Cold Mountain falls in the mountain region of western

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The mountain is one of the

Great Balsam Mountains The Great Balsam Mountains, or Balsam Mountains, are in the mountain region of western North Carolina, United States. The Great Balsams are a subrange of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which in turn are a part of the Appalachian Mountains. The most f ...

which are a part of the

Blue Ridge Mountains The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States, and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsylvania through Maryland, West Virgin ...

within the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

. Cold Mountain and the

Shining Rock Wilderness Named for Shining Rock, the Shining Rock Wilderness is a protected Wilderness Area in Haywood County, North Carolina. Its first have been part of the National Wilderness Preservation System since the System was created in 1964. It now includes ...

surrounding it are part of

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 complet ...

. Cold Mountain is about southeast of Waynesville and south of

Asheville Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

. It rises to above sea level and is the 40th tallest mountain in the eastern United States. The peak is accessible only via an extremely strenuous branch of the

Art Loeb Trail The Art Loeb Trail is a hiking trail located in Pisgah National Forest in Western North Carolina. The northern terminus is at the Daniel Boone Boy Scout Camp in Haywood County, while the trail's southern terminus is located near the Davidson Ri ...

with a round trip and an elevation change of .Did you Know? Cold Mountain and B-25 Bomber crash
Asheville Citizen-Times; Asheville, North Carolina; April 3, 2008; Page 78. The vast majority of Cold Mountain falls within federal lands of the

of the

. However portions of the mountain, including approximately of northwestern Cold Mountain in Panther Branch, are privately owned. There are about 15 residences on the northwest side of the mountain, and maintenance of access roads is funded by property owners. In 2016 the Southern Appalachian Highland Conservancy purchased the Dix Creek tract from private owners. The land was transferred to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission in late October 2016 and will increase the adjoining Cold Mountain Game Lands to in 2017.

History

The region was originally inhabited by

Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, Southeastern cultures, or Southeast Indians are an ethnographic classification for Native Americans who have traditionally inhabited the area now part of the Southeastern United States and the nor ...

where prehistoric platform mounds were constructed during the periods of the Woodland and South Appalachian Mississippian cultures, who were ancestors to the

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

people. The Mississippian culture was influential here beginning about 1000 CE. Much of the Forest was later owned by

George Washington Vanderbilt II George Washington Vanderbilt II (November 14, 1862 – March 6, 1914) was an art collector and member of the prominent Vanderbilt family, which amassed a huge fortune through steamboats, railroads, and various business enterprises. He commission ...

, builder of the

Biltmore Estate Biltmore Estate is a historic house museum and tourist attraction in Asheville, North Carolina. Biltmore House (or Biltmore Mansion), the main residence, is a Châteauesque-style mansion built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 a ...

. After his death, his widow sold the land that included the mountain to the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

at $5 an acre to help create the

as the first National Forest in the eastern United States.

In popular culture

The mountain and the

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

Community of Bethel area outside of

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

near the base of Cold Mountain was made famous as the story location in the 1997

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

'' Cold Mountain'' by

Charles Frazier Charles Frazier (born November 4, 1950) is an American novelist. He won the 1997 National Book Award for Fiction for '' Cold Mountain''. Biography Early life Frazier was born in Asheville, North Carolina, grew up in Andrews and Franklin, Nort ...

. A major motion picture based on the novel was distributed by

Miramax Films Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey Weinstein, Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California. It was ...

in 2003. The movie was actually filmed in the

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. A Miramax Films spokesperson cited higher production costs however director

Anthony Minghella Anthony Minghella, (6 January 195418 March 2008) was a British film director, playwright and screenwriter. He was chairman of the board of Governors at the British Film Institute between 2003 and 2007. He won the Academy Award for Best Directo ...

had said that the lack of old-growth forests and period buildings as well as the lack of dependable snowfall were the primary reasons he chose not to film in Western North Carolina. A 2015 opera production followed. ''Legends, Tales, & History of Cold Mountain (Volumes I–VI)'' is a six-volume series of The Pigeon Valley Heritage Collection. The books are authored by Evelyn M. Coltman and are distributed by the Bethel Rural Community Organization. In 2012, the six volumes were awarded the Barringer Award of Excellence by the North Carolina Society of Historians.Bethel Rural Community Organization; ''Legends, Tales & History of Cold Mountain (Vol. I-VI)''
Details of all Volumes
. Retrieved November 22, 2016.

History

In popular culture

See also