From its southwestern terminus SR 116 heads northeast and passes through the town of
Petros and past
Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary. Continuing northeast into
Anderson County (along a mountain pass known locally as
Petros Mountain), the highway then passes through remote mountainous country known for its many former
coal mining villages, some of which were
company towns and are now essentially
ghost towns. Among them are the towns (or former towns) of
Fork Mountain,
Buffalo,
Devonia (a/k/a Moore's Camp),
Braytown,
Rosedale, and
Charley's Branch. The Devonia
post office which served this entire region was closed in 1975. Once the mines in these towns closed down with the resulting loss of population, the towns' schools were closed and remaining students were consolidated into the Rosedale school, which saw steadily falling enrollment and was closed in the 1990s. This section of SR 116 parallels the
New River and the former line of the
Tennessee Railroad. There are many abandoned underground coal mines,
coal tipples, and
railroad yards and
sidings along this section of SR 116. Despite the end of most
underground mining and the demise of the towns along this portion of the highway, a great deal of
strip mining continues however. Petros, Briceville, Rocky Top, and Caryville are the only towns of any sizeable population today along SR 116. ==History==