In 1942, the United States Congress approved the construction of Fontana Dam in Swain County, NC. To carry out this project, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) entered the region to construct the dam and its reservoir. In the process of construction, over 20 communities around the dam’s immediate area were condemned, leaving approximately 1,300 residents displaced from their homes. Additionally, the reservoir’s flooding led to the destruction of a highway which connected the cemeteries in these communities to the rest of the region. Ultimately, the road project was abandoned, leading to the creation of The Road to Nowhere. Fontana Dam and the Road to Nowhere serve as examples of contested sites of public memory, which stand as reminders of the legacy of stereotyping, resource extraction, and displacement in Appalachia. Residents of Swain County and public officials have retold the history of the Fontana region over the years, and the official and vernacular retellings of the area’s history showcase how rhetorical rememberings of the Fontana region shape the values in and around Swain County today. I argue that the Fontana region serves as a case study for how a history of exploitation in Appalachian communities contributes not only to the way the Fontana region’s history is remembered through official and vernacular memories, but also to the broader issues of stereotyping, resource extraction, and displacement in Appalachia as a whole.