Roane County is a county in Tennessee, United States, anchoring the western edge of the Knoxville metropolitan area, in the eastern part of the state. It had a population of 53,404 at the 2020 census and covers 395 square miles (1,020 km2), of which 361 square miles (930 km2) is land and 34 square miles (88 km2) is water, centred near 35°52′N 84°30′W.
Kingston is the county seat, and its postal code is 37763. The county has five incorporated cities — three wholly within its borders and two shared with neighboring counties — plus dozens of unincorporated communities and lake subdivisions strung along the Tennessee, Clinch, and Emory rivers and the shores of Watts Bar Lake. Roane County runs on Eastern time.
Towns & Villages in Roane County
Roane County has five incorporated cities and roughly 130 named unincorporated communities and residential subdivisions, most of them lakefront developments on Watts Bar Lake or the Emory River. CDP = census-designated place; Unincorp. = unincorporated community or subdivision with no separate municipal government.
| Place | Type | Pop. | ZIP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kingston | City · seat | 5,953 | 37763 |
| Harriman | City | 5,892 | 37748 |
| Rockwood | City | 5,444 | 37854 |
| Oliver Springs | City | — | 37840 |
| Oak Ridge | City (partial) | — | — |
| Lenoir City | City (partial) | — | — |
| Allingham | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Anglers Cove | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Barnardsville | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Bay View | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Bayside | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Bazel Town | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Bella Mara Estates | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Blair | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Blue Springs | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Blue Springs Resort | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Bradbury | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Buttermilk Shores | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Cardiff | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Cave Creek | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Cedar Fork | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Cedar Grove | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Century Acres | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Chapman Grove | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Cherokee Hills | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Chestnut Hills | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Circle M | Unincorp. | — | — |
| College Grove | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Cook Mill | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Cove Point | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Crestwood | Unincorp. | — | — |
| DeArmond | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Dodson | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Dogwood | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Dogwood Heights | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Dogwood Shores | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Dry Hill | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Dyllis | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Eagle Furnace | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Eagle Point | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Eagle Point Cabin Area | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Eagle Point Heights | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Eblen Estates | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Edgewater Estates | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Elverton | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Emory Gap | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Emory Heights | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Eureka | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Fairview | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Fairview Acres | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Glen Alice | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Glen Wright | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Green Acres | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Half Moon Shores | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Harbin | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Harriman Junction | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Hartland Estates | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Hidden Valley | Unincorp. | — | — |
| High Point | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Highland Forest | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Hillcrest | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Holiday Hills | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Holiday Shores | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Idle Oaks | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Irwinton Shores | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Johnson | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Jonesville | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Kalida | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Kelley Town | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Kingston Heights | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Kries | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Ladd Estates | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Laddie Village | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Lake Shadow | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Lake Shore | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Lake-A-Wana | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Lakeharbor | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Lakemont Heights | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Lakeview | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Laurel Bluff | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Lawnville | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Lawnville Meadows | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Little Emory | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Midtown | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Midtown Heights | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Midway | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Montcrest | Unincorp. | — | — |
| New Hope | Unincorp. | — | — |
| New Midway | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Oak Hill | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Oak Hills | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Oak Hills Estates | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Oral | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Orchard Valley Estates | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Orchard View | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Paint Rock | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Paint Rock Farm Lake Estates | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Parkview | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Pawpaw Plains | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Pine Hills | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Pioneer Village | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Pond Grove | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Ponderosa | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Ponders | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Poplar Springs | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Post Oak Farms | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Postoak | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Riverbend Estates | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Scandlyn | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Sequoyah Shores | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Shenandoah Estates | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Shorewood | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Smoke Rise | Unincorp. | — | — |
| South Harriman | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Stowe Station | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Suburban Shores | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Sugar Grove | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Sunnycrest | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Terrace View | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Twin Oaks | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Union | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Walnut Hill | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Webster | Unincorp. | — | — |
| West Hills | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Westshore Estates | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Woodland Cove | Unincorp. | — | — |
Two of the county’s cities straddle a border with a neighbor: Harriman extends a small distance into Morgan County, and both Oak Ridge and Lenoir City are centered in Anderson and Loudon counties respectively, with only their outer edges reaching into Roane. Their populations and ZIP codes are counted under their principal county rather than repeated here.
