Kentucky and Tennessee residents who were evicted in the 1960s to make way for a nature preserve are fighting to make sure their history is accurately represented in historical markers and visitor centers at the site.
"Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area is a peninsula of forests and ridges between two dammed river valleys whose serene backwoods atmosphere was created in part by tearing down small towns and burning farms."
"The U.S. Forest Service is preparing a heritage management plan for the area, which will determine how the history of the land and its people is presented."
"That has triggered complaints and a letter-writing campaign from displaced residents worried they will not have enough of a voice in deciding how their story is told for future generations."
"The creation of Land Between the Lakes included tearing down the towns of Golden Pond and Twin Lakes and demolishing and burning many of the farms and schools that dotted the more than 170,000 acres. But family cemeteries and parts of some buildings still stand in the area. The last families moved from the area in the late 1960s. The TVA transferred the land to the Forest Service in the 1990s."
"Since then, the former residents and the federal government have battled over commercialization of the land, including the introduction of campgrounds, tours and a planetarium."
