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History · Roan Mountain

Roan Mountain’s post office opened in 1850, and 29% of its homes were built before 1940

3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 9 buildings.

1850first post office
3on the National Register
29%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Roan Mountain began

When was Roan Mountain founded?

1850

The Roan Mountain post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Crab Orchard (1882) and Crabtree (1900), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 1,078176 years
Founding year: the first Roan Mountain post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Roan Mountain’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Roan Mountain are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Roan Mountain, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Roan Mountain’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Roan Mountain’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Roan Mountain’s post office has been open since 1850. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Roan Mountain
1850–today
Crab Orchard
1882–1883
Crabtree
1900–1908
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Crabtree
Gone or out of use
Hamptons ForgelocaleMorlands MilllocaleSugar Hollow Schoolschool
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Roan Mountain
HamptonJohnsonJulianMorelandSmith

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Roan Mountain came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Roan Mountain.

Read it all →

In September 1780, the Overmountain Men— a group of American soldiers from the trans-Appalachian frontier who fought during the American Revolution— passed through Roan Mountain en route to North Carolina, where they would engage and defeat a group of loyalists at the Battle of Kings Mountain. On the night of September 26, this force camped at Shelving Rock, between what is now the Roan Mountain CDP and Roan Mountain State Park, where a rocky outcropping provided a convenient place for the soldiers to store their weapons and gunpowder. The site is now part of the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail, and the field where the soldiers camped is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Roan Mountain, 1850 to 1936

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1850Post officeThe Roan Mountain post office opens
  3. 1882Post officeThe Crab Orchard post office opens
  4. 1883Post officeThe Crab Orchard post office closes
  5. 20th century
  6. 1900Post officeThe Crabtree post office opens
  7. 1908Post officeThe Crabtree post office closes
  8. 1936Born hereSonny Smith is born here
By decade

Roan Mountain, decade by decade

Today6 recent
SB-Wood-Store-Roan-Mountain-tn12015SB-Wood-Store-Roan-Mountain-tn1Roan-Mountain-houses-tn12015Roan-Mountain-houses-tn1Roan-Mountain-Main-Street-tn12015Roan-Mountain-Main-Street-tn1Roan-Mountain-CDP-and-mountain-tn12015Roan-Mountain-CDP-and-mountain-tn1Roan-Mountain-19E-tn12015Roan-Mountain-19E-tn1John-Wilder-House-Roan-Mountain-tn12015John-Wilder-House-Roan-Mountain-tn1
On the National Register

3 listings protect 12 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
12
each building in a district counts
first listed
1986
John T. Wilder House
John T. Wilder HouseShelving Rock EncampmentMiller Farmstead
BuildingsDistrictsSites
John T. Wilder HouseBuilding
All 3 listings
Shelving Rock EncampmentSite · listed 2009Miller FarmsteadDistrict · listed 2014

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Questions about Roan Mountain’s history

What year was Roan Mountain founded?

The Roan Mountain post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Roan Mountain?

Three places: the John T. Wilder House (listed 1986), the Shelving Rock Encampment (2009) and the Miller Farmstead (2014).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.