Roan Mountain, Tennessee

The town at the bottom of the highest mountain north of the Smokies

The first time you drive into Roan Mountain on US-19E, you notice the ridge above you before you notice the town. The town is small — population 1,078 at the 2020 Census, down from 1,360 in 2010 — strung along the upper Doe River where it meets Buck Creek. The mountain that gives the town its name climbs up the far side to 6,285 feet, the highest point in Tennessee outside the Great Smokies.

The town came first as a railroad stop. In the 1870s and 1880s, the industrialist John T. Wilder ran mining operations on the mountain and founded Roan Mountain Station to ship ore out. In 1885 Wilder built the Cloudland Hotel on top of the mountain at 6,200 feet, marketed to wealthy Easterners looking to escape hay fever in the summer. The hotel had the state line running through its dining room — guests on the Tennessee side could drink legally, guests on the North Carolina side could not. The Cloudland is long gone. The foundation stones are still up there if you know where to look.

What’s left in the town now is a small commercial strip along US-19E, a couple of churches, the elementary and high schools, and the post office. Most of the activity happens not in the town but up the mountain at the state park and at Carvers Gap.

Roan Mountain State Park

The state park sits on the lower slopes of the mountain, 2,006 acres of hardwood forest along the upper Doe River. Day use is free. The entrance is on TN-143, just south of the town.

What’s at the park:

• A 107-site campground for tents, trailers, and RVs
• 30 rental cabins by reservation — book early in summer
• The Miller Farmstead, an 1870s homestead with the original house, barn, chicken coop, and family cemetery, listed on the National Register
• A visitor center with exhibits on the mountain’s natural and human history
• A network of short hiking trails along the river and through the forest
• A heated swimming pool at 2,972 feet, open summers — the highest-elevation pool in the Tennessee State Park system
• Picnic areas, restrooms, a small playground

The cabins are the under-the-radar thing. They sit in the woods, fully equipped, and cost less than a hotel room in Boone. If you’re traveling with extended family and the townhouse is full, a few cabins at Roan Mountain State Park are a good overflow plan. They book up fast for rhododendron weekend and through October.

The Roan Highlands and Carvers Gap

Drive past the state park and keep going up TN-143, climbing steeply through switchbacks, and you’ll come out on top at Carvers Gap — the parking area where the Appalachian Trail crosses the road on the Tennessee/North Carolina state line.

This is the best easy access to the Roan Highlands. From the parking lot, the AT runs north out onto a series of open grassy balds:

• Round Bald — about half a mile from the lot, the first big open view
• Jane Bald — another half mile past Round Bald, 360-degree views
• Grassy Ridge — about 2 miles in, the highest grassy bald on the AT

The Roan Highlands are one of the few places on the eastern AT where the trail runs above the trees for miles. On a clear day you can see four states. On a foggy day you can see about ten feet, and that’s its own kind of memorable.

In the other direction from Carvers Gap, the AT climbs south toward Roan High Knob and the Cloudland site. That side is forested rather than open — a quieter walk, with the Roan Mountain rhododendron gardens along the way. The U.S. Forest Service maintains a small fee parking area for the gardens (separate from the free Carvers Gap lot).

Rhododendrons

Roan Mountain has what’s been called the largest natural Catawba rhododendron garden in the world. Hundreds of acres of bushes along the open balds at the top of the mountain. When they bloom — typically mid-to-late June, but the exact window moves each year — the whole top of the ridge turns pink and purple.

The Rhododendron Festival runs each summer in the town, started in 1947, and is timed to coincide with the bloom. There’s music, crafts, food, a parade. The town gets busy that weekend. So does the mountain — Carvers Gap parking can fill by 10 AM and overflow vehicles get pushed down to lower lots with a longer walk up.

If you’re staying that week, drive up the mountain at sunrise. You’ll have the balds mostly to yourself, the light is the best it’ll be all day, and you’ll be coming down as everyone else is heading up.

What to skip

Two notes:

• The Cloudland Trail signs at the top suggest more remains of the hotel than there actually are. There’s a foundation outline and a marker. If you came up the mountain expecting ruins, manage expectations.
• The town itself doesn’t have a downtown to stroll. The interesting parts of Roan Mountain are not in Roan Mountain the town. They’re up the road in the park and on the ridge. Don’t plan an afternoon of walking the main street — there isn’t really one.

Getting there from the townhouse

From the property, take TN-67 west off the hill, US-321 west through the Doe River Gorge to Elizabethton, then US-19E south. Roan Mountain is at the end of the valley about 30 minutes from our door to the state park gate. Add 15 to 20 minutes if you’re driving all the way up to Carvers Gap.

The drive is one of the prettier ones in the region. US-19E follows the Doe River for the full length of the valley, with farms and old homesteads on both sides. Slow down at the small bridges; the view through them is worth a look.

The lake and the mountain

Roan Mountain and Watauga Lake are two faces of the same Cherokee National Forest. The lake is the wet side; the mountain is the high side. You can see Roan from a few places on the lake on a clear day — a long pale ridge to the south. If you’ve done the AT crossing at Watauga Dam and want to see what the same trail looks like above the treeline, drive an hour to Carvers Gap. Same trail, different country.

We send guests up here at least once during most weeklong stays. If you’re staying in June, send them up at sunrise. If you’re staying in October, send them up for the color. If you’re staying in any week with a bluebird day in the forecast, send them up for the view.

Related on the lake

• Roan Mountain State Park
• Round Bald — the iconic short hike
• Roan is the foliage spot