ZIP Codes
- 37763 — Kingston (also serves many of the lake subdivisions east of town toward Watts Bar Dam)
- 37748 — Harriman (also serves the Emory Gap and Harriman Junction areas)
- 37854 — Rockwood (also serves communities along the base of the Cumberland Plateau)
- 37840 — Oliver Springs
Roane County has only four ZIP codes of its own; unincorporated communities near Oak Ridge or Lenoir City generally use those cities’ ZIP codes instead.
Geography
Roane County sits where the Tennessee Valley meets the Cumberland Plateau: its western third climbs onto the plateau’s escarpment near Rockwood, while the Tennessee, Clinch, and Emory rivers converge in the eastern lowlands, backed up into Watts Bar Lake since the TVA dam was completed in 1942. That lake shoreline is why so many of the county’s named places are vacation and retirement subdivisions rather than traditional towns.
Roane County borders Morgan County to the north, Anderson County to the northeast, Knox County to the east, Loudon County to the southeast, McMinn County to the south, Meigs County and Rhea County to the southwest, and Cumberland County to the west.
Demographics
Roane County had 53,404 residents at the 2020 census, with 361 square miles of land giving a density of about 148 people per square mile. Kingston and Harriman are the two largest communities, at 5,953 and 5,892 residents respectively, followed closely by Rockwood. Median household income in the county runs below the Tennessee median of $67,631, reflecting the legacy of the area’s mining and manufacturing economy rather than the newer commuter growth seen closer to Knoxville.
Economy & Local Life
The Tennessee Valley Authority is the county’s largest single employer, running the Kingston Fossil Plant on the Emory River and a regional office presence tied to Watts Bar Lake. Manufacturing and warehousing cluster around Harriman and Rockwood, and many residents commute east to jobs at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex in neighboring Anderson County. Recreational boating, fishing, and lakefront tourism around Watts Bar Lake support a seasonal hospitality trade, and the historic Roane County Courthouse in Kingston still anchors the county seat’s downtown.
History
Roane County was formed in 1801 from parts of Knox County and named for Archibald Roane, Tennessee’s second governor. Rockwood grew up around the Roane Iron Company’s blast furnaces, chartered in 1867 to work local coal and ore deposits, and Harriman was founded in 1889 as a temperance colony where the sale of liquor was banned until 1992. The county’s most consequential modern event was the December 2008 Kingston Fossil Plant ash spill, when a containment pond failed and released more than a billion gallons of coal ash slurry, triggering one of the largest industrial spills in U.S. history and a multi-year cleanup.
Getting There
Interstate 40 crosses the county’s southern edge near Harriman, with U.S. Route 27 and State Route 61 serving as the main north-south corridors through Kingston and Rockwood.
- Knoxville — 35 miles east
- Chattanooga — 70 miles south
- Oak Ridge — 15 miles northeast
- Crossville — 30 miles west
McGhee Tyson Airport, southwest of Knoxville, is the nearest commercial airport.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Roane County, Tennessee?
It sits in East Tennessee at the western edge of the Knoxville metropolitan area, where the Tennessee, Clinch, and Emory rivers meet at Watts Bar Lake.
What is the population of Roane County?
53,404 at the 2020 census.
How big is Roane County?
395 square miles (1,020 km2), of which 34 square miles is water.
What is the county seat of Roane County?
Kingston, home to the historic Roane County Courthouse.
How many towns are in Roane County?
Five incorporated cities — Kingston, Harriman, Rockwood, and Oliver Springs wholly or mostly within the county, plus small portions of Oak Ridge and Lenoir City — alongside roughly 130 unincorporated lake communities and subdivisions.
What ZIP codes are in Roane County?
37763 (Kingston), 37748 (Harriman), 37854 (Rockwood), and 37840 (Oliver Springs).
What happened at the Kingston Fossil Plant?
On December 22, 2008, a coal ash containment pond failed, spilling more than a billion gallons of slurry — one of the largest industrial spills in U.S. history.
More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Tennessee.