The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Highlands range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsylvania through Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. The province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which divide near the Roanoke River gap. To the west of the Blue Ridge, between it and the bulk of the Appalachians, lies the Great Appalachian Valley, bordered on the west by the Ridge and Valley province of the Appalachian range.

The physiographic regions of the contiguous United States comprise 8 divisions, 25 provinces, and 85 sections. The system dates to Nevin Fenneman's report Physiographic Divisions of the United States, published in 1916. The map was updated and republished by the Association of American Geographers in 1928. The map was adopted by the United States Geological Survey by publication in 1946.