Mount Mitchell Summit Observation Platform, North Carolina

The observation platform on the summit of Mount Mitchell is the highest point of land in North Carolina. After the first tower was built on top of Mount Mitchell in 1916, the mountain ceased to be the tallest point east of the Mississippi, as the tower was. With increasing visitation, and the access of an auto road, a much more substantial stone tower was erected in 1926. This was eventually considered unsafe, and was torn down in 1959. The stone tower’s original form was integrated into a new, architect-designed tower, which had a larger viewing platform, that opened in 1960. This tower was removed in 2006, and has been replaced by a platform, a mere ten feet or so above the ground, finally making the tallest mountain in the eastern United States ADA compliant. It also, however, may have ended the mountain’s reign as the highest walkable point east of the Mississippi. This lower observation platform likely made the tower atop Clingman’s Dome in Tennessee the highest walkable point east of the Mississippi, by one foot or so (even though the summit of Clingman’s Dome is 41 feet lower than Mount Mitchell).