ROAN MOUNTAIN

"The surface of Roan is uneven, and has no one  culminating peak that commands the country, like the peak of Mount Washington, but several eminences within its range of probably a mile and a half, where various views can be had.  Near the highest point, sheltered from the north by balsams, stands a house of entertainment, with a detached cottage, looking across the great valley to the Black Mountain range.  The surface of the mountain is pebbly, but few rocks crop oat; no ledges of any size are seen except; at a distance from the hotel, on the north side, and the mountain consequently lacks that savage, unsubduable aspect which the White Hills of New Hampshire have.  It would, in fact, have been difficult to realize that we were over 6000 feet above the sea, except for that pallor in the sunlight, that atmospheric thinness and want of color which is an unpleasant characteristic of high altitudes.  To be sure, there is a certain brilliancy in the high air —it  is  apt to be  foggy on  Roan—and objects appear in sharp outline, but I have often experienced on such places that feeling of melancholy, which would, of course, deepen upon us all if we were sensible that the sun was gradually withdrawing its power of warmth and light.   The black balsam is neither a cheerful nor a picturesque tree; the frequent rains and mists on Roan keep the grass and mosses green, but the ground  damp.   Doubtless a  high mountain covered with vegetation has its compensation, but for  me the naked granite rocks in sun and shower are more cheerful. (1889, Warner, Charles D. On Horseback, p.  15 )

            The advantage of Roan is that one can live there and be occupied for a long time in mineral and botanical study. Its mild climate, moisture, and great elevation make it unique in this country for the botanist.   The variety of plants assembled there is very large, and there are many, we were told, never or rarely found elsewhere in the United States.  At any rate the botanists rave about Roan Mountain and spend weeks on it at a time.  We found there ladies who could draw for us Grey's lily (then passed), and had kept specimens of the rhododendron (not growing elsewhere in this region), which has a deep red, almost purple color."  (1889, Warner, Charles D. On Horseback, p.  15 )

"Towards night the wind hauled round from the south to the northwest, and we went to High Bluff, a point on the north edge [of Roan Mountain], where some rocks are piled up above the evergreens, 'to get a view of the sunset.   In every direction the mountains were clear, and a view was obtained of the vast horizon and the hills and lowlands of several States—a continental prospect, scarcely anywhere else equaled for variety or distance.  The grandeur of mountains depends mostly on the state of the atmosphere.  Grandfather loomed up much more loftily than the day before, the giant range of the Blacks asserted itself in grim inaccessibility, and we could see, a small pyramid on the southwest horizon, King's Mountain in South Carolina, estimated to be distant one hundred and fifty miles.   To the north Roan falls from this point abruptly, and we had, like a map below us, the low country all the way into Virginia. The clouds lay like lakes in the valleys of the lower hills, and in every direction were ranges of mountains wooded to the summits.  Off to the west by south lay the Great Smoky Mountains, disputing eminence with the Blacks. (1889, Warner, Charles D. On Horseback, p.  15 )

  Magnificent and impressive as the spectacle was, we were obliged to contrast it unfavorably with that of the White Hills. The rock here is a sort of sand or pudding stone; there is no limestone or granite.  And all the hills are tree-covered.  To many this clothing of verdure is most restful and pleasing.  I missed the sharp outlines, the delicate artistic sky lines, sharply defined in uplifted bare granite peaks and ridges, with the purple and violet color of the northern mountains, and which it seems to me that limestone and granite formations  give. There are none of the great gorges and awful abysses of the White Mountains, both valleys and mountains here being more uniform in outline.   There are few precipices and jutting crags, and less is visible of the giant ribs and bones of the planet. (1889, Warner, Charles D. On Horseback, p. 16 )

Yet Roan is a noble mountain. A lady from Tennessee asked me if I had ever seen anything to compare with it— she thought there could be nothing in the world.  One has to dodge this sort of question in the South occasionally, not to offend a just local pride.  It is certainly one of the most habitable of big mountains.  It is roomy on top, there is space to move about without too great fatigue, and one might pleasantly spend a season there, if he had agreeable company and natural tastes." (1889,Warner, Charles D. On Horseback, p.16  )