| Sources |
- [S73] Rawlings Funeral Home, Book 2, 14 Jul 1943.
Ulys E. Underwood obituary
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 20 Sep 2014.
Upland Chronicles: Ol' Shaky was first bridge across French Broad in Sevier County
Ol' Shaky as it appeared around 1920. This view shows the bridge looking south from Dandridge.
In 1799, a group of about 75 Sevier County citizens residing on the north side of the French Broad River petitioned the Tennessee General Assembly to allow the section of Sevier County to join Jefferson County.
The people had a number of reasons for wanting to join Jefferson County. The most significant was the trouble, time and effort it took to take care of simple matters at the courthouse in Sevierville and attend militia muster.
In order to get to Sevierville, they had to cross the French Broad in all kinds of weather, a feat that was difficult and sometimes entirely impossible, according to the petition to the legislature. The matter became a heated political issue, and the proposal was defeated.
Ferry service had been available since 1788, but it was not free. The ferries operated privately but under the supervision of the county court. The court specified the name of the ferry and sometimes the name of the operator, and fixed the rates to be charged.
In 1823, another group of petitioners returned with a plea to the General Assembly to be allowed to attach the portion of the county north of the river to Jefferson County. That effort failed, as well as one three years later.
It was 1944 before a bridge finally spanned the French Broad River in Sevier County. And it was a secondhand bridge at that. In fact, the bridge had been built in Chattanooga and later moved to Dandridge before being moved downstream, allowing Kodak residents something they had never had, easy access to the county seat.
The iron girder and wooden-floored bridge was constructed in Chattanooga sometime in the late 1800s. Later it was dismantled and brought upriver by steamboat to Dandridge. Legendary steamboat pilot Ambrose Underwood, captain for the Oliver King Company of Knoxville, hauled the bridge from Chattanooga to Dandridge on his steamboat.
In 1913, the bridge was finished and put into operation in Dandridge. Its wooden floor was made of yellow pine two-by-fours turned on edge. The structure was eight spans of iron and concrete stretching for 1,508 feet across the French Broad at Dandridge.
Officially named Swann Bridge, it shook so badly that it soon became known as Ol' Shaky. But at least Jefferson County residents had a means of crossing the French Broad without having to ford the sometimes treacherous river, something for which Sevier County residents would have wait another three decades.
In August 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt petitioned Congress for funds to construct a dam on the French Broad. With the war in Europe and other parts of the world, power generation for national defense was becoming essential. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December, the need for power became urgent.
President Roosevelt signed the bill for Douglas Dam Jan. 30, 1942. Construction began Feb. 2, 1942. It was built in Sevier County on the William Trotter farm.
Construction was completed and floodgates closed Feb. 19, 1943. The dam led to the moving of the old bridge just below the new structure. The bridge was purchased by Sevier County from the Tennessee Valley Authority at a cost of $10,000 in July 1942.
Although the bridge was a hand-me-down, Sevier County residents were delighted to have a reliable means to cross the river.
The bridge was dismantled in Dandridge, moved, and rebuilt by TVA at the Douglas Dam Road location (then Highway 66 and now Highway 338). The bridge opened in its third location in 1944. This time it was only a five-span truss, 873 feet long. From that time until it was closed to traffic decades later, the storied old bridge was traversed often.
In addition to residents who lived north of the river utilizing the bridge, those living in other parts of the county could drive across it to use the picnic grounds built by TVA just north of the dam. But over time, Ol' Shaky became unstable, and in 1971 the rickety old bridge was closed for good.
Gaping holes had appeared in the wooden floors. Once again Kodak residents, now accustomed to the convenience of a bridge, were left without a means to cross the river to Sevierville. Students enrolled at Sevier County High School spent hours on the bus just to get to school.
In 1978, Lamar Alexander, who was running for Governor, strolled across Ol' Shaky. Alexander had donned a red-and-black plaid shirt to walk across the state and reinvent himself as a man of the people. Concerned aides threw down planks to cover the holes they discovered in Ol' Shaky to keep their candidate from disappearing, checkered shirt and all.
Alexander was so moved by the shaking old bridge that he promised the people of Sevier County a new one if he was elected governor. He won the election, and in 1979, Gov. Alexander dedicated a new two-lane concrete bridge built on the existing piers of Ol' Shaky.
By this time Winfield Dunn Parkway, the new Highway 66, had been completed, connecting Sevierville and Interstate 40. The Judge Ray L. Reagan bridge now stood where Kyker's Ferry once transported travelers, somewhat mitigating the urgency of the replacement bridge.
Today, travelers continue to drive across the two-lane replacement with its amazing view of Douglas Dam and the river below. Although the newer bridge is stable and convenient, it's nostalgic to recall the thunderous sound of the old wooden planks clapping as motorists drove cautiously across Ol' Shaky.
Carroll McMahan is special projects facilitator for the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce and serves as Sevier County historian.
The Upland Chronicles series celebrates the heritage and past of Sevier County. If you have suggestions for future topics, would like to submit a column or have comments, please contact Carroll McMahan at 453-6411 or cmcmahan@scoc.org; or Ron Rader at 604-9161 or ron@ronraderproperties.com.
- [S94] Sevier County, Tennessee Census, 424A, 1880.
- [S87] Death Certificate.
Name: Ambrose Burnside Underwood
Event Type: Death
Event Date: 28 Oct 1951
Event Place: Knoxville, Knox, Tennessee
Gender: Male
Age: 87
Birth Year (Estimated): 1864
Father's Name: John Underwood
Mother's Name: Mariah Covington
- [S147] Find a Grave, (Memorial: 86739747).
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