Once upon a time, communities built their own roads. There was no well-oiled, deep-pocketed road-building machine known as the Department of Transportation to do it for them.

Often, each household had to contribute so many hours per year to road maintenance and construction. But the advent of cars raised the bar for roadways. So communities formed road districts that could contract out road construction.

In the 1920s, Forney Creek, an area in Swain County that is near what is now the north shore of Fontana Lake, took out $400,000 in bonds to build a high-quality roadbed to Bryson City. Local tax levies weren’t enough to cover the bond payments, however. In fact, the Forney Creek Road District never paid a dime on the bond. By 1940, interest had accumulated and the total bill was $694,000.

Swain County was forced to take over the debt. It would be more than 30 years before the county paid it off. The only catch was that the road — N.C. 288 — was flooded by Lake Fontana. So for 30 years, county residents paid off a $694,000 debt on an underwater road.

When the government promised to build a road, it wasn’t so people could visit family cemeteries or reminisce over their home sites. Building the road was not intended to be emotional fulfillment for people who lost their land. Instead, it was compensation for the county’s monetary loss, according to Clyde Douthit, a self-appointed historian on all things pertaining to the long-sought North Shore road.

As the years passed and prospects of ever getting a road built continued to fade, it made sense to scrap the road and simply reimburse the county for its loss with a monetary settlement, Douthit said.

The Citizens for the Economic Future of Swain County hired Crisp, Hughes and Evans accounting firm in 2003 to come up with a fair figure. They came up with $52 million. The amount was based on the value of the road in 1940, with 5 percent interest rate and an inflation clause built in.