Roofing for Jonesborough.
Tennessee's oldest incorporated town. The storytelling capital. Our home base — 154 Old Turnpike Rd is inside city limits. Most in-town jobs are within ten minutes of our shop.
What we know about Jonesborough roofs
Jonesborough's housing stock falls into three rough buckets, and the right approach changes meaningfully across them.
The Historic District (H-1 Overlay) — 120-acre National Register district listed in 1969, the second historic district added in Tennessee after Beale Street. 72 contributing buildings: Federal (Chester Inn c.1797), Greek Revival (Jonesborough Presbyterian Church 1845–47, Sisters Row 1820s), Italianate, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Craftsman. The H-1 Standards (Section 5) name asphalt shingles as the only modern roofing material allowed for replacement on previously asphalt-roofed homes; metal restorations follow Section 4 (no penetration of terneplate or embossed galvanized; no aluminum patches on terneplate; no asphalt-containing coatings on any metal roof). Plumbing vents must be hidden as much as possible; chimneys, cupolas, finials, weathervanes, and balustrades cannot be removed regardless of condition. A Certificate of Appropriateness from the HZC is required before any exterior work commences.
The H-2 Overlay Zone (Boone Street corridor) — transition area governed by the separate H-2 Standards (adopted 2000, amended 2018). New construction is allowed, but HZC review still applies. The grant program (Façade & Architectural Improvement, matching grants up to $2,500 per project) covers HZC-approved roof work.
In-town subdivisions and outlying Washington County — The Ridges, Mill Creek, Ashley Meadows, Skyline Landing, Cedar Rock Village, Crockett's Landing, The Reserve at Boones Creek, plus the outlying rural corridor along TN-81/TN-107 (Telford, Limestone, Lamar, Embreeville, Chuckey, Sulphur Springs). Mostly mid-century brick ranches in the town's immediate ring, Craftsman/cottage and Traditional in new construction, older farmhouse-and-manufactured-home mix in the rural belt. The Helene rebuild concentration is along the Nolichucky corridor south of Jonesborough — Embreeville, Bumpus Cove, Little Germany, Lamar — well outside town but inside our regular service radius.
Founded 1779.
Still here. Still working.
Main Street H-1 home
HZC-approved like-kind architectural shingle · 1,400 sqft · COA filed and approved · 1 day · 2025
Mill Creek two-story
Full tear-off + ridge ventilation · 2,400 sqft · Atlas Pinnacle Pristine Charcoal · 2025
Telford farmhouse
Helene-zone rebuild · 5-V galvanized metal · 1,900 sqft · 2 days · 2025
Questions, answered locally
Do I need historic zoning approval to replace a roof in downtown Jonesborough?
Yes, if the property is inside the H-1 or H-2 Overlay Zones. The Jonesborough Historic Zoning Commission — the oldest HZC in Tennessee, founded 1969 — has approval authority over all exterior changes, including re-roofing. A Certificate of Appropriateness must be obtained before any work begins. The Expediting Committee can grant near-immediate approval for in-kind work (e.g., asphalt-to-asphalt replacement in a compatible color). Material changes (asphalt to metal, color shifts away from the original palette, visible vent additions) require full HZC review. We file the COA on your behalf.
Can I put a metal roof on a historic home in Jonesborough?
In some cases yes — Jonesborough's H-1 Standards explicitly identify two historic metal compositions: zinc-galvanized sheet steel in 5-V and embossed shingle patterns, and terneplate in standing-seam and interlocking flat-pan installations. Existing original metal roofs are protected with strict no-penetration rules (5-V allows fasteners only at the V peaks; terneplate and embossed galvanized are no-penetration except gutter hangers). Aluminum patches on terneplate or galvanized steel: forbidden (electrolytic-corrosion concern). New metal installations on a previously asphalt-roofed historic home are reviewed case-by-case under General Standard 6.
How close is your shop?
154 Old Turnpike Rd is inside Jonesborough city limits. Most in-town jobs are within ten minutes of our shop. We're the only roofing contractor of meaningful scale physically headquartered inside Jonesborough — and that proximity matters when you have an active leak, a tarp request after a storm, or a callback question six months after install. The same truck that drops the shingles also picks up the warranty paperwork.