river rising in the Blue Ridge Mountains, 9 mi (14 km) southeast of Blue Ridge city, Ga., U.S., and flowing northwest through Fannin County into Tennessee, past Copperhill, through Polk County, and north to the Hiwassee River, just north of Benton. Along its 90-mi course are four dams—all part of the Tennessee Valley Authority. In northern Georgia (where the river is called the Toccoa) is the Blue Ridge Dam, forming Lake Toccoa; in Tennessee are Ocoee Dam No. 1 (completed 1912), forming Lake Ocoee just south of Benton, Ocoee Dam No. 2 (1913), upstream just north of Copperhill, and Ocoee Dam No. 3 (1943), at Copperhill near the Georgia line. The river's name is probably derived from a Cherokee word meaning “apricot vine place.”