When the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) built Kentucky Dam in the 1940s—and, decades later, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed Barkley Dam—the promise of flood control, navigation, and electricity reshaped not just the landscape but the lives rooted in it.

Some places, like Gilbertsville, Ky., were lifted and rebuilt on higher ground. Others, like Birmingham, slipped quietly beneath the rising water, their streets and foundations preserved only in memory and map.

And in the stretch between the two lakes—now known as Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area—entire rural communities were eventually cleared away, leaving behind only stories of the people who loved the land.

In this article, I will focus on the “lost towns” of Kentucky Dam.

Aerial view of the original town of Gilbertsville in western

Kentucky on the banks of the Tennessee River, before construction

of Kentucky Dam in the 1940s.

The closest town to the site of Kentucky Dam is Gilbertsville. The original town site was condemned and flooded when the dam was built. The new town, initially called “West Gilbertsville,” moved to higher ground before the reservoir fully filled. As of the 2020 census, the population is 332.


The town of Birmingham in Marshall County, Kentucky, is the best-documented town erased by Kentucky Lake. Located on the west shore of the Tennessee River, it was founded in 1849 as a river port. With fewer than four hundred residents, the town lacked the economic base or location that would justify rebuilding a full town site. Residents dispersed instead of attempting to relocate as a community.

In 1961, TVA dropped Kentucky Lake to an unusually
low level, exposing remnants of Birmingham for the
first time in 15 years. (Paducah Sun, March 12, 1961)

Roads, foundations, and structures remain under the waters of the lake today and can often be spotted when the water level is at its lowest during winter pool.

Another lost community, Newburg in Calloway County, was actually a tiny river hamlet rather than a town, but it did have a post office. The post office closed in 1943 and the few village residents moved out. The homes, surrounding farms, and cemetery were flooded when Kentucky Lake filled in 1944.

Numerous other low-lying river settlements, such as ferry landings, timber camps, and church communities, disappeared. These were simply acquired and cleared before flooding of the lake occurred.

In Marshall County alone, TVA acquired over 35,000 acres. Across the region, thousands of residents had to move. Several major highways were moved, and rail lines were relocated to higher ground.

This example of a TVA land acquisition map shows
the location of Newburg, Ky., before it was inundated
by Kentucky Lake 

A major portion of the project dealt with relocating cemeteries. A total of 126 cemeteries, from community or church sites to small family plots, were disinterred and moved. During the process, TVA mapped both original and reinterment sites. If families objected or could not be located, some graves were left. Of 28 graves in the Newburg cemetery, for example, most were relocated to a nearby cemetery, but five remained in place. At winter pool, remaining grave markers can sometimes be spotted on a small island.

There was no single resettlement town for those displaced by Kentucky Dam. Many families bought or built homes above the flood line, often staying within the same county. Some moved to other Tennessee or Cumberland River towns to keep their river-connected livelihoods. Often, younger residents moved to cities to work in wartime industries or other TVA projects.

Some families relocated further inland between the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. They would be forced once again to relocate within the next three decades due to construction of Barkley Dam and the creation of Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.

Watch for future posts about the families affected by those relocation projects.

SOURCES:

Gilbertsville, Kentucky - Wikipedia 

Our History | KentuckyLake.com 

Birmingham, Kentucky - Wikipedia 

Kentucky Lake's Winter Pool Reveals 'Cemetery Island' - Four Rivers Explorer

Newburg, Kentucky - Four Rivers Explorer

history.ky.gov/markers/inundated-site?

Multi-award-winning author Marie Wells Coutu finds beauty in surprising places, like undiscovered treasures, old houses, and gnarly trees. All three books in her Mended Vessels series, contemporary stories based on the lives of biblical women, have won awards in multiple contests. She is currently working on historical romances set in her native western Kentucky in the 1930s and ‘40s. An unpublished novel, Shifting Currents, placed second in the inspirational category of the nationally recognized Maggie Awards. Learn more at www.MarieWellsCoutu.com.

When the lights of Broadway dim, Delia leaves the city behind. But will her family welcome her home again?

The historical short story, “All That Glistens,” is loosely based on an actual woman from the "Between the Rivers" area of western Kentucky. It was included in the 2023 Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction collection and is now available free when you sign up for Marie's newsletter here. In her newsletter, she shares about her writing, historical tidbits, recommended books, and sometimes recipes. 

WOOPS! The Forgotten Female Force of World War II

“Now come the WOOPS.”

That is how the Associated Press introduced the newest opportunity for women to serve the country in May 1943.

