Spruce Pine, North Carolina
Spruce Pine is a town in Mitchell County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 2,175 at the 2010 census. Spruce Pine was founded in 1907 when the Clinchfield Railroad made its way up the North Toe River from Erwin, Tennessee; the town was centered around a tavern operated by Isaac English, located on an old roadway that ran from Cranberry, North Carolina down to Marion, NC. The Old English Inn still stands at its original location near the center of town. In 1923, after an escaped convict raped a local resident, a large armed mob rounded up scores of African Americans who were laboring on a road construction project and forced them to leave town on boxcars. North Carolina Governor Cameron Morrison deployed National Guard troops to Spruce Pine so that the workers could return and complete the road; the railroad, combined with a expanding mining industry made Spruce Pine the largest town in the Toe River Valley, as it became the hub of commerce and culture for the area. Spruce Pine was the home of The Feldspar Company and Spruce Pine Mica, other major mining interests had operations in and around the town.
With the decline in use of railroads to ship goods, along with increasing automation in the mining industry, the town has seen its fortunes dwindle and has undertaken a major effort to reinvent itself. Tourism has become a major economic force in the region, the town's proximity to the Blue Ridge Parkway, combined with its location near the edge of the Blue Ridge Escarpment has helped make Spruce Pine a travel destination for many; the town boasts the moniker of "The Mineral City of the World" In 1998, the medium-security men's state prison Mountain View Correctional Institution opened in Spruce Pine. On August 4, 2007, the downtown area of Spruce Pine was threatened when an arsonist set fire to several buildings downtown; the fires, which brought firemen from 4 counties around Spruce Pine damaged the building housing Cheapskates Music on Lower Street, caused some tense moments when it seemed that the fires might spread out of control and consume the downtown area. The Downtown Spruce Pine Historic District and Gunter Building are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Spruce Pine is located at 35°54′49″N 82°04′12″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 3.9 square miles, all of it land. The town limits are 3 miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway, 50 miles northeast of Asheville, NC, 40 miles southwest of Boone, NC. According to the census of 2000, there were 2,030 people, 888 households, 575 families residing in the town; the population density was 522.0 people per square mile. There were 968 housing units at an average density of 248.9 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 96.35% White, 0.39% African American, 0.54% Native American, 0.05% Asian, 2.27% from other races, 0.39% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.79% of the population. There were 888 households out of which 27.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.8% were married couples living together, 12.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 35.2% were non-families. 32.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.8% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older.
The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.89. In the town, the population was spread out with 23.3% under the age of 18, 8.3% from 18 to 24, 26.6% from 25 to 44, 22.3% from 45 to 64, 19.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.6 males. The median income for a household in the town was $24,766, the median income for a family was $33,902. Males had a median income of $22,324 versus $22,375 for females; the per capita income for the town was $15,440. About 12.4% of families and 17.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 30.5% of those under age 18 and 10.1% of those age 65 or over. Spruce Pine is home to The Mitchell News-Journal, a weekly newspaper printed by Community Newspapers, Inc. and WTOE radio, at 1470 kHz on the AM dial. The radio station is an ABC Radio affiliate, it is owned by Mountain Valley Media, based in Burnsville, NC.
Spruce Pine is home to four schools: Greenlee Primary, Deyton Elementary, Harris Middle and the Spruce Pine Montessori School. Secondary education for Spruce Pine students is at Mitchell High School, located in the Ledger community of Mitchell County. Mayland Community College calls Spruce Pine home. Founded by an act of the North Carolina General Assembly in 1971, Mayland hosts some 35 curriculum programs and provides vocational and technical training, along with college transfer opportunities to residents of the region. East Carolina University Dental School announced a facility would open in 2014 on the Blue Ridge Regional Hospital campus to serve Western North Carolina residents in the Mayland area; this facility is one of 5 facilities proposed throughout the state of North Carolina. Beginning in 2014, The North Carolina Department of Transportation began widening US Hwy 19E, the major corridor linking the towns of Spruce Pine and Burnsville to Interstate 26; the widened highway will transform a two-lane highway to a divided four-lane featuring grassy medians and turn lanes.
