Holston Mountain
Holston Mountain is a mountain ridge in Upper East Tennessee and southwest Virginia, in the United States. It is in the Blue Ridge Mountains part of the Appalachian Mountains. Holston Mountain is a very prominent ridge-type mountain in Tennessee's Ridge and Valley Region, about 28 miles long, running from southwest to northeast, covering about 268 square miles. Its highest summit is Holston High Point, on which a Federal Aviation Administration aircraft navigational beacon is located, at an elevation of 4,280 feet above mean sea level. The second highest point is Rye Patch Knob, at 4,260 feet 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 above mean sea level.
Geography
Holston Mountain is located in the 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.
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Panhandle Road is located off State Highway 91 in Carter County and ascends Holston Mountain for three miles from the eastern side and ends four miles 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. 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 community 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".October 4, 1976 Kingsport, Tennessee Daily News staff writer, Mark Aldeen, in an article entitled "Investigation Into Cause Of Plane Crash Continues", reported the crash landing of a USAF reconnaissance plane on Holston Mountain, 13.2 miles from the Tri-cites airport. The RF-4C "Phantom" carried two Airmen, neither which survived.
September 1, 2007 The FAA says five Jehovah's Witnesses 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 the mountain, from the Holston High Point broadcasting antenna farm.
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 transmitting site for five television stations in the Tri-Cities, Tennessee Television Designated Market Area. The digital broadcasting antenna for WCYB, PSIP Channel 5, Bristol, Virginia is on Rye Patch Knob, with the top of the antenna 341 feet above ground, 2,431 feet above the surrounding valley floor, and 4,533 feet 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, PSIP Channel 11, Johnson City, Tennessee, and WKPT, PSIP 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 southwest of Rye Patch Knob. The antenna for WJHL stands 200 feet above ground, 2,319 feet above the surrounding valley floor, and 4,370 feet above mean sea level. The antenna for WKPT next door stands 193 feet above ground, also 2,319 feet above the valley floor, and 4,366 feet above mean sea level.According to a Federal Communications Commission filing, the transmitter for WEMT, PSIP Channel 39, currently on Camp Creek Bald outside Greeneville, Tennessee will be relocated to the same tower used by co-owned station WCYB-TV on Holston Mountain, some time in 2010.
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. Located further down the southwestern slope, off of Holston Mountain Road, is the transmitting site of FM Class C3 WEXX 99.3, Elizabethton, Tennessee. 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.
Holston Mountain is also home to several amateur radios transmitter sites. kg4vbs repeater site sits on the highest peak of the mountain for two-way radio service. This site covers seven states in communications. The tower is 120 feet self-supporting. It tops out with an antenna on top of 18 more feet.