Mountain City

Mountain City and Johnson County offer a rare climate combination with mild winters and mild summers.  Being on the leeward side of the ridge separating Tennessee from North Carolina during most winter storms, Mountain City gets only about 14 inches of snow per year.  In fact, the area is called the "sunny side" because of the way the ridge at the state line tends to wring much of the moisture out of the air before it gets to Mountain City.  To get Mountain City's mild summer temperatures (due to its elevation), you would usually have to live somewhere where typical winter snowfall is measured by the foot!

Mountain City is the sole incorporated area in beautiful Johnson County, Tennessee.  It is home to about 2,400 of the roughly 18,000 county residents.  Surrounded by tall mountains and far from any major city, Mountain City is peaceful and picturesque.  The entirety of Johnson County lies within the Blue Ridge Mountains, with a lowest elevation of 1959 feet at Watauga Lake and a highest elevation of 5518 feet on Snake Mountain.

Mountain City is both the highest and the easternmost city in Tennessee.  The city proper is in a high valley over 2400 feet about sea level.

If you live in or near East Tennessee, it's worth a drive to this area just to sightsee.  And if you do it on a Sunday or a Thursday, you can do some spiritual sightseeing later in the day at Encounter God Church where you can "taste and see that the Lord is good."


Photo attributions:
Brian Stansberry - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43649410
Brian Stansberry - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43734958
Brian Stansberry - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43759122