Roy Williams, UNC basketball coach, grew up in Spruce Pine. Gerri Willis, Native of Spruce Pine, Fox Business Network Anchor and Reporter. Gaylord Perry, Professional Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher resides in Spruce Pine. Violet Karl
North Carolina's 11th congressional district
North Carolina's 11th congressional district encompasses most of Western North Carolina. Starting in the 113th Congress, it is represented by a Republican, he replaced Democrat Heath Shuler, who retired in 2013. Shuler had won the seat in the 2006 midterm elections, defeating 8-term Republican Representative Charles H. Taylor; the 11th District was traditionally one of the most competitive congressional districts in North Carolina. This was because of the district's volatile politics, it was anchored by Asheville, Democratic. However, many of the city's suburbs are among the most conservative areas of North Carolina; the rest of the district was split between Democratic-leaning counties in the south and Republican-leaning counties in the north. Congressional races in this district have been close and hard-fought. In 2011 the Republican-dominated legislature redrew the district, shifting most of Asheville to the 10th district; the new map split Asheville in such a way that in some neighborhoods, one side of the street moved to the 10th while the other side of the street stayed in the 11th.
To make up for the loss in population, the 11th absorbed some Republican territory in the Foothills, in the 10th. On paper, the 11th was one of the strongest Republican districts in the South. In February 2012 Shuler announced. Meadows won the seat in 2012. Martis, Kenneth C.. The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. Martis, Kenneth C.. The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present Heath Shuler's House of Representatives website Political Graveyard List of Representatives
Geology
Geology is an earth science concerned with the solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, the processes by which they change over time. Geology can include the study of the solid features of any terrestrial planet or natural satellite such as Mars or the Moon. Modern geology overlaps all other earth sciences, including hydrology and the atmospheric sciences, so is treated as one major aspect of integrated earth system science and planetary science. Geology describes the structure of the Earth on and beneath its surface, the processes that have shaped that structure, it provides tools to determine the relative and absolute ages of rocks found in a given location, to describe the histories of those rocks. By combining these tools, geologists are able to chronicle the geological history of the Earth as a whole, to demonstrate the age of the Earth. Geology provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, the Earth's past climates. Geologists use a wide variety of methods to understand the Earth's structure and evolution, including field work, rock description, geophysical techniques, chemical analysis, physical experiments, numerical modelling.
In practical terms, geology is important for mineral and hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation, evaluating water resources, understanding of natural hazards, the remediation of environmental problems, providing insights into past climate change. Geology is a major academic discipline, it plays an important role in geotechnical engineering; the majority of geological data comes from research on solid Earth materials. These fall into one of two categories: rock and unlithified material; the majority of research in geology is associated with the study of rock, as rock provides the primary record of the majority of the geologic history of the Earth. There are three major types of rock: igneous and metamorphic; the rock cycle illustrates the relationships among them. When a rock solidifies or crystallizes from melt, it is an igneous rock; this rock can be weathered and eroded redeposited and lithified into a sedimentary rock. It can be turned into a metamorphic rock by heat and pressure that change its mineral content, resulting in a characteristic fabric.
All three types may melt again, when this happens, new magma is formed, from which an igneous rock may once more solidify. To study all three types of rock, geologists evaluate the minerals; each mineral has distinct physical properties, there are many tests to determine each of them. The specimens can be tested for: Luster: Measurement of the amount of light reflected from the surface. Luster is broken into nonmetallic. Color: Minerals are grouped by their color. Diagnostic but impurities can change a mineral’s color. Streak: Performed by scratching the sample on a porcelain plate; the color of the streak can help name the mineral. Hardness: The resistance of a mineral to scratch. Breakage pattern: A mineral can either show fracture or cleavage, the former being breakage of uneven surfaces and the latter a breakage along spaced parallel planes. Specific gravity: the weight of a specific volume of a mineral. Effervescence: Involves dripping hydrochloric acid on the mineral to test for fizzing. Magnetism: Involves using a magnet to test for magnetism.
