A 1969 photo depicts the construction of Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Limestone County. The project spanned 1966-1972. It was considered the largest nuclear power plant in the world at the time.

In 1966, barges began landing on the same muddy Tennessee River bank in Limestone County where natives once fished and where a man named Brown once ferried passengers across the river.

The barges carried supplies to build what at that time would be the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant. For a time, it was the world’s largest nuclear power plant.

Photos of the six-year building project from the Limestone County Archives, along with mentions of the river in Limestone County’s historic records, complement the traveling exhibit, “The Tennessee River and Northwest Alabama.”

The exhibit, sponsored by Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area, Alabama Humanities Foundation, National Park Service and the University of North Alabama, is on display now through Jan. 18 at the Archives’ exhibit space. The Archives is open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays at 102 W. Washington St., Athens.

“It is fascinating to see the impact the river has always had on life in Limestone County and how the use and the role of the river has changed over time,” Limestone County Archivist Rebekah Davis said. “This exhibit makes a great use of historic photos and information to highlight these changes, and we are delighted to host it at the Limestone County Archives.”

The exhibit and companion book track the history of the Tennessee River in northwest Alabama from the earliest people who lived in the area through European settlement, the Civil War, Muscle Shoals nitrate facilities, TVA and to the present. The book was written by Carolyn Barske Crawford, MSNHA director, and Brian Murphy, curator at the Florence Indian Mound Museum. It is available for $24. Proceeds benefit the MSNHA.

For more information, call 256-233-6404 or e-mail archives@limestonecounty-al.gov.

About the MSNHA

The MSNHA, hosted by the University of North Alabama, was officially designated by Congress in 2009. The MSNHA spans the six counties of North Alabama’s Tennessee River water basin and was developed to help preserve the history of this region by focusing on three main themes: music, Native American heritage and the Tennessee River. For more information about the MSNHA, visit http://msnha.una.edu.