Circular Rainbow on the Roan
Not
пишу
|»<‘0|il«‘ liav<* scoii if. ;ui«l none of
llicsc luivo put I lieir ol>MkrV«lf ioil.H clou II 011
paper, so far as this writer can learn.
The old Cloudlond Hold olop ihc Roon.
By ASHTON CHAPMAN
Years ago when I read for the first
time Margaret W. Morley's very ex¬
cellent book. The Carolina Mountains
(Houghton Mifflin Co.. Boston. 1913)
I was arrested by her statement. "Roan
Mountain has long been famous for
two things, the circular rainbow some¬
times seen from the summit, and the
variety of wild flowers that grow on
its slopes, it being reported that more
species are found here than in any
other one place on the continent."
Since then I’ve observed many of
the beautiful and interesting wildflow-
ers which have attracted numerous
naturalists to 6,313-foot Roan Moun¬
tain, astride the North Carolina-Tcn-
ncsscc line. These have included
the famous French botanist Andre
Michaux and Dr. Asa Gray, foremost
American botanist of his time, who
discovered here the lily that bears his
name ( /ilium Gray/).
Miss Morley mentioned some of the
wildflowers she found on the Roan but
as she made no further reference to
the circular rainbow I assume that
during her stay on the mountain she
didn't find the proper atmospheric
conditions prevailing to produce one.
In my rather extensive reading of
North Caroliniana I've never encoun¬
tered any other written reference to
the phenomenon of the circular rain¬
bow on the Roan nor have I found
any one who has personally viewed
this spectacle, although I've talked
with many persons who are familiar
with various aspects of the Roan.
The closest I’ve come to finding such
a person was in June. 1953, when
during the seventh annual Roan Moun¬
tain Rhododendron Festival on the
mountain I was fortunate enough to
contact Frank Shell of Roan Moun¬
tain, Tcnn.. who served as room clerk
during the final five summers, 1900-
1905. that the sumptuous 166-room
Cioudland Hotel on the summit of the
Roan was open to the public.
When asked about Miss Morley's
reference to the circular rainbow, Shell
said that, as well as he could remem¬
ber, this phenomenon occurred only
three times during the five seasons he
was employed at the hotel.
"On those occasions," he said, "the
circular rainbow occurred about an
hour before sunset, while supper was
being served. Some one poked his head
through the wide dining room door
and yelled. ‘Circular rainbow!’ There
was a rush to the veranda to view the
unusual sight. Some guests wouldn’t
return and resume their meal until the
circular rainbow faded from the sky."
Asked to describe the phenome¬
non, Shell replied, "Unfortunately,
each of the times the circular rainbow
was announced I was too busy to stop
what I was doing and go out and look
at it."
During the past year, in two differ¬
ent issues of The Scottish Field, pub¬
lished monthly in Glasgow. I've noted
references to circular rainbows viewed
from peaks in the highlands of Scot¬
land. where the weather somewhat re¬
sembles that of the Blue Ridge and
Great Smokies. In Scotland, moun¬
tain climbing is a popular sport, which
finds climbers on the peaks during all
kinds of atmospheric conditions.
Climbers who'vc seen the circular
rainbow in the Scottish highlands de¬
scribe it variously as "fogbow."
"glory" "prismatic halo.” "mirage,"
and "corona."
In The Scottish Field for January.
1966. Tom Weir described a "glory"
he saw surrounding his shadow cast
upon a cloud-bank when he reached
the summit of Buachaille Ftive Mor
one afternoon the previous October.
Weir wrote: “I saw the effect as (if)
a rose of light bloomed in the mist,
like a gigantic cathedral window of
THE STATE, May I. 1967
9
