Remnents of a homestead
Like most of the Appalachians, Roan was private property of the settlers once they pushed the indiginous populations aside. During the 18th and 19th centuries, families eeked out an existance in the mountains, building homesteads, farms and orchards. It was more of a hardscrabble existence compared to the more fertile bottomlands or even along the slopes. Maybe they wanted more privacy, or they were the last comers to the party, but the majority of these higher-altitude homesteads were the least successful of the region.
With the retraction of their iffy economy after WWI (save for blackmarket prohibition products), the ecological marginalization of the land after a century of deforestation and poor stewardship, and the implosion of '29, these distressed homeowners were square in the middle of a societal change. Some welcomed the federal buyout of their lands for national forests, parks, CCC programs and alike. Others were resistent and resentful of forced resettlement as the feds eminent domained their land. (Was the Trail of Tears an object lesson for the mountain folk?)
All that physically remains of their history are the rare artifacts that didn't get carried or rot away. And perhaps the memories of federal land reclamation passed down to their children living in the valleys below. There are trail myths of residential resentment even of the Trail through these communities, but I received nothing save either indifference or honest friendliness.