North Carolina Highway 261 (NC 261) is a short state highway going from
Bakersville to the
Tennessee
Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...
state line where the road turns into
Tennessee State Route 143 (SR 143). The road is only long and is very curvy. The road is close to
Roan Mountain State Park
Roan Mountain State Park is a Tennessee state park in Carter County, in Northeast Tennessee. It is close to the Tennessee-North Carolina border and near the community of Roan Mountain, Tennessee. Situated in the Blue Ridge of the Appalachia ...
in Tennessee.
Route description
NC 261 begins in the town of Bakersville, the county seat of
Mitchell County, at a stop-controlled
T-intersection
A three-way junction (or three-way intersection) is a type of road intersection with three arms. A Y junction (or Y intersection) generally has three arms of equal size coming at an acute or obtuse angle to each other; while a T junction (or T ...
with
NC 226 (Crimson Laurel Way). It immediately climbs a short hill out of the town and into the
Pisgah National Forest
Pisgah National Forest is a United States National Forest, National Forest in the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina. It is administered by the United States Forest Service, part of the United States Department of Agriculture. The P ...
. As it starts to head in a northeastern general direction, NC 261 begins a winding course between the
Cub Creek and
Pumpkin Patch Mountain. After crossing Pumpkin Patch Gap (elevation approximately ), the road begins to follow the
Little Rock Creek and pass through the communities of
Cookstown
Cookstown (, ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the fourth-largest town in the county and had a population of 12,546 in the 2021 census. It, along with Magherafelt and Dungannon, is one of the main towns in the Mid-Ulster ...
and
Glen Ayre. outside of Glen Ayre, after paralleling more streams, NC 261 starts a climb up to
Roan Mountain. Afters some
hairpin turn
A hairpin turn (also hairpin bend or hairpin corner) is a bend in a road with a very acute inner angle, making it necessary for an oncoming vehicle to turn about 180° to continue on the road. It is named for its resemblance to a bent metal ha ...
s, the road reaches Carvers Gap (elevation ) where the state line and
Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian Trail, also called the A.T., is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian Tra ...
crosses the road. Tennessee SR 143 continues ahead towards the community of
Roan Mountain.
History
What became NC 261 was an unnumbered gravel
Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone.
Gr ...
and dirt road
A dirt road or track is a type of unpaved road not paved with asphalt, concrete, brick, or stone; made from the native material of the land surface through which it passes, known to highway engineers as subgrade material.
Terminology
Simi ...
between Bakersville and Carvers Gap. Between 1949 and 1953, the state took over the road and paved it with asphalt
Asphalt most often refers to:
* Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete
* Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...
.
Junction list
References
External links
{{Attached KML
NCRoads.com: N.C. 261
261
__NOTOC__
Year 261 (Roman numerals, CCLXI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gallienus and Taurus (or, less frequently, year 1014 ''Ab urbe condita''). The ...
Transportation in Mitchell County, North Carolina