WOOPS (Women Officers of Public Safety) are not as well known as the WACs (Women’s Army Corps) and WAVES (the Naval Women’s Reserve), perhaps because they were far fewer in number.

Unlike WACS and WAVES, the WOOPS carried
 guns when on duty. This photo of firing range
practice was published in the May 31, 1943
Austin, Texas, Statesman.

These women served during World War II to replace or supplement men serving in the military. Unlike the others, however, WOOPS carried guns.

WOOPS was created by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to supplement the male Public Safety Service (PSS) protecting dams and power facilities from espionage and sabotage.

TVA was formed in 1933 to control flooding, provide navigation, and generate power in the Tennessee Valley region of the southeast. By the time the United States entered World War II, TVA was providing power to industries vital to the war effort, including production of aluminum and the top-secret Oak Ridge laboratory, which produced uranium for the Manhattan Project.

So TVA facilities, including dams under construction as well as the Muscle Shoals Reservation where explosive materials were produced for munitions, were considered possible targets by enemies.

When the federal government created TVA, they authorized the agency to designate law enforcement officers to assist in carrying out its mission. The PSS initially assisted with police, fire, and emergency services. The force grew to 250 officers by January 1941. But when the U.S. entered the war, the need for increased security of TVA facilities became evident. In 1942, German operatives were apprehended on Long Island, N.Y.; among their targets were American aluminum factories.

PSS employment reached its peak of about 900 in July 1942. However, Public the men most qualified to serve as security guards were also the ones most likely to enlist in the military services.

TVA officials found that when a PSS officer joined the war effort, he would be replaced by another man, who would also enlist after a few months.

The training period was shortened from six months to six weeks, and the officers were sworn in as Civilian Auxiliary to the Military Police, a status that remained until 1945. In addition to fire and sabotage prevention, the officers assisted TVA Personnel with fingerprinting prospective employees to secure the workforce.

To counter the shrinkage of the force, TVA established the Women Officers of Public Safety, shortened to WOOPS in line with WAVES and WACS. Initially, about 70 women applied, and 22 were accepted and trained in the first class, along with 63 men.

The first class of WOOPS at the gun range

The women, mostly single, included former stenographers, clerks, teachers, and nurses. A few were wives of PSS officers who left to join the military. Most had never fired a gun before joining the corps.

They received training intensive combat training in judo and riflery, as well as instruction in firefighting and guard dog handling. Classroom work included lectures on arrests, searches and seizures, basic state and federal laws, and the TVA badge, pass and identification system.

This photo in the Knoxville News-Sentinel
was apparently taken before the WOOPS
 received their official uniforms.

The women’s olive-green uniforms consisted of skirt, blouse, “Sam Browne” belt, and overseas-type cap. (The Sam Browne belt is a leather belt with a supporting strap over the right shoulder and a flap-holster on the hip.) They carried a .38 caliber pistol when on duty.

According to societal norms at the time, women were not suited for this type of potentially dangerous duty, and they were given the nickname of “pistol-packin’ mamas.”

But the women’s effectiveness was recognized when, at war’s end, there had been no reports of sabotage at any TVA facility. In 1944, a little over a year after the program began, the corps received the Army-Navy E for Excellence Award.

After the war, as soldiers returned home, so did the women of WOOPS. But over time, TVA again began hiring women for their security force, and today women are part of the TVA Police & Emergency Management, designated in 1994 as a federal law enforcement agency.

Sources:

Drumright, William Wade, "A River for War, a Watershed to Change: The Tennessee Valley Authority During World War II. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2005.

Home-Front Defenders

World War II | Tennessee Encyclopedia

Powering World War II

TVA History: The 1940s

Multi-award-winning author Marie Wells Coutu finds beauty in surprising places, like undiscovered treasures, old houses, and gnarly trees. All three books in her Mended Vessels series, contemporary stories based on the lives of biblical women, have won awards in multiple contests. She is currently working on historical romances set in her native western Kentucky in the 1930s and ‘40s. An unpublished novel, Shifting Currents, placed second in the inspirational category of the nationally recognized Maggie Awards. Learn more at www.MarieWellsCoutu.com.

In the misty Scottish Highlands, Kenna MacLaren defies English law by playing bagpipes to keep alive the music and memories. When she finds a duke’s nephew wounded, she faces an impossible choice. Helping him could cost her everything, but abandoning him goes against her faith. As English soldiers hunt for rebels, Kenna must decide if she can trust this man with her family's safety--and her heart. Get your free copy of this new novelette, The Piper's Secret, here, when you sign up for Marie’s newsletter, or you can buy it on Kindle.

