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If you hiked the 300 miles of North Carolina’s northern border, you would pass through three different regions.
You could go downhill from west to east. Or you could go uphill from east to west. Either way, you would see the Mountain Region, the Piedmont, and the Coastal Plain.
◀ Mount Mitchell is the highest peak in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is the highest peak in North Carolina. It is also the highest peak east of the Mississippi River. The peak is named for university professor Elisha Mitchell. In 1835, he identified it as the highest point east of the Rockies. The peak is more than a mile high.
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▲ It’s called the Mile High Swinging Bridge. That’s because it’s more than a mile above sea level. Plus, it sways, or swings, as you walk across it. It is the highest suspension footbridge in the U.S. A suspension bridge is one that hangs from cables attached to tall towers. The bridge is on Grandfather Mountain, which is part of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Grandfather Mountain itself is part of the Southern Appalachian Biosphere Reserve. As such, it is recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization as one of the most important natural places on the planet.
The Great Smoky Mountains are within the Appalachian mountain range. Like the Blue Ridge Mountains, their smoky haze comes from chemicals released by trees. Many waterfalls are found here. One is called the Place of a Thousand Drips. The name comes from all the small streams of water flowing down the mountainside. ▶
◀ Chimney Rock is 535 million years old. The rock was formed by wind and water erosion. From the top, you can see the Blue Ridge Mountains in one direction. In another direction, you can see the rolling hills of the Piedmont. Chimney Rock was used as a landmark by Indigenous (Native) peoples. They believed it to be sacred. Nineteenth-century science writer and gardener Silas McDowell described Chimney Rock this way:
One of Nature’s sublimest poems, where objects are so weird, beautiful and grand that words cannot translate them, and they can only be seen and felt when we look, wonder and admire in dumb amazement.
◀ The word piedmont comes from two Italian words. The words mean “foot” and “hill.” The Piedmont stretches 200 miles east from the Blue Ridge Mountains. It has rolling hills and rich soil. Most of North Carolina’s major cities are located here. It is also the economic center of the state. The Roanoke and Catawba Rivers flow through the Piedmont. These rivers produce hydroelectric power. Hydroelectric power uses moving water to make electricity.
The Uwharrie Mountains were formed about 500 million years ago. They are one of our country’s oldest mountain ranges. Long ago, these mountains were about as tall as the Himalayas. But over time, they have worn down. Now the tallest mountain is only about 1,000 feet high. Gold was discovered here in 1799. People still pan for gold today. ▶
▲ At the eastern edge of the Piedmont is the fall line. This is where the land drops down to the Coastal Plain. Here you can see the rapids of the Roanoke River. Rapids are fast-moving water that flows over rocks. North Carolina naturalist Tom Earnhardt describes North Carolina’s fall line this way:
It’s a biological hotspot . . . where transportation from the coast ended and power began. . . . For every North Carolinian, whether your interest is cultural, biological, or economic, all these things start at the fall line.
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▲ You might find a Venus flytrap growing in a greenhouse. Or in a pot at home. But it only grows naturally in North Carolina’s (and South Carolina’s) Coastal Plain. This plant eats insects like ants and beetles. It gets nutrients from these foods so it can grow in poor soil.
◀ The Outer Coastal Plain is a low, flat area along the Atlantic Ocean. It includes the Tidewater region and the Outer Banks (shown here). The Tidewater is the area along the coast. The Outer Banks are a chain of islands. On one of them is Jockey’s Ridge. This is the tallest sand dune system on the Atlantic coast.
▲ Wild horses live on the Outer Banks. Their ancestors were brought to the islands by explorers in the early 1500s. No one knows just how they got there. Did they come from failed settlements? Did they swim from shipwrecks? It is still a mystery.
