For almost 70 years, the Roan Mountain Citizens Club has been working to help promote and improve the Roan Mountain community.
The club was formed in 1946 by a group of businessmen who wanted to improve the local economy of Roan Mountain. Together with women from the former Roan Mountain Garden Club, they worked to bring business and infrastructure improvements to the town.
Now the two organizations are one, but the goal of the club is still the same.
“Our goal is to promote Roan Mountain and to involved in the community,” club public relations chairwoman Shellie McKinney said. “We want to make the community a better place.”
Club president Jo Buchanan said a group of businessmen started the club after recognizing the community needed better roads, accessibility and community services.
“One of their main goals was getting a road to the top of the Roan,” she said. “That took quite a while. They wanted a bank in Roan Mountain and phones. They wanted better access to and through Roan Mountain. They just wanted to make it the best it could be.”
Buchanan’s grandfather was a charter member of the club, and she was one of the first women members of the club to join in the early 1980s. She was also the club’s first female president when she was appointed in 1985.
“I don’t think we realize what they had to do for a business to be successful,” Buchanan said. “Before there was a bank in Roan Mountain, one man would collect the checks from all the businesses, take them into Elizabethton and bring the money back. It’s something we don’t really think about today.”
Over time, the Citizens Club saw their dreams become realities. A new road was built through Roan Mountain, banks and other services became a part of the community, new businesses continued to open and the Roan Mountain State Park was formed.
“Everything happened in stages,” Buchanan said. “It didn’t all happen at once.”
One year after the club was formed, the group started hosting the annual Rhododendron Festival, which started as a joint project with a citizens group in North Carolina. The event was held on the top of Roan Mountain and included a beauty pageant. Eventually the festival was moved from the top of the Roan when traffic got too heavy for the road to the site.
The pageant was held until the festival moved in the 1970s and was conducted by the women members of the Roan Mountain Garden Club. The festival continues to be one of the largest fundraisers for the club, but
over time, the pageant was dropped and the Garden Club and the Citizens Club merged.
“They found so many women who wanted to be involved in the community,” Buchanan said. “Some of the members of the Citizens Club stayed involved until they were in their 80s because they cared so much. They were so dedicated to making Roan Mountain the best it could be.”
The club now has newer members, which Buchanan said has brought a “breath of fresh air” to the organization. The club continues to be involved in the community for the betterment of Roan Mountain.
McKinney said the club works with the schools, the Roan Mountain Volunteer Fire Department and Roan Mountain State Park through their projects.
In addition to the Rhododendron Festival, the club hosts the annual Roan Mountain Christmas Tree Lighting. They also offer a $500 per semester scholarship to one student from Cloudland High School that renews for four years.
The club helps with events at Roan Mountain State Park and hosts an annual dinner for the reenactors on the Overmountain Victory Trail.
The organization donates funds each year to CHS and Cloudland Elementary School. The group asks teachers to submit wish lists for needed supplies and tries to make those purchases for them.
The club also purchased and installed a new “Welcome to Roan Mountain” sign at the entrance to town.
One of the biggest events this past year was a community yard sale to help buy new turnout gear for the Roan Mountain Volunteer Fire Department.
“They had not had new turnout gear for 17 years,” Buchanan said. “It was just not safe for them to keep using it. When we realized they needed that equipment so badly, we set out to help. But it was the community that made it possible. The community was so generous with their donations to the yard sale and with their purchases. They made it happen.”
The club has around 25 active members with other members who are unable to attend the regular meetings.
The club meets the first Thursday of each month in the conference center at Roan Mountain State Park at 7 p.m.
After attending two meetings, newcomers can ask to become a member and be accepted by a vote from the current membership.