A WOOPs, A Blue Moon, & A Secret City

These three things may seem to have nothing in common. Yet they do in my latest release, a novella called Beneath the Rare Blue Moon.

The story takes place in eastern Tennessee and begins on October 31, 1944, the night of a blue moon.

WOOPs

The heroine, Kathleen Forrest, is with the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Women Officer of Public Safety unit. These women were not part of the military, like WACs or WAVEs, and their stories aren’t nearly as well-known.

Yet, their responsibilities were considered so important they were taught judo, trained to handle guns, issued .38 caliber pistols, and often worked with trained military dogs.

Since the men were heading off to fight in WWII, the TVA hired these women to guard and protect potential targets, such as hydroelectric dams, aluminum factories, and other important industries, from sabotage (TVA).

“Blue Moon”

You’ve probably heard of the phrase “once in a blue moon” which, literally, has three definitions:

The second full moon in a month. That means the date falls at the end of the month. 

The third full moon when four moons appear in a season. Usually, only three moons appear in winter, spring, summer, or fall.

The moon’s appearance when, under certain atmospheric conditions, it takes on a bluish hue. This can happen when “volcanic eruptions or large-scale fires release particles into the atmosphere” (Blue Moon).

The next blue moon is May 31, 2026.

Our next seasonal blue moon is May 20, 2027.

The Story ~ Kathleen Forrest, a WOOPs heroine of Beneath the Rare Blue Moon, has an unusual experience on a blue moon night when she disarms a potential “saboteur.”

“Secret City”

To find the “Secret City” on a map, you’ll need to locate Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

It’s also known as the “Atomic City” and, by those who lived and worked there, “The Reservation.”

The town was built by the military as a base for the Manhattan Project, the top-secret atomic bomb research program. 

Here’s the scientific info: 

“The Y-12, K-25, and S-50 plants were each built in Oak Ridge to separate the fissile isotope uranium-235 from natural uranium, which consists almost entirely of the isotope uranium-238. The X-10 site, now the site of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was established as a pilot plant for production of plutonium using the Graphite Reactor, used to develop full-scale plutonium production…” (Oak Ridge).

The Story ~ Kathleen and Army intelligence officer Roger Craig are recruited on a secret mission to find a possible saboteur in the "Secret City." 

I visited Oak Ridge a few years ago. The community center built by the Army as a gathering place for the residents is now a small history museum with amazing exhibits that preserve and honor the town’s legacy.

Beneath a Rare Blue Moon released this week and is available on Amazon.

Johnnie Alexander writes award-winning stories of enduring love and quiet courage. Her historical and contemporary novels weave together unforgettable romance, compelling characters, and a touch of mystery. A sometime hermit and occasional vagabond who most often kicks off her shoes in Florida, Johnnie cherishes cozy family times and enjoys long road trips. Readers are invited to discover glimpses of grace and timeless truth in her stories. Connect with her at johnnie-alexander.com.

Photos

Norris Dam ~ By Johnnie Alexander

City Seal. By http://www.cortn.org/PW-html/CDBGConsolidatedPlanHomePage2008.htm, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64434822

Aerial View. By Department of Energy Oak Ridge - http://www.oakridge.doe.gov/em/ssab/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1931232 

Shift Change. By Ed Westcott / US Army / Manhattan Engineer District - Ed Westcott / American Museum of Science and Energy, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7006834

Billboard outside Oak Ridge. By James E. Westcott - https://www.flickr.com/photos/amse/2965051856/sizes/z/in/photostream/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12075242

The Chapel on the Hill ~ By Johnnie Alexander

Sources ~ Each source accessed on December 5, 2025.

Blue Moon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_moon.

Oak Ridge. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Ridge,_Tennessee. Accessed December 5, 2025.

TVA. https://www.tva.com/the-powerhouse/stories/home-front-defenders. Accessed December 5, 2025.

Through 'High Water and Hell,' Kentuckians Fight Against Disasters

The devastation across the southern U.S. from recent hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods made me think about historic floods and how people dealt with them.

“Man, indeed, cannot control the rainfall,” wrote R. L Duffus in 1944. “He can alter the courses of streams only slightly. The water that falls on the high places must eventually go down to the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the sea, and by the ancient routes. But man can determine somewhat the time and manner of its passage. He can hold it back to prevent floods.”

The 1937 flood affected towns along the Tennessee
River, including Gilbertsville, KY, near where
Kentucky Dam was built in the 1940s.

