The French Broad River flows from near Rosman in Transylvania County, North Carolina, into Tennessee. Its confluence with the Holston River at Knoxville, Tennessee is considered to be the headwaters of the Tennessee River. It was originally named for being one of two broad rivers in western North Carolina . The one which flowed into formerly French territory was named the French Broad, and the other which stayed in English territory (the American colonies) was named the English Broad, now just the Broad River . The lower portion of the river is the site of a major hydroelectric dam development of the Tennessee Valley Authority, Douglas Dam , which is one of the larger TVA developments on a Tennessee River tributary stream. Douglas, like many of the older TVA facilites in East Tennessee, was initially developed largely to meet the power demands entailed by World War II, particularly the atomic weapons plant at Oak Ridge.
The river begins west of the Eastern Continental Divide, and therefore actually flows northwest through the Appalachian Mountains. The river flows through the city of Asheville, North Carolina, where it picks up the Swannanoa River.
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