Powell Valley in

southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, in the

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 ...

, is located near the city of

Norton Norton may refer to: Places Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada *Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan *Norton Parish, New Brunswick **Norton, New Brunswick, a ...

and the town of

Big Stone Gap Big Stone Gap is a town in Wise County, Virginia, United States. The town was economically centered around the coal industry for much of its early development. The population was 5,643 at the 2010 census. History The community was formerly kno ...

Wise County, Virginia Wise County is a county located in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county was formed in 1856 from Lee, Scott, and Russell Counties and named for Henry A. Wise, who was the Governor of Virginia at the time. History The Cherokee conquered the ...

. Powell Valley is a picturesque location, with an overlook accessible from the Northbound lanes of

U.S. Route 23 } U.S. Route 23 or U.S. Highway 23 (US 23) is a major north–south U.S. Highway between Jacksonville, Florida, and Mackinaw City, Michigan. It is an original 1926 route which originally reached only as far south as Portsmouth, Ohio, and has sinc ...

. A number of homes, farms, and a church are located in the valley below the overlook. The valley begins between

Powell Mountain Powell Mountain (or "Powells Mountain") is a mountain ridge of the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians of the Appalachian Mountains. It is a long and narrow ridge, running northeast to southwest, from about Norton, Virginia to near Tazewell, Tennessee ...

and Little Stone Mountain where the waters of the Powell River flow down from the rugged mountains of western Wise County. The immense exposed rock face where Stone Mountain and

come together near Grindstone Ridge to the southeast from the overlook, yields a striking visual change in altitude. Within only 0.8 mile the vertical elevation changes by ) across the northern face of the Grindstone Ridge Dome of the High Knob Massif, to mark one of the greatest short-distance vertical elevation changes in the southern Appalachians (the greatest found west of the Blue Ridge in Virginia ). The valley follows the Powell River west towards the Tennessee border. Majestic Powell Valley is part of the High Knob Landform, lying literally amid its heart and eroded core, and is a true geologic wonder. The Virginia

longhunter A longhunter (or long hunter) was an 18th-century explorer and hunter who made expeditions into the American frontier for as much as six months at a time. Historian Emory Hamilton says that "The Long Hunter was peculiar to Southwest Virginia onl ...

, explorer and later Revolutionary War general Joseph Martin was instrumental in opening up Powell Valley to settlement from the east.In the Footsteps of Daniel Boone, K. Randell Jones, Published by John F. Blair, 2005
/ref>

References

External links

* ttp://www.topoquest.com/map.asp?z=17&n=4085301&e=351938&s=100&size=m&datum=nad83 TopoQuest Map
Wikimapia
{{coord missing, Virginia Valleys of Virginia Landforms of Wise County, Virginia