A quick search produces a list of multiple significant floods in every decade, in all parts of the country. But since I grew up in Kentucky, where my current works-in-progress are set, this article will focus on what is called the Great Flood of 1937. In January and February that year, record levels of precipitation fell across the Ohio Valley, from Pittsburgh to the Mississippi River. The resulting flood left 1 million people homeless, killed 400, and caused $500 million (nearly $11 billion in today’s dollars) property damage, with Kentucky being particularly hard hit.

Before construction of dams by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) from 1933 to 1944, residents living near the Tennessee River and its tributaries endured flooding as a regular part of life.

While TVA had multiple goals—production of electricity, improved navigation on the Tennessee, a stronger economy in the region, higher living standards, and soil conservation—flood control was high on the list.

Towns on the Cumberland River were also affected
by the Great Flood of 1937, as shown by this barn,
left upended in Kuttawa.

One farmer explained, “When these (river) bottoms flood and wipe out our corn and bean crop that leaves us with nothin’ to feed the stock in winter, not to mention, nothin’ to sell.”

That person spoke only of damage to crops, which happened frequently, not the devastation caused by major floods.

The west Kentucky city of Paducah sits at the confluence of the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers, with the Cumberland flowing into the Ohio about 20 miles upstream. When record rainfall during January and February 1937 combined with rising waters flowing from the Appalachia Mountains to the east, the Tennessee, Cumberland, and Ohio Rivers all began to swell and overtake their banks. Sleet and ice on Jan. 10 downed telephone, telegraph, and power lines, cutting off communications for the city. By Jan. 17, the looming disaster had become evident.

Flooded streets in Paducah, KY, became "rivers
of muck" when cold temperatures added ice.

This photo of a cow that survived
 the flood on the balcony of a house in
Paducah, KY, for 3 weeks appeared
in National Geographic Magazine.

Continuing rain, compounded by cold temperatures, turned streets into “rivers of muck,” wrote Charlie Jackson, who spent six weeks living on the second floor of a house abandoned as the waters rose. He survived using a hastily made wooden boat which allowed him to retrieve food, coal, and whiskey from vacated buildings. Jackson, who helped rescue people and discourage looters, called his experience “about three weeks of high water and Hell.”

Some 27,000 residents fled Paducah, with complete evacuation supervised by the military beginning Jan. 30. The water level crested at 60.8 feet on Feb. 2, submerging nearly 95 percent of the city, but water continued to rise until mid-February.

More than 200 miles northeast, the much larger city of Louisville, located on the Ohio River, received a record 19 inches of rain that January. With the Ohio River reaching a crest of 57 feet of water, or 27 feet above flood stage, an Army engineer called it a flood of “almost biblical proportions.” Three-fourths of the city was covered, forcing more than 230,000 Louisvillians to evacuate. Ninety people died, and damages were estimated at more than $54 million (equivalent to about $1.2 billion today).

After that flood, one letter to the editor, published in the Louisville Courier Journal, said of the people of Kentucky, “When ‘the chips are down’ and the going is rough, they all throw their shoulders back, stick together, and fight. Those are your God-fearing people, as the saying goes.”

In spite of some looting, violence, and discrimination in providing relief that Jackson described, citizens of all the cities and towns affected by the flood worked together to rebuild.

Seems resilience is one characteristic the victims of the latest disasters have in common with Kentuckians of 1937.

Sources:

The Valley and its People: A Portrait of TVA, (c)1944
Renie from Golden Pond by Barbara Hilliard, (c)1998
McKenzie Martin, “The 1937 Flood,” ExploreKYHistory, https://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/show/369.
Robertson, J. E. L. (2004). “High Water and Hell So Far”: A Paducahan Remembers the 1937 Ohio Valley Flood. The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, 102(2), 183–206. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23386285
Historical Photos from archives of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and McCracken County (KY) Public Library

Multi-award-winning author Marie Wells Coutu finds beauty in surprising places, like undiscovered treasures, old houses, and gnarly trees. All three books in her Mended Vessels series, contemporary stories based on the lives of biblical women, have won awards in multiple contests. She is currently working on historical romances set in her native western Kentucky in the 1930s and ‘40s. An unpublished novel, Shifting Currents, which takes place during construction of Kentucky Dam, placed third in Inspirational Romance in the nationally recognized Maggie Awards, and second in Historical Christian Romance in the Touched By Love Awards.

Her historical short story, “All That Glistens,” was included in the 2023 Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction collection and is now available free when you sign up for Marie's newsletter here. In her newsletter, she shares about her writing, historical tidbits, recommended books, and sometimes recipes.