Taste: Minerals can have a distinctive taste, like halite. Smell: Minerals can have a distinctive odor. For example, sulfur smells like rotten eggs. Geologists study unlithified materials, which come from more recent deposits; these materials are superficial deposits. This study is known as Quaternary geology, after the Quaternary period of geologic history. However, unlithified material does not only include sediments. Magmas and lavas are the original unlithified source of all igneous rocks; the active flow of molten rock is studied in volcanology, igneous petrology aims to determine the history of igneous rocks from their final crystallization to their original molten source. In the 1960s, it was discovered that the Earth's lithosphere, which includes the crust and rigid uppermost portion of the upper mantle, is separated into tectonic plates that move across the plastically deforming, upper mantle, called the asthenosphere; this theory is supported by several types of observations, including seafloor spreading and the global distribution of mountain terrain and seismicity.
There is an intimate coupling between the movement of the plates on the surface and the convection of the mantle. Thus, oceanic plates and the adjoining mantle convection currents always move in the same direction – because the oceanic lithosphere is the rigid upper thermal boundary layer of the convecting mantle; this coupling between rigid plates moving on the surface of the Earth and the convecting mantle is called plate tectonics. The development of plate tectonics has provided a physical basis for many observations of the solid Earth. Long linear regions of geologic features are explained as plate boundaries. For example: Mid-ocean ridges, high regions on the seafloor where hydrothermal vents and volcanoes exist, are seen as divergent boundaries, where two plates move apart. Arcs of volcanoes and earthquakes are theorized as convergent boundaries, where one plate subducts, or moves, under another. Transform boundaries, such as the San Andreas Fault system, resulted in widespread powerful earthquakes.
Plate tectonics has provided a mechan
Bakersville, North Carolina
Bakersville is a town in Mitchell County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 464 at the 2010 census, it is the county seat of Mitchell County. In prehistoric times, local mica deposits were extensively mined by Native Americans; the first Euro-American settlers arrived in the area after the American Revolution, establishing scattered homesteads. The town of Bakersville dates from the 1850s and was named for David Baker, one of the first to live in the area around 1790 and described as "a large land owner, innkeeper and political leader until about 1859, when he and his family migrated to the far west." Situated on the main route leading over Roan Mountain and westward into Tennessee, the town developed slowly. Traveler Frederick Law Olmsted passed through Bakersville in the early 1850s and noted that the "town" consisted of only a couple of cabins within a quarter-mile radius. In 1861, a post office was named Davis after Jefferson Davis. Following the Civil War, the county seat of newly created Mitchell County was relocated to the town, renamed Bakersville by the Republican state government, leading to the construction of a courthouse and a growth in population.
In the 1870s, as mica became commercially valuable, the rich local deposits of the mineral caused a temporary economic boom. Bakersville is home to the North Carolina Rhododendron Festival; the pageant attracts visitors from across the state and nation, most notably Richard Nixon in 1968. The Mitchell County Courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Bakersville is located at 36°0′50″N 82°9′21″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.8 square miles. Bakersville is a small town, is the county seat of Mitchell County located 50 miles northeast of Asheville and 25 miles southeast of Johnson City, TN, it has one public primary and middle school with two hundred students. As of the census of 2000, there were 357 people, 168 households, 97 families residing in the town; the population density was 474.4 people per square mile. There were 206 housing units at an average density of 273.8 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 0.28 % Native American.
Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.28% of the population. There were 168 households out of which 20.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.2% were married couples living together, 12.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 41.7% were non-families. 39.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 22.6% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.04 and the average family size was 2.72. In the town, the population was spread out with 19.3% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 20.4% from 25 to 44, 26.1% from 45 to 64, 26.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46 years. For every 100 females, there were 77.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 76.7 males. The median income for a household in the town was $19,286, the median income for a family was $31,563. Males had a median income of $27,500 versus $22,083 for females; the per capita income for the town was $15,997. About 15.2% of families and 18.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.9% of those under age 18 and 23.7% of those age 65 or over.
