Barndominium Builders in Roan Mountain, TN

Barndominium builders heading to Roan Mountain are working in some of the highest country in Northeast Tennessee. The community sits around 2,579 feet on the upper Doe River where it meets Buck Creek, in southeastern Carter County near the North Carolina line. Roan Mountain itself, a few miles south, tops out at 6,285 feet, the highest point in Tennessee outside the Great Smoky Mountains. Roan Mountain State Park lies just south of the community and White Rocks Mountain rises just north.

Respect the river

The Doe River here is small and fast, and it has flooded hard. In 1998 a winter storm caused flooding that killed 7 people and destroyed 200 mobile homes and 15 houses in the community. For anyone building a barndo on the valley floor, that history is the starting point. We look at flood mapping, past high water and where Buck Creek and the river can spread before choosing a pad. Benches above the valley floor are often the better house site even if they cost more pad work.

A railroad and mining town first

The community began as Roan Mountain Station in the early 1880s, a stop on the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad, nicknamed Tweetsie. John T. Wilder, who had bought iron-ore land here in the 1870s, founded it and opened the Cloudland Hotel on the mountain in 1885. Older lots in the valley can still carry the marks of that history: old fill, rail grades and foundations. The CDP covers about 6.6 square miles, with Elk Park, North Carolina across the state line and Hampton down the Doe Valley to the northwest.

Cold, snow and a high pool

Roan Mountain State Park, just south of the community, covers 2,006 acres and offers cross-country skiing in snowy winters. Its outdoor pool sits at 2,972 feet, the highest in the Tennessee State Park system. Lots in this valley sit at similar heights, so we plan insulation, heating, frost protection for water lines, and roof and porch details for real winter weather.

Mountain lot realities

Land around Roan Mountain tends to be steep, wooded and narrow. A barndo plan here usually includes: 1. A graded pad, sometimes with a stepped or retained foundation 2. A driveway built for concrete trucks and steel or truss deliveries 3. Drainage above the house to catch mountain runoff 4. A septic site that is not in wet or flood-prone ground 5. Snow and rain shedding at doors, porches and the shop entrance

Permits for Carter County land

Tennessee's state residential permit program covers one- and two-family homes wherever local government has not been exempted or opted out. Homes under the program are built to the 2018 International Residential Code and 2018 International Energy Conservation Code, with inspections at the foundation, framing/rough-in and final. If you want a barn or garage first, detached buildings not used for living do not need a state residential permit. We confirm which office covers your parcel.

Septic in the highlands

TDEC handles septic permits. An Environmental Scientist evaluates the site and may ask for a soils map from a private soil consultant, which is common on rocky or sloped mountain ground. Mark lines and the house site, mow the area and leave grading alone until the evaluation is done. Plan on up to 45 days for a complete application.

Getting materials up the valley

The usual route from Johnson City is I-26 to Exit 31 at Elizabethton, US 321 into Elizabethton, then US 19E south into Roan Mountain. State Route 143 meets US 19E in the community and climbs to the state park and Carvers Gap. Long trailers and cranes need a plan for the last stretch of private road, so we check access early.

Call (423) 607-8447 or

Get a Free Estimate

to plan a barndo on your Roan Mountain land.