Holston Mountain

Infobox Mountain
Name = Holston Mountain
Photo = Holston High Point.jpg
Caption = Holston High Point as seen from Holston High Knob.
Elevation = 4,280+ feet (1,305+ metres) ("Holston High Point" summit)
Location = Tennessee and Virginia, USA
Range = Appalachian Mountains, Blue Ridge Mountains
Prominence = convert|1600|ft|m|0|abbr=on
Coordinates = coord|36|26|N|82|8|W|type:mountain_region:US
Topographic
USGS Keenburg
Type = | Age =
First ascent =
Easiest route =

Holston Mountain is a mountain in northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia, in the United States. It is in the Blue Ridge Mountains part of the Appalachian Mountains. Holston Mountain is a ridge-type mountain, about 28 miles (45 km) long, running from southwest to northeast, covering about 268 square miles (694 km²). Its highest summit is "Holston High Point", on which an FAA aircraft navigational beacon is located, at an elevation of 4,280 feet (1,304.5 m) above mean sea level. The second highest point is "Rye Patch Knob", at 4,260 feet (1,298.5 m) above mean sea level. The third highest point is "Holston High Knob" where an old dismantled Cherokee National Forest fire tower marks the elevation at 4,136 feet (1,240.5 m) above mean sea level.

Geography

Holston Mountain is located in Cherokee National Forest. It is bounded on the northwest by South Holston Lake; on the southeast by Stoney Creek Valley, Shady Valley, and the Iron Mountains; on the northeast by the town of Damascus, Virginia; and on the southwest by the community of Keenburg, near Elizabethton, Tennessee.

The southern portion of Holston Mountain marks the boundary between Sullivan County and Carter County; the northern portion is between Sullivan and Johnson County. The small northernmost portion extends into Washington County, Virginia.

Panhandle Road is located off State Highway 91 in Carter County and ascends Holston Mountain for three miles (5 km) from the eastern side and ends four miles (6.5 km) along the ridge southwest of "Holston High Point". During periods of heavy snow and ice, hunting season, or nesting season, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency closes off Panhandle Road with an iron gate. Located near the Cherokee National Forest boundary and to the left of Panhandle Road is a parking area and foot trail that leads down the slope to the Blue Hole Falls (approximately 45 feet high). The iron gate referred to above is there, owned and maintained by the Cherokee National Forest, Unaka District. No matter, though.. the last three miles of Panhandle Road along the top of the ridge are filled with washouts, steep drop-offs, and no turnarounds. Vehicle travel on those last three miles is at the driver's risk.

U.S. Route 421 crosses Holston Mountain at Low Gap, connecting the town of Shady Valley, Tennessee, with the city of Bristol, Tennessee.

History

Holston Mountain is named after the Holston River, which is named for Stephen Holston, a descendant of a Swede of New Sweden. Stephen Holston moved west and in 1746 built a cabin near the headwaters of a little creek. When surveyors were working in the area the next year they gave the creek the name "Holston's Creek", because Stephen Holston lived on it. Later pioneers followed the creek downstream where, after receiving many tributaries, it was wide enough to become a river and so it became known as the Holston River. George R. Stewart, describing this placename history, notes, "Thus one of the largest streams of that region came to bear the name of a common settler". Stewart goes on to note that the nearby Clinch River is likewise named for a "common settler". Unlike Holston, the identity of Clinch is unknown, except that Dr. Walker wrote of a stream called "Clinch's River, from one Clinch a hunter" (Stewart 1967:146).

September 1, 2007 The FAA says five Jehovah's Witness ministers from East Tennessee were killed when their small plane crashed in the Cherokee National Forest on Holston Mountain shortly after takeoff. A passing airplane spotted the smoldering wreckage around 7:00 p.m. Saturday about a mile and a half down the southern side of Holston Mountain.

Trails

The Appalachian Trail crosses over from Iron Mountain from the southeast side, then runs along the upper northeast end of Holston Mountain. The trail descends on the northeast end, sloping down the mountain into Virginia, the town of Damascus, and continues to Mount Rogers, the highest point in Virginia.

Communications Hub

Early broadcasters in the 1950s and 1960s quickly realized Holston Mountain as a prime radio-television transmission location because it is the highest visible point that faces most of the major cities in Upper East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia in the surrounding valley between Knoxville, Tennessee, to southwest of Roanoke, Virginia. As a result, the Holston Mountain ridge is the transmitter site for three television stations in the Tri-Cities, Tennessee Television Designated Market Area (DMA). The broadcasting antenna for WCYB-TV, Channel 5, Bristol, Virginia is on "Rye Patch Knob", with the top of the antenna 341 feet (104 m) above ground, 2,431 feet (741 m) above the surrounding valley floor, and 4,533 feet (1381.6 m) above mean sea level. The single tower that antenna sits on, is the highest and tallest man-made structure on the mountain, allowing the Virginia station to transmit from the highest broadcasting point in Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky. The television towers for WJHL-TV, Channel 11, Johnson City, Tennessee, and WKPT-TV, Channel 19, Kingsport, Tennessee, are standing side by side in a common broadcasting antenna farm on the southwest slope of "Holston High Point", one mile (1.5 km) southwest of "Rye Patch Knob". The antenna for WJHL-TV stands 200 feet (61m) above ground, 2,319 feet (707m) above the surrounding valley floor, and 4,370 feet (1,332m) above mean sea level. The antenna for WKPT-TV next door stands 193 feet (58.8m) above ground, also 2,319 feet (707m) above the valley floor, and 4,366 feet (1,331m) above mean sea level. The stations' digital antennas are also on their respective towers.

Holston Mountain is also the transmitting site for three FM Class C radio stations: WTFM-FM 98.5, Kingsport, Tennessee; WXBQ-FM 96.9, Bristol, Virginia and WETS-FM 89.5, Johnson City, Tennessee. All three antennas and the backup antennas are located at the antenna farm on the southwest slope of "Holston High Point". Also located on the ridge are the antenna for one FM Class C1 radio station, WHCB-FM 91.5, Bristol, Tennessee, located at "Rye Patch Knob"; one FM Class C2 antenna for radio station WCQR-FM 88.3, Kingsport, Tennessee, and one FM Class D antenna for radio station W214AP-FM 90.7, Johnson City, Tennessee, both transmitting from the antenna farm on the southwest slope of "Holston High Point". Various U.S. federal, Tennessee state, Sullivan, Washington and Carter County governmental agencies, along with utility microwave relay stations, also transmit base-to-mobile communications from the "Holston High Point" antenna farm and "Rye Patch Knob".

References

* Stewart, George R. (1967). "Names on the Land". Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

External links

* [http://www.peakbagger.com/range.aspx?rid=164310 Holston Mountain at peakbagger.com]
* [http://www.topoquest.com/map.asp?lat=36.4575&lon=-82.0775 Topographic map from TopoQuest]
* [http://www.cs.utk.edu/~dunigan/landforms/countylf.php?county=Carter Tennessee Landforms - Blue Hole Falls]
* [http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=7017671]