The South Mountains are an ancient and deeply eroded mountain range in 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 ...

. They are an isolated remnant of the much larger

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 ...

to the west, and are separated from the Appalachians by the

Catawba River The Catawba River originates in Western North Carolina and flows into South Carolina, where it later becomes known as the Wateree River. The river is approximately 220 miles (350 km) long. It rises in the Appalachian Mountains and drains into ...

valley. The range covers approximately 100,000 acres (400 km²) in

Burke Burke is an Anglo-Norman Irish surname, deriving from the ancient Anglo-Norman and Hiberno-Norman noble dynasty, the House of Burgh. In Ireland, the descendants of William de Burgh (–1206) had the surname ''de Burgh'' which was gaelicised ...

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, McDowell and Rutherford counties. The South Mountains are the highest and most rugged chain of the isolated mountain ranges which dot North Carolina's

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

region. The highest point in the range is Icy knob (privately owned, part of a gated community) which rises to 3,000 feet (914.4 m) above sea level. The South Mountains are heavily forested with

Southeastern mixed forests The Southeastern mixed forests are an ecoregion of the temperate broadleaf and mixed forest biome, in the lower portion of the Eastern United States. Setting This ecoregion covers the Piedmont region of the eastern United States, stretching in a ...

. Water erosion from numerous rivers and streams has given the mountains narrow ridges and valleys. The mountains were once inhabited by 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 ...

Indian tribe; after

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

was discovered in the mountains in the 19th century numerous prospectors moved into the area, and by the time the mines closed in the early 20th century over $1 million in gold had been found. Today the mountains are sparsely populated, and no communities of more than a few hundred people are located in the immediate region (the largest nearby city is Morganton, North Carolina, located five miles north of the range). Much of the South Mountains remain in the hands of private owners. However, in 1973 the State of North Carolina paid $1.5 million to acquire 5,779 acres (23.4 km²) of land in the South Mountains, and in 1975 the South Mountains State Park was created. Today the park covers 20,949 acres (84.78 km²), and includes the impressive High Shoals Falls, which cascade over 80 feet down a sheer cliff and form a large, deep pool at the bottom. The park, like most of the South Mountains, is largely undeveloped, and much of it is still wilderness. Numerous rare and endangered plants lie within its boundaries, much of them documented by botanist Bill Moye, whose efforts helped expand the park to its present size. Adjacent to the state park the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission's South Mountain Game Land encompasses an additional 22,575 acres in Burke, Cleveland, McDowell and Rutherford counties. Bordering the state lands, Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina, a nonprofit land trust based in Morganton, manages 1,906 acres in the South Mountains Headwaters and Cane Creek Meadows Preserves as well as smaller tracts in the Wilderness Gateway State Trail corridor. The nearby Bob's Creek State Natural Area in McDowell County protects another 6000 acres.

References

* ''State Parks of North Carolina''. Walter C. Biggs and James F. Parnell, authors. John F. Blair, publisher. 1989 Mountain ranges of North Carolina Subranges of the Appalachian Mountains Mountains of Burke County, North Carolina Landforms of Cleveland County, North Carolina Mountains of Rutherford County, North Carolina Inselbergs of Piedmont (United States) {{RutherfordCountyNC-geo-stub