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  • Melton Hill Dam TVA, TN

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    The TVA campground at Melton HIll Dam is located on the Clinch River about 22 miles southwest of Knoxville, TN. The dam was built in the early 1960's to extend navigation up to Clinton, TN, and to increase TVA's overall power-generating capacity. The 55-site campground is located just upstream of the dam and provides a variety of camping sites as well as boating, fishing and swimming.

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    We pulled into the campground about noon on the first Sunday in April and there were lots of empty sites from which to choose. We decided on site 27 which gave us a nice view of the river.

    Date of visit: April 2014

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    Site 10 is a paved site over-looking the river and beach area.

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    Among the full hookup sites are 8,7 and 5. They are paved with quite large pads with a view of the river.

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    Here are sites 1,3,5,7 and 8 looking from the opposite direction.

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    This shows how the above sites are situated along the hillside. All the area above the retaining walls is paved, making a great to sit and relax.

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    Across the road from those paved sites are sites 6 and 4, also with full hookups.

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    Site 11 is a fairly private back-in site on the upper road.

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    The upper camp road has 12 of these narrow, off-level pull-off sites. I don't think they are too suitable for larger RV's, but would be fine for vans, pop-ups and tents. Shown are sites 14-18.

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    Sites 19 and 21.

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    All of these pull-off sites have tent pads, either above or below, as seen here, the parking spot.

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    Site 29 on the left is a small site without hookups, while site 32 beyond it does have hookups.

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    Site 33 has a very small, very uneven parking area.

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    On the left is site 35 without hookups; beyond it on the right is site 36 with hookups.

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    Sites 38-40.

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    At the far end of the camp road is a small circle with five very nice sites. Here are 41-43.

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    Site 44 struck us as one of the nicest sites in the park: a bit private with a great view of the river.

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    The tent sites, such as 50 and 51, are located in a grassy area right at the water's edge.

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    There are two bathhouses in the campground; both provide free hot showers. The one I used was definitely hot - I could not turn it down.

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    The waterfront area features a paved path along the shore - a very pleasant stroll.

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    The swimming area is quite large and well marked to keep boats away.

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    Near the beach are two picnic pavilions, one with a massive array of solar panels on its roof.

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    The boat ramp was a popular place yesterday (Sunday), but very quiet today..

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    Here's the dam - the raison d'etre. On the far side is the lock which lifts boats 60 feet from Watts Bar Lake to Melton Hill Lake. The lock is 75' wide and 400' long.

    Amenities

    55 campsites:

    9 with W/E(20/30/50A)/S hookups - $27

    32 with W/E(20/30/50A) hookups - $22

    5 with no hookups - $17

    9 Tent sites - $10

    Golden Age Pass honored

    Dump station, showers

    Good VZW 3G coverage

    Coordinates: 35.881723 North, 84.298341 West

    Elevation: 852'

     

    melton dam map