blue ridged mountains

The Blue Ridge Mountains are a segment of the Appalachian Mountains, located in the eastern United States. Extending southwest from Pennsylvania, these gorgeous mountains span 615 miles through sections of Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. The Blue Ridge Mountains encompass a number of smaller mountain ranges, including the Roans, Blacks, Great Balsams, Brushy Mountains, and Great Smoky Mountains. Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most popular US National Parks, attracting over 11 million visitors each year.

This dynamic terrain offers thousands of hiking trails for exploring various sections of the Blue Ridge region, including the famous Appalachian Trail. Starting at Springer Mountain in Georgia and ending at Mount Katahdin in Maine, the 2,175-mile AT passes through many notable spots. With about 125 peaks of 5,000+ feet in elevation, the Blue Ridge is home to many of the highest mountains in eastern North America. The highest peak in the Blue Ridge range is Mount Mitchell, NC, at 6,684 feet, whose breathtaking views of the region span as far as 85 miles on a clear day!

The Eastern Continental Divide is an invisible line that follows along the ridgelines of the Blue Ridge Mountains. This line represents where water on each side will flow, separating the Atlantic Seaboard watershed in the east from the Gulf of Mexico watershed in the west. The Blue Ridge Mountains are home to a variety of lakes, rivers, and streams. Some of the most popular include the Ocoee River and the Chattahoochee River (which flows for 400+ miles). One of our favorite places is the stunning 3,290-acre Lake Blue Ridge, which has 65 miles of shoreline.

One of the best things to do in the Blue Ridge area is to drive the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway, which connects Shenandoah National Park, VA to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, NC. Nicknamed “America’s Favorite Drive” the BRP offers a perfect way to explore the beauty of the region. These mountains are home to a variety of charming mountain towns. Surrounded by towering summits and dense forest, most of the Blue Ridge towns offer a multitude of outdoor activities, restaurants, shopping, and the rich traditions of Appalachian culture.

The Blue Ridge range is estimated to have been created 1.1 billion to 250 million years ago by the uplifting of the Earth’s tectonic plates. This makes the Blue Ridge Mountains the second oldest mountain range in the entire world, after South Africa’s Barberton greenstone belt. These mountains are primarily made of highly deformed metamorphic rocks of Precambrian ages, including schists, slates, quartzites, and gneisses. Recent studies have found that the basement geology of the Blue Ridge is composed of gneisses and granitoids.

The Blue Ridge mountains contain some of the richest composition of minerals in the world, including plentiful deposits of micra, feldspar, and quartz (which are used in everyday products like paint and electronics). Amateur miners often visit the Blue Ridge region to mine for gold and gemstones. The Blue Ridge mountains contain some of the richest composition of minerals in the world, including plentiful deposits of micra, feldspar, and quartz (which are used in everyday products like paint and electronics). Amateur miners often visit the Blue Ridge region to mine for gold and gemstones.

Humans first arrived in the Blue Ridge region some 12,000 years ago. The Siouxan Manhuas, Iroquois, and Shawnee hunted and fished in what is now Virginia’s Blue Ridge, while the Cherokee inhabited much of what is now western North Carolina and North Georgia. During the early and mid-19 century, countless Scots-Irish people immigrated due to famine and persecution. Many settled in North Carolina‘s piedmont region. The folklore, music, crafts, and agricultural practices of their homeland largely shaped the Southern Appalachian culture and history.

During the Civil War, Confederate armies used the Blue Ridge mountains as a natural shield. The roads through what is now Shenandoah National Park were regularly used by both armies for travel. General Stonewall Jackson was particularly skilled in using these hidden passes to conceal his troops. Icons like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson regularly visited the Blue Ridge region. Describing the intrigue of the mountains, Jefferson wrote, “It is impossible for the emotions arising from the sublime to be felt beyond what they are here… the rapture of the spectator is really indescribable.”

The idea to create the Blue Ridge Parkway came about when President Franklin Roosevelt visited Virginia’s first Civilian Conservation Corps camp as they built Shenandoah’s Skyline Drive. FDR was so impressed, he approved a highway linking Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks. The Blue Ridge Parkway met with controversy over its funding, location, and progress. There were 26 tunnels created through mountain ridges, and dozens of bridges. After starting construction in 1935, the BRP was completed on September 11, 1987– a whopping 52 years after its groundbreaking!