North Carolina Highway 197 (NC 197) is a South-to-North

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

. The route is approximately in length and with its continuation into

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. Tennessee is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 36th-largest by ...

as SR 395 connects

Erwin, Tennessee Erwin is a town in and the county seat of Unicoi County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 6,097 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Johnson City Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the Johnson City– Kingspo ...

to Flat Creek, North Carolina. Portions of this highway lie within the

Pisgah National Forest Pisgah National Forest is a 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 Pisgah National Forest is complet ...

and is one of the few highways in the state with an unpaved portion.

Route description

Mitchell County

Beginning at the state line with Tennessee, NC 197 enters the Pisgah National Forest and winds south down the Unaka escarpment to Poplar. South of Poplar, NC 197 begins the first of three segments where it follows the

North Toe River The North Toe River is the headwaters of the Nolichucky River and a tributary in the French Broad River basin. From its source at Sugar Gap, between Bald Mountain and Sugar Mountain, it flows westerly through Avery, Mitchell, and Yancey co ...

and the former

Clinchfield Railroad The Clinchfield Railroad was an operating and holding company for the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railway . The line ran from the coalfields of Virginia and Elkhorn City, Kentucky, to the textile mills of South Carolina. The 35-mile segmen ...

. It intersects and overlaps NC 226 for a short distance near Red Hill.

Yancey County

The final segment of NC 197 that follows the Toe River does so in the reverse direction as the previous two times this occurred. This segment comes after a railroad crossing and a new concrete arch bridge that carries the highway across the Toe River into

Yancey County Yancey County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,470. Its county seat is Burnsville. This land was inhabited by the Cherokee prior to European settlement, as was much of t ...

. After leaving the river area, NC 197 continues through mountains and grassy knolls until it arrives at U.S. Route 19E (US 19E) just east of Burnsville. Following a short

overlap Overlap may refer to: * In set theory, an overlap of elements shared between sets is called an intersection, as in a Venn diagram. * In music theory, overlap is a synonym for reinterpretation of a chord at the boundary of two musical phrases * Ove ...

with US 19E, NC 197 leaves US 19E in Burnsville as Pensacola Road and goes through the

Cane River Cane River (''Rivière aux Cannes'') is a riverU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 3, 2011 formed from a portion of the Red River that is located in Natchitoches Pa ...

valley to

Pensacola Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ci ...

. From Pensacola, NC 197 turns right and proceeds over Cane River Gap into

Buncombe County Buncombe County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is classified within Western North Carolina. The 2020 census reported the population was 269,452. Its county seat is Asheville. Buncombe County is part of the Ashevill ...

after passing through Murchison.

Buncombe County

As it enters Buncombe County, NC 197 (now North Fork Road) turns to gravel as it crosses the Cane River Gap for a short distance and reenters the Pisgah National Forest for a short distance. As it winds its way down to the Barnardsville valley it crosses over the headwaters of

Ivy Creek ''Hedera'', commonly called ivy (plural ivies), is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa and ...

four times before it continues onto the pavement near Barnardsville. From Barnardsville, NC 197 (as the Barnardsville Highway) becomes a relatively straight road that partially follows Ivy Creek until its junction with Future Interstate 26/

US 19 U.S. Route 19 (US 19) is a north–south U.S. Highway in the Eastern United States. Despite encroaching Interstate Highways, the route has remained a long-haul road, connecting the Gulf of Mexico with Lake Erie. The highway's southern ...

US 23 } U.S. Route 23 or U.S. Highway 23 (US 23) is a major north–south U.S. Highway between Jacksonville, Florida, and Mackinaw City, Michigan. It is an original 1926 route which originally reached only as far south as Portsmouth, Ohio, and has since ...

at exit 15 near Flat Creek. Proceeding forward from the end of NC 197 is Jupiter Road (SR 1756). A right turn before the overpass allows access to west I-26/north US 19/US 23 to

Johnson City, Tennessee Johnson City is a city in Washington, Carter, and Sullivan counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee, mostly in Washington County. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 71,046, making it the eighth largest city in Tennessee. John ...

. A left turn after the I-26 underpass allows access to east I-26/south US 19/US 23 to

Asheville Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

History

From the 1920s-1940s, NC 197 was formed, running from Cane Creek Post Office (near Burnsville) to Bakersville. Portions of that alignment are now

NC 226 North Carolina Highway 226 (NC 226) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Traveling north–south through Western North Carolina, it connects the cities and towns of Grover, Shelby, Marion, Spruce Pine and ...

. Between 1924 and 1948 the highway's route had been changed to run from the former NC 26 at Red Hill southward to Flat Creek along a route similar to that in use today. In the 1980s, NC 197 is extended from Red Hill to the Tennessee state line where it enters Tennessee as TN 395.

North Carolina Highway 695

Major junctions

References

External links

* {{commons category-inline
NCROads.com: N.C. 197

197 Year 197 ( CXCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magius and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 950 '' Ab urbe con ...

Transportation in Buncombe County, North Carolina Transportation in Yancey County, North Carolina Transportation in Mitchell County, North Carolina