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By Buzz Trexler

Star Correspondent

Before the remnants of Hurricane Helene roared into the region in late September 2024, Roan Mountain State Park staff and volunteers were busily remodeling cabins and making other improvements.

Nineteen cabins — Cabins 10 through 30 — underwent improvements in 2024, including remodeled kitchens and bathrooms, new living room furniture, lighting, windows, porches, and fresh coats of paint.

“We have plans to paint the porches of Cabins 1-9 this year since those new porches have had a year to be seasoned and dried out,” Park Manager Monica Johnson said by email recently. “We also have plans to install new dark-sky-friendly pathway lighting for Cabins 21-30.”

Improvements at the park have not been limited to remodeling the cabins, a project underway for over three years.

“We have a new flume at the visitor center for the water wheel,” she said, adding that the porch at Miller Farmstead has been painted, the barn loft has been cleared and repaired, and the entire property has been relandscaped with native plants. AmeriCorps volunteers built a trail, and a new display wall and snake habitat display were opened.

Even the community Nativity scene has been repainted.

Johnson said workers will be installing a water bottle/bike repair station in the campground this year, a project that is expected to be completed in May.

Also this year, a color-blind viewing station will be installed at the Chestnut Ridge Overlook platform. “This will allow visitors who are color blind to see the wonderful colors of autumn,” she said, adding the park will be offering an all-terrain wheelchair — by reservation — for those with mobility issues this summer.

Johnson said, like other areas in the region, the park sustained damage from the remnants of Hurricane Helene, leaving the staff with a lot of clean-up work in the river and debris remaining throughout the park.

Several bridges were destroyed by floodwaters, impacting the park’s trail system. “Currently, we have half of our trails closed due to bridge outages and a massive amount of trees down,” she said. While it’s unknown when those trails will be reopened, five of the 11 park trails are now open.

“The campground road leading up to the upper campsites was hit really hard and is not expected to be fixed until May at the earliest,” she said. “We also have the roadway leading to Shelter 2 that was impacted by the storm and will need a new section of road replaced before we can get that area back open to the public.”

Since Helene hit, volunteers logged at least 3,758 hours by the end of 2024, including 200 hours of river and trail cleanup.

“My staff and I are working every day to get the park back to its pristine self, and we’ve been supported all the way by volunteers from our community, from across the state, and well beyond,” she said, adding a “huge thank-you” to volunteers. “The park and its staff cannot thank you enough for your efforts.”

The 2,006-acre park is located near the Tennessee-North Carolina border in Carter County and was established to preserve Roan Mountain, a 6,285-foot peak known for its annual blooming of a 600-acre carpet of Catawba rhododendron.