Today I received word that a set of maps I ordered came in to the local map store. One map is a hand noted orientation of the city of Butler,TN another is a book with the buildings and street of Butler underwater with a gps grid over it. I found in the archives a list of people who's land was taken by iminent domain and a general map of the areas taken.
Old Butler,TN is located at around 90-120'. The water according to local divers is cold but good visibility. To my general knowledge the lake is also considered an altitude dive since it is at...1960 ft about sealevel. Some other general info is that the lake is 19 miles long and has around 106 miles of lakeshore.
Thank you officer (you know who you are) that informed me of a general location of the city. He gave me a general place to start looking as well as a first hand account of what he saw of the downtown section of Butler.
As I've read from letter from the locals all the buildings are standing, even the silo's on the farms were still standing when the water started to rise. As one elderly gentleman I talked to said, "My parents lived in Butler. They were lucky enough to have moved closer to Bristol before that *******!%Q#$^%% TVA took the town. (for those who are not in the general area of Eastern TN or have met people from the area, many still curse TVA.) The water rose day by day. Several men took the doors off the houses and windows to later sell as salvage or to use on other houses. After time had gone all that could be seen from the shore was a few roofs. Then there was nothing but memories. " After telling the gentleman my ideas about diving and seeing the city he became very emotional about someone laying eyes upon the city. He mentioned that anyone who could get pleasure out of something like that was "wrong in the head". After discussing the similarities of shipwrecks to the town, he only said "never thought about that. They say that some of them ships are elegant". Upon stating this I asked him if the houses would fall under today's terms of elegance and whether or not there were any that weren't made of plain wood or construction material that might be affected by water. After thinking for a few minutes and enjoying a newly lit pipe,"I remember my parents mentioning that some houses were made out of river rock instead of brick because the times had gotten so harsh for a while." Another gentleman overhearing our conversation said to the effect that there were offices and stores that were cement buildings.
My research and interviews have shown that several peope who fish know of these locations, because "the fish like large underwater structures." As with other wreck dives this is a well known feature of wrecks. May even be that elusive 30 lbs. bass that the fishermen are always dreaming of everynight that have taken town hall, but that is doubtful (biological reasons).
I have also been informed about several locations in other parts of TN. Dale Hollow Lake as I've learned from fishermen(they know their stuff) has listed ruins on fishing maps. I emailed a diver and he would not disclose the locations but insisted that there are buildings that many divers have seen and entered.
If you want to share or inquire about any information or ways to find out about dive sites in lakes email me. I've had a blast doing the research to find out what I have.
Now I just need to get more used to diving and perhaps getting into the technical side so I can explore the ruins I find.
Think about the dream of walking through ruins that people haven't set foot on in decades or centuries.
-offroaddiver
