The United States currently boast nine distinct towns called Mountain Home, and one called Mountainhome, a single word. Stretched from coast-to-coast, from California to North Carolina, this plethora of similarly-named places speaks to the nation’s exoticization of rural life, as if calling a place “Mountain Home” guarantees coziness and security. While I’m sure these places are all lovely, they are not necessarily as quaint as the name suggests: the Texas Mountain Home, for example, was home to a slave labor ranch in the 1980s. Yes, that’s the 1980s…
In any event, here, for the love of trivia, are America’s “Mountain Homes” — and one Mountainhome — in descending order based on elevation above sea level. Not all are that impressive or mountainous: I mean, 8,770 feet is nice, in Wyoming, but what about Arkansas’ version, which stands at just over 800 feet above sea level? Is that a “mountain”?*
- Mountain Home, Wyoming, 8,770 ft.
- Mountain Home, Utah: 7,005 ft.
- Mountain Home, California 3,691 ft.
- Mountain Home, Idaho, 3,146 ft.
- Mountain Home, North Carolina, 2,129 ft.
- Mountain Home, Texas, 1,909 ft.
- Mountain Home Tennessee, 1,635 ft.
- Mountainhome, Pennsylvania, 1,234 ft.
- Mountain Home, Arkansas, 817 ft.
- Mountain Home, Alabama, 745 ft.
*(It turns out there’s a bit of debate over this, with some scientists saying a mountain must reach a minimum of 2,000 feet above sea level, but others saying height doesn’t matter: Mount Scott outside Lawton, Oklahoma, stands at just 823 feet. It’s all in the eye of the beholder. Some see a mole hill, others a mountain.)