Bakersville is home to Bowman Middle School. The Mitchell County Library, a branch of the Avery-Mitchell-Yancey Regional Library, is located at 18 North Mitchell Avenue. Banner Elk, North Carolina Eastern Continental Divide Elizabethton, Tennessee Roan Mountain, Tennessee Roan Mountain State Park - Roan Mountain, Tennessee Roan Mountain
Unicoi County, Tennessee
Unicoi County is a county located in the U. S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2010 census, the population was 18,313, its county seat is Erwin. Unicoi is a Cherokee word meaning "white," "hazy," "fog-like," or "fog draped."Unicoi County is part of the Johnson City Metropolitan Statistical Area, a component of the Johnson City–Kingsport–Bristol, TN-VA Combined Statistical Area known as the "Tri-Cities" region. Unicoi County was created in 1875 from portions of Carter counties, its first settlers had arrived more than century earlier but the population had been small. The county remained predominantly agrarian until the railroads were constructed in the area in the 1880s. During the 1910s, the Clinchfield Railroad established a pottery in Erwin, which incorporated under the name, "Southern Potteries." This company produced a popular brand of dishware called Blue Ridge China, which featured hand-painted underglaze designs. While the company folded in the 1950s, Blue Ridge dishes remain popular with antique collectors.
In 1916, a circus elephant, was hanged in Erwin for killing her trainer. Hanging was chosen as the method of execution since all available guns were believed inadequate for killing an elephant; the hanging was the subject of The Day They Hung the Elephant, by Charles Edwin Price. Hear it spoken According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 186 square miles, of which 186 square miles is land and 0.3 square miles is water. It is the fifth-smallest county in Tennessee by total area; the Nolichucky River, which enters Unicoi County from North Carolina, is the county's primary drainage. Unicoi County is situated within the Blue Ridge Mountains the Bald Mountains and the Unaka Range. Big Bald, which at 5,516 feet is the highest mountain in the Balds, is Unicoi County's high point. Traversed by the Appalachian Trail, the mountain is topped by a grassy bald, allowing a 360-degree view of the surrounding mountains. Washington County Carter County Mitchell County, North Carolina Yancey County, North Carolina Madison County, North Carolina Greene County Appalachian Trail Cherokee National Forest Rocky Fork State Park I-26 US 19W SR 36 SR 107 SR 173 SR 352 SR 395 As of the census of 2000, there were 17,667 people, 7,516 households, 5,223 families residing in the county.
The population density was 95 people per square mile. There were 8,214 housing units at an average density of 44 per square mile; the racial makeup of the county was 97.96% White, 0.07% Black or African American, 0.25% Native American, 0.08% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.95% from other races, 0.66% from two or more races. 1.94% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 7,516 households out of which 26.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.40% were married couples living together, 9.50% had a female householder with no husband present, 30.50% were non-families. 27.50% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.40% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.80. In the county, the population was spread out with 20.50% under the age of 18, 7.50% from 18 to 24, 27.50% from 25 to 44, 26.50% from 45 to 64, 18.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years.
For every 100 females, there were 95.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.60 males. The median income for a household in the county was $29,863, the median income for a family was $36,871. Males had a median income of $30,206 versus $20,379 for females; the per capita income for the county was $15,612. About 8.70% of families and 13.10% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.70% of those under age 18 and 13.50% of those age 65 or over. Erwin Unicoi Banner Hill Bumpas Cove Flag Pond Limestone Cove National Register of Historic Places listings in Unicoi County, Tennessee Official website Unicoi County Chamber of Commerce Unicoi County Schools TNGenWeb Unicoi County at Curlie
McDowell County, North Carolina
McDowell County is a county located in the U. S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2010 census, the population was 44,996, its county seat is Marion. McDowell County comprises the Marion, NC Micropolitan Statistical Area, included in the Hickory-Lenoir, NC Combined Statistical Area. Archaeological excavations performed by Dr. David Moore, during the early 1980s, revealed the earliest inhabitants of McDowell County to be from the Mississippian and Woodland eras. Dr. Moore discovered evidence in an area close to the Catawba River in and around an unusual topographical site known as Round Hill. Cherokee and Catawba Indians were known; these early Native Americans lived in this section prior to Juan Pardo's exploration of the region. In 1566, the Spanish explorer Juan Pardo came to Western North Carolina traveling through the area, now McDowell county, his purpose was to acquire territory for Spain, but he had hoped to find precious metals. Pardo and his men built a log blockhouse at the headwaters of the Catawba River.
