Roane County is a county of the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 53,404. Its county seat is Kingston. Roane County is included in the Knoxville metropolitan area.
History
Roane County was formed in 1801, and named for Archibald Roane, the second Governor of Tennessee. In October 1861, Union guerrilla William B. Carter organized the East Tennessee bridge-burning conspiracy from a command post in Kingston. During the Knoxville Campaign in December 1863, a Union force led by General James G. Spears scattered a small Confederate force led by John R. Hart near Kingston.
In the years following the Civil War, Rockwood grew into a major iron and coal mining center with the establishment of the Roane Iron Company by General John T. Wilder. Iron ore and coal were mined on Walden Ridge and shipped to Rockwood, where the ore was converted into pig iron. The pig iron was then shipped to rolling mills in Knoxville or Chattanooga. During World War II, the federal government created the city of Oak Ridge as a planned community as part of the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb. As a result of the Project, both the K-25 gaseous diffusion plant and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory are located in the county.
Geography
right|240px|thumb|Walden Ridge, with lower Roane County on the right
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (8.7%) is water. Three rivers— the Tennessee River, the Clinch River, and the Emory River— pass through Roane County. The Emory empties into the Clinch near Kingston, and the Clinch empties into the Tennessee just downstream from Kingston. The rivers in Roane are mostly part of Watts Bar Lake. One notable valley is Suck-egg Hollow.
Roane County straddles the geographical boundary between the Tennessee Valley and the Cumberland Plateau, with the latter's Walden Ridge escarpment visible from much of the county.
The county is in the Eastern Time Zone, but Cumberland County, which forms part of its western border, observes Central Time.
Adjacent counties
- Morgan County (north)
- Anderson County (northeast)
- Knox County (east)
- Loudon County (southeast)
- McMinn County (south)
- Meigs County (southwest)
- Rhea County (southwest)
- Cumberland County (west)
State protected areas
- Campbell Bend Barrens State Natural Area
- Crowder Cemetery State Natural Area
- Kingston Refuge
- McGlothin-Largen Wildlife Management Area
- Mount Roosevelt Wildlife Management Area (part)
- Paint Rock Refuge
- Watts Bar Wildlife Management Area