Have Hope - The Eventful History of Hope Mills Dam, North Carolina

In 1839, the Town of Hope Mills (Town) in southern North Carolina, then known as Little Rockfish Village, became a thriving location because of industry powered by a new dam in the town center, and the dam and lake have served as the centerpiece of the Town for most of the last 180+ years. Unfortunately, though, the dam has an eventful history transitioning from tragic to celebratory multiple times. This presentation will explore that history, including the multiple dam failures and reconstructions, as well as the associated lessons learned that have helped define the Town. The first dam, a wood cribbing and rockfill structure, was built to power cotton mills, but it also formed a nearly 90-acre lake that became a key recreational amenity. However, the first heartbreak suffered by the Town occurred in 1865 when the Union Army burned the mills to the ground. Luckily, the dam was spared, and the mills were rebuilt, also spurring an official change in the name of the area to Hope Mills. That first dam was replaced by a new embankment dam in early 1924, officially becoming Town property in 1984. That second dam served the Town and multiple industrial owners well, until May 2003, when heavy rainfall resulted in overtopping and a breach of the embankment, exacerbated by a spillway gate operations failure. Emergency evacuations of 40 downstream homes and 1,600 residents were made swiftly, preventing loss of life, but the flood wave caused about $2.1M in damages (2003 dollars; approximately $3.5M in 2023 dollars). After years working to obtain the required funds and permits, construction on a new dam began in March 2007. This third dam, an embankment dam which included a labyrinth spillway and fish ladder, was completed in June 2008, and the lake was full again by August 2008. Unfortunately, tragedy struck again on June 16, 2010, when engineers noticed muddy flows downstream of the spillway, and overnight, the lake drained through voids that had formed beneath the spillway structure. Frustrations in the Town were at an all-time high and lawsuits followed. Over the next several years, the Town suffered, but Town leadership continued to push forward with plans to rebuild the structure. In March 2016, the Town was finally able to enter into a design-build contract to rebuild the structure, which continues to serve the Town well to this day.