Intimidated by the formidable range of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the home of the Cherokee Nation, Pardo left the area the following year. In 1748, "Hunting" John McDowell received a land grant for property known today as "Pleasant Gardens" including acreage located from Swan's Pond up the Catawba River west to present day Marion and into the region known as Buck Creek. During a hunting expedition with his friend Henry Weidner, the two came upon a lush green valley with thousands upon thousands of acres of virgin forest. During that time, it was customary when settling a dispute to engage in a "friendly" wrestling match. McDowell came out the winner. After establishing residence along the Catawba River area of Pleasant Gardens, McDowell raised his family, subsequently received two land grants, he is noted in Max Dixon's book The Wataugans as being instrumental in Jacob Brown's Purchase of one of the last remaining pieces of acreage along the Nolichucky River in Tennessee when he hosted a negotiations with the Cherokee on his farm in North Carolina.
His son, Joseph McDowell, is noted in history as a significant contributor to the Battle at Kings Mountain. McDowell County is named in his honor. Today, his home stands as one of the few remaining homes in North Carolina still standing and built by its namesake; the settlement of Old Fort was established and it had become the westernmost outpost of Colonial civilization at the time. These early pioneers established a close community protected by a series of forts which remained active until the early 19th century. Thus, Old Fort. In 1793, Colonel John Carson built a plantation house near Buck Creek in the Pleasant Gardens community, which still stands today as the Historic Carson House, he operated gold mines in the southern part of the county. Colonel Carson was a significant historical figure in the American Revolutionary War. Marion, the county seat of McDowell County, was planned and built on land selected by the first McDowell County Commissioners on March 14, 1844 at the Historic Carson House.
It was not until 1845, that the official name of Marion was sanctioned as the county seat by the state legislature. The name of Marion came from Francis Marion, the American Revolutionary War hero, known as the "Swamp Fox" and the man upon whom the movie "The Patriot" was based. During the Carolina Gold Rush period of the early 19th century, the south county area was known for its gold production; the banks of the Muddy Creek and mines at Vein Mountain were productive areas. Many mines and thriving gold rush towns such as Brackettown no longer exist, although scattered ruins and cemeteries mark many locations of the gold rush period. There were other mines in the area including an old mine in Woodlawn. In that community someone opened a mine on Tom's Creek. There are remnants of the sorting house and the old mine shaft itself. Who opened and ran this mine is unknown. McDowell County is rich in American Civil War History; the movie The Last of the Mohicans was filmed along the shores of the picturesque Lake James.
McDowell County was first formed in 1842 from parts of Rutherford County. It was named for Joseph McDowell, a Revolutionary War leader and hero of the Battle of King's Mountain, a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1797 to 1799. In 1861, parts of McDowell County, Burke County, Caldwell County, Watauga County, Yancey County were combined to form Mitchell County. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 446 square miles, of which 441 square miles is land and 5.4 square miles is water. Numerous small streams flow through the county; the Catawba River crosses the county and empties into Lake James. It flows over Catawba Falls on its way, accessible to the public. Other waterfalls can be found in the county, such as Toms Creek Falls. Half of the county, including the two aforementioned waterfalls, is located inside the Pisgah National Forest. Linville Caverns, North Carolina's only limestone cavern system open to the public, is located in the far northern part of the county.
Geologically, McDowell County is located within the southern Appalachian Mountains region. The Blue Ridge Parkway follows the northwestern boundary of the county. McDowell County rises from the Piedmont in its extreme eastern border where elevations average about 1200 feet above sea level, to the Blue Ridge Mountains in the north and west, its lowest point is 969 feet above sea level along Cane Creek in the county's southeastern corner. Its highest point is Pinnacle—at 5,665 feet above sea level the second-highest
Pisgah National Forest
Pisgah National Forest is a National Forest in the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina. It is administered by the United States Forest Service, part of the United States Department of Agriculture; the Pisgah National Forest is contained within the state of North Carolina. The forest is managed together with the other three North Carolina National Forests from common headquarters in Asheville, North Carolina. There are local ranger district offices located in Pisgah Forest, Mars Hill, Nebo. Pisgah is a biblical Hebrew word for "summit", but some translators of the Bible book of Deuteronomy translated the word as a name of a mountain in general referring to Mount Nebo; the Pisgah National Forest was established in 1916, one of the first national forests in the eastern United States. The new preserve included 86,700 acres, part of the Biltmore Estate, but were sold to the federal government in 1914 by Edith Vanderbilt; some of the forest tracts were among the first purchases by the Forest Service under the Weeks Act of 1911.
