East from Smithfield Highhouse near Shoaf

Chestnut Ridge is the westernmost ridge of the

Allegheny Mountains The Allegheny Mountain Range (; also spelled Alleghany or Allegany), informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less devel ...

in Pennsylvania. It is located primarily within the

Laurel Highlands The Laurel Highlands is a region in southwestern Pennsylvania made up of Fayette County, Somerset County and Westmoreland County. It has a population of about 600,000 people. The region is approximately fifty-five miles southeast of Pitts ...

region of

southwestern Pennsylvania Greater Pittsburgh is a populous region centered around its largest city and economic hub, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The region encompasses Pittsburgh's urban core county, Allegheny, and six adjacent Pennsylvania counties: Armstrong, Beaver, B ...

, extending into northern West Virginia.

Geography

Chestnut Ridge rises in southern

Indiana County Indiana County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in the west central part of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 83,246. Its county seat is Indiana. Indiana County comprises the Indiana, PA Mi ...

and continues to the south-southwest for approximately 75 miles. The ridge crosses Westmoreland County and Fayette County into

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

then gradually disappears into a series of hills and finally ends roughly southeast of

Morgantown, West Virginia Morgantown is a city in and the county seat of Monongalia County, West Virginia, Monongalia County, West Virginia, United States, situated along the Monongahela River. The largest city in North-Central West Virginia, Morgantown is best known as th ...

. The ridge passes near the cities of: Blairsville,

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

, Latrobe, Mt. Pleasant,

Connellsville Connellsville is a city in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, southeast of Pittsburgh and away via the Youghiogheny River, a tributary of the Monongahela River. It is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The population was 7,637 at th ...

, and Uniontown in Pennsylvania; and Morgantown in West Virginia. The

Chestnut Ridge people The Chestnut Ridge people (CRP) are a mixed-race community concentrated in an area northeast of Philippi, Barbour County in north-central West Virginia, with smaller related communities in the adjacent counties of Harrison and Taylor. They are of ...

take their name from this region.

External links

* {{Coord, 40, 14, 00, N, 79, 21, 59, W, type:mountain_region:US-PA_source:GNIS, display=title Appalachian Mountains Laurel Highlands Ridges of West Virginia Ridges of Pennsylvania Landforms of Fayette County, Pennsylvania Landforms of Indiana County, Pennsylvania Landforms of Monongalia County, West Virginia Landforms of Preston County, West Virginia Landforms of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania