The Blue Ridge Mountains of the Appalachian Mountain system extend about 990 km (615 mi) from southern Pennsylvania to northern Georgia. Their greatest width, 112 km (70 mi), is in North Carolina. Average elevation ranges from 609 to 1,219 m (2,000-4,000'), but many peaks exceed 1,524 m (5,000'). The Potomac, James, and Roanoke rivers cross the mountains. Mixed hardwood forests cover the ridges, scenic recreation area, parkways and foot trails. In remote valleys descendants of 18th-century settlers retain archaic customs and patterns of speech.
Morgantown, W.Va., (25,879 1990 census) in north central W.Va. Port city located 90 km (55 mi) south of Pittsburgh on the Monongahela River. Seat of Monongalia County. Founded in 1767, known for its glass industry. Coal and limestone are mined nearby. West Virginia University (1867).
White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., (2,779 1990) is a resort city in southeastern West Virginia known for its mineral waters. Settled about 1750, it became a fashionable health spa in the early 1800s, and many U.S. presidents spent their summers there. The first U.S. golf club is believed to be the predecessor of the modern Greenbrier Club, located in the city.
Booker T. Washington National Monument southern Virginia (1956), 32 km (20 mi) southeast of Roanoke. 91-ha (224-acre) plantation on which the black educator was born into slavery in 1856, restored one-room cabin, replica buildings. Center displays artifacts, tools, livestock. Only monument that offers an interpretation of what life must have been like for the slave and the slave owner.
Shenandoah National Park, in northwestern Virginia, (1926-1935) 79,507 ha (196,466 acres). Most scenic section of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a linear Appalachian range of ancient crystalline rocks from Pennsylvania to Georgia. Thickly forested, native hardwoods, pine, hemlock, cedar. Streams with numerous falls and cascades. 200 species of birds, bears, deer, bobcats, many smaller mammals. Woodland wildflowers are spectacular in spring, followed by mountain laurel, azaleas, rhododendron. The Appalachian Trail runs the length of the park, paralleled by the 170-km (105-mi) Skyline Drive. The drive extends southward as the Blue Ridge Parkway, joining Shenandoah with Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 750 km (469 mi) to the south.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, western NC and Tennessee, (1926-1930) 210,546 ha (520,269 acres). Densely forested ranges in the Appalachian Mountains, several of the highest peaks east of the Mississippi. Red spruce, Fraser fir over 1,525 m (5,000'). Highest Mountain is Clingmans Dome (2,025 m/6,643'). 1,400 km (900 mi) of trails access waterfalls and grassy "balds," treeless summits where rhododendron and azalea bloom May/June. 8 species of trillium, 32 violets, 29 orchids. Named a Biosphere Reserve in 1976 and a World Heritage Site in 1983.
Shenandoah River, northern VA (242 km 150 mi) Formed at Front Royal by the South Fork from the Alleghenies near Staunton, and the North Fork from Shenandoah County. Flows NE 90 km (55 mi) to Harpers Ferry, W.Va., on the Potomac River. The Shenandoah Valley, bordered by the Alleghenies on the west and the Blue Ridge Mountains on the east, supports cattle and poultry farming and extensive apple orchards. Abolitionist John Brown raided Harpers Ferry in 1859. Civil War battlefields are located along the river.
Winston-Salem, NC, (1913, 143,485) north central North Carolina. Manufactures: tobacco products, textiles, electronic equipment, clothing, furniture. Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem State University (1892), Salem College (1772). Southern headquarters of the Moravian Church. Salem 1766 by the Moravian Church (PA); Winston 1849 county seat; 1875 R.J. Reynolds built the world's largest cigarette manufacturing plant.
Durham, NC, (1750, 136,611) west of Rocky Mount in north central NC, seat of Durham County. Manufactures cigarettes, textiles, lumber, and precision instruments. The Duke family (1881), founded the American Tobacco Company. Duke University (1838), North Carolina Central University (1909). Duke Homestead State Historical Site and a natural history museum.
Mount Mitchell (2,037 m/6,684 ft), highest Appalachian Mountains peak, is in the Black Mountains in North Carolina.
Asheville, NC (1794, 61,607 metropolitan area is 174,821) in west central North Carolina and the seat of Buncombe County. Eastern gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains. Tourist and tobacco center, produces electrical equipment, textiles, timber, paper products. Biltmore museum, the great Vanderbilt mansion, and Thomas Wolfe's birthplace.
Spartanburg, SC (43,467) in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of northwest SC. Temperate, Fertile soil, agricultural, peaches, cotton, livestock. Manufacture textiles, plumbing fixtures, sheet metal, lumber, food products. A statue in the town square commemorates the Revolutionary Battle of Cowpens (1781). Named for a local Revolutionary War regiment.
Congaree Swamp National Monument, central SC 32 km (20 mi) from Columbia SC, (1976). Last large stand of old-growth river-bottom hardwood forest in the southeast 8,984-ha (22,200-acre). Designated a Biosphere Reserve (1983) 90 tree species. 9 trees may be the largest of their kind in the nation - loblolly pine 52 m (169 ft) Woodpeckers, great blue herons, barred owls. Deadly water moccasin, or cottonmouth sun themselves among the cypress "knees" that protrude from the swamp waters.
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