Rhea Springs was a community once located along the Piney River in Rhea County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. Originally established in the 19th century as a health resort, the community was inundated when the completion of Watts Bar Dam by the

Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolin ...

flooded the lower Piney Valley in 1942.Bettye Broyles
Rhea County
''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2002. Retrieved: 13 January 2009. Rhea Springs, known as "Sulphur Springs" before 1878, developed around a spring rumored to have "healing" qualities. The spring flowed into the banks of the Piney approximately upstream from the river's mouth along the

Tennessee River The Tennessee River is a long river located in the Southern United States, southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. Flowing through the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, it begins at the confluence of Fren ...

. When the Tennessee Valley Authority began surveying the area for the construction of Watts Bar Dam and reservoir in the late 1930s, they reported a large hotel and seventeen small houses at Rhea Springs. After TVA acquired the community, most of its residents relocated elsewhere in the county or to

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

. Rhea Springs was the home of Congressman John R. Neal (1836–1889) and the birthplace of his son, Scopes Trial attorney John Randolph Neal, Jr. (1876–1959).Alice Howell, Lucile Deaderick (ed.), ''Heart of the Valley: A History of Knoxville, Tennessee'' (East Tennessee Historical Society, 1976), p. 582.

References

Geography of Rhea County, Tennessee Former populated places in Tennessee Tennessee Valley Authority Submerged places in the United States Populated places inundated by the Tennessee Valley Authority {{RheaCountyTN-geo-stub

See also

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