not to disiuib those guests who did not
wish to join in.
Like the Ark on Ararat, the Cloud-
land must have looked somewhat in¬
congruous on Roan. But to those who
saw it before it burned around the time
of the first World War. it must have
had a certain impressive dignity. Dur¬
ing the years 1 885 and 1 886 it straight¬
forwardly and honestly called to ro¬
mantic and adventuresome spirits:
"Come up out of the sultry plains to
main line in Johnson City. Tennessee,
to the Cranberry iron mine in North
Carolina, afforded a passenger service
to the foot of the mountain (26 miles)
"through Doe River Gorge, one of the
wildest rides in the world." After a
night’s sleep at a “well furnished and
commodious" little hotel at the base of
the mountain, the guests were made
ready for the additional twelve-mile
ride to the summit, calculated then to
be 6.394 feet, over a precipitous road
The Hon n
Always Was
A Very Special Mountain
Text and Drawing's
By EVERETT >1. KIVETTK
Spring now warms the great, high
slopes of Roan Mountain and prepara¬
tions are underway for the annual Rho¬
dodendron Festival to be held in the
nearby towns of Bakersville and Spruce
Pine, in Mitchell County. North Caro¬
lina. Roan’s 6.286-foot summit is
the crowning height of the Iron Moun¬
tains. a small but impressive range that
forms one of the lofty barriers between
eastern Tennessee and western North
Carolina some fifty miles northeast of
Asheville. N. C. F.ach June this moun¬
tain's spruce and balsam forests and
cloud-moistened natural meadows be¬
come the setting for one of this coun¬
try's most spectacular natural floral
displays.
Long before it became easily acces¬
sible. Roan Mountain was considered
very special and was widely known. In
Victorian times a large log inn of
twenty rooms was built on its summit
( 1877 ). Soon after, retired U. S. Army
General John Thomas Wilder replaced
the first structure with one that became
especially famous, an enormous frame
hostelry which he named "Cloudland
Hotel." One can imagine what great
effort and expense went into building
so large and isolated a facility at that
time. Judging from a ground plan, the
Cloudland must have had well over 1 50
bedrooms on its three floors above the
basement level. One interesting feature
was a basement "dancing room" of
great si/e. evidently tucked away so as
the ‘Land of the Sky' — magnificent
views above the clouds where the rivers
are born — a most extended prospect
of 50.000 square miles in seven dif¬
ferent states — one hundred mountain
tops, over 4.000 feet high, in sight."
A narrow gauge, four-tunnel. "Stem-
Winder" railroad, which ran from the
somctimci be pelted in the orim ol a visiting
voodimon
о»
lofmcr. . .
that must have done much to enhance
the excitement of their visit. Especially
noteworthy was the engineering of this
unusual carriage road where a stilted
construction often actually banked the
bluffs so the road could pass the sleep
places.
North Carolina at this time had few
of the tourist amenities of the Ten¬
nessee approach. But General Wilder
nevertheless, with romantic abandon,
beckoned to the bold and hearty folks
on the North Carolina side: “A very
interesting horseback or wagon ride can
be taken across the country from
Marion, Round Knob Hotel. Asheville,
or Warm Springs. N. C. to Roan
Mountain, passing through ‘the heart
of the Alleghenies', the finest mountain
tripin any country."
Rainbows and "Blue Wolves"
In that day of expanding railroad
development, many grand resort hotels
were built, most of them however in
the North. Although his advertise¬
ments somewhat circumspectly empha¬
size the more egalitarian, "thoroughly
comfortable and good" aspects of his
great hotel. General Wilder, himself a
northerner, must have hoped to see
The Cloudland, with its rustic charms
and unparalleled natural setting, keep
pace with a rather big league.
If not so splendid or fashionable as
hotels like the Grand Union of Sara-
14
THE STATE. May 1. 1972
