Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness spans 19,246 acres in North Carolina and Tennessee within the Nantahala and Cherokee national forests. Centered on the Slickrock Creek and Little Santeetlah Creek watersheds in the Unicoi Mountains, it is especially significant for 5,926 acres of old-growth forest, among the largest such tracts in the eastern United States. Along Little Santeetlah Creek, the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest protects a diverse old-growth cove hardwood forest with trees more than 400 years old. The area also preserves a layered history: logging altered much of the Slickrock basin until Calderwood Dam cut off railroad access in 1922, and a 3,800-acre memorial forest was dedicated in 1936 before the broader wilderness was established in 1975.