The Opening Conference at Lake Junaluska, N.C. began June 25, 1913. The photo above was taken on June 27, 1913.
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Inspired by the dream of James Atkins and George R. Stuart, the land for Lake Junaluska was purchased for the creation of the original Lake Junaluska Assembly. Atkins and Stuart believed that the South needed a place of ministry that provided spiritual and leadership enrichment similar to the assemblies each of them had visited in Chautauqua Lake, New York, and Winona Lake, Indiana. In 1908, Atkins contacted Stuart while a missionary conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee was taking place. Although Stuart was not attending the missionary conference, he met with some conference attendees shortly after speaking with Atkins and called for a resolution to build a lakeside assembly in the South, which is now referred to as the Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center. Six weeks after the Chattanooga conference, information about the project was sent out to generate interest in the creation of a lakeside assembly. Those who attended the missionary conference in 1908 set up a commission, the Southern Assembly, Inc., and granted it the responsibility to build the assembly. The Southern Assembly, Inc. purchased 1,200 acres in Richland Valley, North Carolina, and construction on the dam and an auditorium soon began.
The Chief Junaluska statue.
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By the end of 1912, the dam and the auditorium were nearing completion. The lake was christened Lake Junaluska after Mount Junaluska, the mountain now known as Eagle’s Nest. Lake Junaluska and Mount Junaluska were both named in honor of Chief Junaluska, a Native American Chief who lived in the Cherokee area. Chief Junaluska was renowned for saving General Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. After enduring the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma with fellow Cherokees in 1838, Chief Junaluska returned to North Carolina after learning that some of the Cherokees had remained. Until 1929, the assembly was known as the Southern Assembly. However, in1929 the assembly at Lake Junaluska adopted Chief Junaluska’s name. A monument to Chief Junaluska stands outside the auditorium, now known as Stuart Auditorium.
Although the lake was not filled with water at the Lake Junaluska Assembly’s inaugural conference, the dam was complete. The lake created by the dam was originally approximately 250 acres, but it is currently approximately 200 acres after expansion of roads, parking lots, and buildings.
A view of the Junaluska dam from below.
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A little known fact about the Junaluska dam is that it has been used to generate electricity twice in the history of Lake Junaluska, but with little success. During the first Assembly at Lake Junaluska on June 25, 1913, the dam was used to generate electricity for the electric lights in the auditorium. Those in attendance were unsure if the dam would provide sufficient energy to power the lights until the night of the event. The dam was used to generate the Assembly’s power for a few years afterward, but this endeavor was eventually abandoned because the process did not provide sufficient amounts of energy. In the 1980s, the Junaluska dam was once again used to provide power. The energy the dam produced was wholesaled to Carolina Power and Light Company, but this only lasted a short period of time.
Eventually, a walking path and substantial guardrails were built across the dam, allowing visitors to safely drive across the dam. This also ensures that they can take a leisurely stroll across it, stopping at the midpoint of the bridge to survey the lake’s glittery waters and Lake Junaluska’s grounds or simply listen to the roar of the water rushing over the dam.