Among the dams and associated reservoirs on the South Fork Holston River are Boone Dam and Boone Lake , named for the explorer Daniel Boone ; Fort Patrick Henry Dam and Fort Patrick Henry Lake , named for the Revolutionary War hero ; and South Holston Dam and South Holston Lake . Cherokee Dam on the Holston River forms Cherokee Lake , named for the historic Native Americans who occupied extensive areas along the Holston River at the time of European-American settlement . The United States settlers and army fought with the Cherokee over land in Tennessee , North Carolina , and further South into Georgia and Alabama . In the 1830s the government forced the Cherokee out on the Trail of Tears to Indian Territory ( now Oklahoma ) west of the Mississippi River , under the authority of the Indian Removal Act passed by Congress in 1830
Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
Holston River