While national forests had been created in the western United States, the Weeks Act provided the authority required to create national forests in the east as well. Although tracts in the future Pisgah National Forest were among the first purchased under the Weeks Act, the first to receive formal approval was the 31,000-acre Gennett Purchase in northern Georgia. On March 25, 1921 Boone National Forest was added to Pisgah, on July 10, 1936, most of Unaka National Forest was added. In 1954 the Pisgah National Forest was administratively combined with the Croatan and Nantahala national forests, collectively known as the National Forests of North Carolina. American forestry has roots in; the Cradle of Forestry, located in the southern part of the forest, was the site of the first school of forestry in the United States. It operated during the late early 20th centuries; the school was opened and operated at the direction of George Washington Vanderbilt II, builder of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville.
The Forestry Education offered at Biltmore was taught by Carl Schenk. A native German, Schenk was referred to Vanderbilt when Gifford Pinchot resigned to operate the newly formed Division of Forestry; the Cradle of Forestry and the Biltmore Estate played a major role in the birth of the U. S. Forest Service. Today these lands are part of an recreational area in Pisgah National Forest. Located on the forest property is the Bent Creek Campus of the Appalachian Forest Experiment Station, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. Convicted murderer Eric Rudolph was a fugitive in the Pisgah National Forest for several years; the Pisgah National Forest is divided into 3 Ranger Districts: the Grandfather and Pisgah districts. The Grandfather and Appalachian Ranger Districts lie in the northern mountains of North Carolina and include areas such as the Linville Gorge Wilderness, Wilson Creek, the watersheds of the Toe and Cane rivers, Roan Mountain, Mount Mitchell, Craggy Gardens, the Big Ivy/Coleman Boundary area.
The Appalachian Ranger District stretches along the Tennessee border from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park north to Hot Springs. The Appalachian Trail passes through this section of this National Forest; the Pisgah National Forest covers 512,758 acres of mountainous terrain in the southern Appalachian Mountains, including parts of the Blue Ridge Mountains and Great Balsam Mountains. Elevations reach over 6,000 feet and include some of the highest mountains in the eastern United States. Summit elevations include Black Balsam Knob at 6,214 feet, Mount Hardy at 6,110 feet, Tennant Mountain at 6,056 feet, Cold Mountain at 6,030 feet. Mount Mitchell, in Mount Mitchell State Park, is the highest mountain east of the Mississippi River and lies just outside the boundary of Pisgah National Forest; the forest includes tracts surrounding the city of Asheville, the city of Brevard and land in the French Broad River Valley. Recreation includes activities such as hiking and mountain biking; the land and its resources are used for hunting, wildlife management, timber harvesting, as well as the North Carolina Arboretum.
The forest lies in parts of 12 counties in western North Carolina. In descending order they are Transylvania, McDowell, Madison, Burke, Buncombe, Mitchell and Watauga counties; some 46,600 acres of old-growth forests have been identified in the Pisgah National Forest, with 10,000 acres in Linville Gorge. Bent Creek, Mills River, Davidson River - three major streams and tributaries of the French Broad River - are located in the Pisgah Ranger District, which lies on either side of the Blue Ridge Parkway south of Asheville, along the Pisgah Ridge and Balsam Mountains. Three long-distance recreational trails - the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, the Shut-In Trail, the Art Loeb Trail travel through this district. Included in the Pisgah Ranger District are the Shining Rock and Middle Prong Wildernesses; the Blue Ridge Parkway transects this National Forest, many National Forest and Parkway trails intersect. Pisgah National Forest is a popular place for many activities, such as hiking, road biking, mountain biking and rock climbing.
Popular mountain biking trails include Sycamore Cove Trail, Black Mountain Loop. Farlow Gap is an expert-level trail, considered "one of the toughest mountain bike trails in Pisgah National Forest." There are three designated wilderness areas lying within Pisgah National For
Mitchell County, North Carolina
