Donor Perspective: Tom & Dawn Alligood

As a former real estate professional in Charlotte, Tom understands that you have to save land when you can.

He remembers his first visit to the Roan area, around Thanksgiving of 1978, when he and a friend backpacked the Appalachian Trail from the Cloudland Hotel site at Carvers Gap to Hampton, TN.

“It was my second backpacking trip ever,” he recalls. It was a physically challenging hike, but they created memories that would last a lifetime. Tom gained a love for Roan that would stay with him. He married Dawn in 1982 on Beech Mountain, overlooking the Roan and places SAHC had protected.

“What we love most about SAHC is how nimble the organization is, purchasing properties that come up for development and then helping to incorporate the land into public forests to be protected forever,” he says.

Tom has gone on lots of backpacking trips, attended June Jamboree hikes and has brought hundreds of people on the Roan over the past four decades. He and Dawn are also Legacy Society members, having included SAHC
in their will.

Thank you, Tom and Dawn, for sharing your love of the Roan!