[2] Calderwood Dam was one of four dams—along with Cheoah, Santeetlah, and Chilhowee—built in the Little Tennessee Valley by Alcoa in the 20th century to provide electricity to its aluminum smelting operations in Blount County.

U.S. Route 129 runs roughly parallel to the Blount County side of the river, providing the only major road access to the Calderwood area.

[5] Calderwood's powerhouse is located 1.2 miles (1.9 km) downstream from the dam, on the opposite side of the horseshoe bend in the river.

[5] The powerhouse, a larger brick structure adjacent to the valve house, is equipped with three Westinghouse generators with a combined capacity of 140.4 megawatts.

[1] The powerhouse complex, located adjacent to a rockslide-prone slope, is protected by a V-shaped reinforced concrete wall.

[1] Alcoa began developing the Little Tennessee Valley in 1909 to provide the enormous amounts of electricity needed to power to its aluminum smelting operations in Blount County.

Southern Railway engineers had suggested that the construction of this rail line would take six months, but Calderwood and his team accomplished the task in just six weeks.

Calderwood's use of a conduit tunnel to carry water to a powerhouse further downstream resembles the Great Falls Dam complex, completed in 1916 on the Caney Fork in Middle Tennessee.

Its houses were all razed, but the school and theater (now used as storage) were added to Calderwood Dam's National Register listing in 2004.