Japan Is
Almost
Gone
Within a short time, the
site of this little village
in Graham County w ill he
at the hot tom of a huge
lake. All of the residents
have moved to higher
ground.
By IHI I SHARPE
JAPAN is just about wiped olT
the earth, even if it is still on
the map. The last family left
in the little community in Graham
County, N. C.. is tearing down its
dwelling and next year, waters
from TVA’s new Fontana Dam in
western North Carolina will lap
over the rich bottom lands which
so long sustained the farming folks
The Japan postoflice already is
gone, torn down at the orders of
Mrs. Callie Pilketon, matriarch ial
owner of the farm upon which it
stood. The neighbors are gone, too,
and only the old Pilketon house
is left near gaunt chimneys and
rail fences to mark the homes.
Mrs. Pilketon herself is moving
slowly and reluctantly from the
only places she has ever known, be¬
cause, she says. "I'll never be satis¬
fied anywhere now as long as I
live." Lumber from the old place
will go into a new house high up
on a ridge where Mrs. Pilketon
owns some more land, and whence
she will move with her daughter,
son-in-law, and two little grand¬
children. "But it ain't land like
this," she said, pointing to some fine
corn growing in the bottom of the
cove.
After Pearl Harbor, there was
talk in the community of changing
the name of Japan (locally pro¬
nounced JAYpan), but when it was
known that the valley, along with
others, would be flooded, nobody
bothered to do anything about it.
Japan was a little community scat¬
tered along Panther Creek (locally
"Painter"), near its confluence
Little Shelby Jean Pilketon and J. W. Pilketon, Jr., survey the last
sign of the village of Japan, N. C., as they prepare to move from the
old home up onto a ridge above the waterline of the impending Fon¬
tana Lake, a TV A creation.
with Wolf Creek, and until recently
the postoflice served about 30
families.
Mrs. Pilketon, last landowner
still in the valley, has some de¬
cided ideas about TVA's intrusion
into her peaceful cove. "I heard."
she said, "that the government took
up a lot of land yan-side of the
mountain for a park (Great
Smokies National). Now the dam
water will cover all the bottoms
and leave just the hogridges for
farming. That dam will just about
ruin this here county."
The aged mountain land-owner,
whose husband died 15 years ago.
has three grandsons in service,
two of them in the Pacific. Yes,
there have been a lot of witticisms
passed around the mountains about
the name of her community, most
of them, we gathered, pretty corny
ones.
According to U. S. Department
of Agriculture more different kinds
of trees and plants are to be found
in North Carolina than in any
other state of the Union.
Duke University is one of the
most heavily endowed universities
in the world.
A greater variety of plant life,
it is claimed, may be found on
Mount Mitchell than in all Europe.
