For many nature lovers in the Tri-Cities, this is the time of the year to head up to the top of Roan Mountain for the overwhelming beauty of the blooming
ROAN MOUNTAIN — It should be a great weekend in Roan Mountain, with the 75th Rhododendron Festival taking place at Roan Mountain State Park and the Catawba rhododendron at full
ROAN MOUNTAIN â With the Rhododendron Festival just days away, both lanes of the highway leading to the Cloudland Gardens are open, but the plants in the garden arenât quite ready to bloom.
A work crew did its part on Tuesday morning, finishing the patching job on the highway from Carvers Gap to the Cloudland Gardens. The crew finished up by lunchtime, collected the traffic warning signs and departed. Long strips of still-hot asphalt lined a long section of the eastern side of the road.
Traffic was heavy on the road during the morning, and flagman had to be deployed to alternate traffic on the single open lane. During the afternoon, traffic was able to negotiate both lanes along the entire road.
ROAN MOUNTAIN — Pisgah National Forest has announced the temporary closure of Applanchian Road, North Carolina Route 1406, the access road that leads from Carvers Gap up to Toll House
Itâs the 74th festival, marking it as one of the oldest festivals in the region.
The Roan Mountain Citizens Club has been putting on the festivals since June 1947. This yearâs event is scheduled June 19 and 20.
The festival is always held around the third weekend in June, when the Catawba rhododendron reach their peak bloom in the Cloudland Gardens atop Roan Mountain, which has an elevation above 6,000 feet.
Although called a garden, Cloudland is not man-made, as the rhododendron thrives and blankets many acres of mountains in the Appalachians. But the Cloudland Gardens are said to be the largest in the world. Thousands of magenta-pink blossoms erupt when the plants bloom.