Blue Ridge
Beech Mountain
A summit town at a published 5,506 feet, with a ski resort inside the limits and trails above 5,000.
Last updated October 15, 2026.
- County
- Avery and Watauga
- Setting
- A town on the summit of Beech Mountain
- Elevation
- 5,506 feet, the figure the town publishes
- Incorporated
- 1981
- 2020 census
- 675
The Town of Beech Mountain publishes its elevation as 5,506 feet and calls itself the highest incorporated town east of the Rockies. That's the town's own line, and the air up here backs it up. The town sits in both Avery and Watauga counties and was incorporated in 1981. The 2020 census counted 675 residents. Ski weeks and summer weekends multiply that before the coffee cools.
Beech Mountain Resort is in town. That's why this place works as a resort community. The drive up from the Banner Elk valley is steep enough to quiet a chatty passenger. Winter weather is mountain weather: ice, snow, and a wind that finds the zipper you forgot. The Blue Ridge Parkway stays off the summit. Grandfather Mountain and the Parkway are a drive back down.
Banner Elk is the valley town below, where the air is thicker. Sugar Mountain, a separate municipality with its own ski resort, shares that valley. Boone and Blowing Rock sit farther east, toward Watauga County's main roads.