Andrews Geyser

Andrews Geyser in Old Fort, North Carolina, is a man-made, gravity-powered fountain built in 1885 as both an ornamental feature for the Round Knob Hotel and a memorial linked to the railroad’s construction through the Blue Ridge foothills. Named for Colonel Alexander Boyd Andrews, it also stood for the roughly 120 people who died building the steep, tunnel-filled line to Swannanoa Gap. Restored and relocated in 1911 after the hotel burned, it later became a public park and a rare surviving reminder of the engineering achievement and human cost of the mountain railroad. In September 2024, remnants of Hurricane Helene destroyed the fountain.

North Carolina · United States