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1938 Map of Mountain City

Name: 1938 Topographic Map of Mountain City
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1956
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1956

About this map

Mountain City serves as the central hub for this corner of northeast Tennessee, where the Southern railroad line tracks along Roan Creek and Doe Creek. The landscape is defined by the heavy timber of the Cherokee National Forest, with high points like Rainbow Mtn and Doe Mountain overlooking a valley floor dotted with small agricultural settlements. The mapping captures a network of small country schools and churches that anchored these mountain communities in the late 1930s, including Wagners School and Pleasant Grove Church.

Tracing the rural routes reveals a dense distribution of family-named landmarks and local post offices like Vaughtsville. In the lower elevations, the railroad influences the growth of junctions like Shouns, while more isolated areas such as Crackers Neck and Bakers Gap remain tucked into the ridges. From the Kettlefoot Lookout Tower on the western heights to the numerous cemeteries like Phillippi Cemetery, the map preserves a detailed record of the region’s topography and human geography before later 20th-century developments.