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Lost Cove is a ghost town in Yancey County North Carolina. Located on the gorge above the Nolichucky River on the Tennessee - North Carolina border, a boundary dispute and its isolation reportedly made it attractive to moonshiners in the 19th century. It was settled shortly before the Civil War and the last family left in 1958.

Visiting the town
Lost Cove is only accessible via hiking trails. To reach the ghost town, there are two possible routes. The first route is shorter but steeper: from the parking lot on Forest Road, you must hike 2 miles up a gravel hill. The second route is longer yet flatter: from River Road, follow the railroad tracks along the river for 3 miles until you encounter a 1 mile dirt path that will lead you into the town.

Railroads and logging
Although Lost Cove is believed to have been founded around the time of the Civil War, the town did not begin to prosper until the logging industry made Lost Cove a viable stop on the railroad tracks. With its location in the mountains, Lost Cove was an ideal logging area that provided many trees from the surrounding Pisgah National Forest. Now the town was thriving with the help of logging industries and railroads, residents were able to build a school to educate their children. However, timber is a limited resource, and as the supply of wood began to diminish, the railroad stopped servicing the town in order to focus on other industries like coal. With a major part of the economy deteriorated, residents lobbied to build a road into Lost Cove. Legislators denied this request and the people living in the town slowly began to move away until the town was abandoned in 1957.

Moonshine
Moonshine was an important part of Lost Cove's economy. While some families made the illicit whiskey for their own personal use, others would turn a profit by selling or trading moonshine to nearby townsfolk or men passing through on the railroad. One of the reasons that moonshiners were able to prosper in Lost Cove, was that judges trying to control the problem were unsure of which jurisdiction the town fell in. Because it fell on the Tennessee- North Carolina border and was very isolated, Lost Cove created an environment where moonshiners came to do business.