Mount Pisgah is a peak in

Carbon County, Pennsylvania Carbon County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 64,749. The county is part of the Northeast region of the commonwealth. The county borders Lehigh and Northampton counties in the state ...

situated north-northwest from and looming over the right bank business district in downtown

Jim Thorpe James Francis Thorpe (; May 22 or 28, 1887March 28, 1953) was an American athlete who won Olympic gold medals and played professional American football, football, baseball, and basketball. A citizen of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was ...

Location

Mount Pisgah is located above Jim Thorpe and is the northeastern end of the 12.5-mile-long

Pisgah Mountain Pisgah Mountain, or Pisgah Ridge on older USGS maps, is a ridgeline running from Tamaqua to Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania from the Little Schuylkill River water gap to the Lehigh River water gap. The mountain runs north-northeast to south-so ...

(or Pisgah Ridge) above the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley () is a geography, geographic and urban area, metropolitan region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh and Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton counties in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a co ...

. The peak is located in northeastern Pennsylvania's

Anthracite Upland The Geology of Pennsylvania consists of six distinct physiographic provinces, three of which are subdivided into different sections. Each province has its own economic advantages and geologic hazards and plays an important role in shaping ever ...

region on the west bank of the

Lehigh River The Lehigh River () is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River in eastern Pennsylvania. The river flows in a generally southward ...

just north of and parallel to Broadway, which is a block downhill from the lower looping end of the historic

Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company was a mining and transportation company headquartered in Mauch Chunk, now known as Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. The company operated from 1818 until its dissolution in 1964 and played an early and influential role in ...

's historic

Mauch Chunk & Summit Hill Railway The Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway, also known as the Mauch Chunk and Summit Railroad and occasionally shortened to Mauch Chunk Railway, was a coal-hauling railroad in the mountains of Pennsylvania that was built in 1827 and operated until 1932 ...

, which delivered coal to barges through chutes crossing what is now U.S. Route 209 and the rail yard along the Lehigh. While the lower south slope of the mountain and the ends of the railroad loop and yard have now been developed into private lots and a town street, there are still two railway rights-of-ways—railroad bed road ends now turned into bike & hiking trails to travel the trip to the upper terminus and loop at

Summit Hill, Pennsylvania Summit Hill is a borough in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The population was 3,034 at the 2010 census. Summit Hill was the western terminus of the United States' second operational railwa ...

. The former Upwards or climbing roadbed connects via a switchback path the steep climb to the Mount Pisgah summit that has a view of the surrounding countryside, especially the Lehigh Valley and the Mauch Chunk- Bear Mountain Gap and the slackwater area above the last canal dam estimated from USGS Topogical map, given summit and the benchmark notation BM=490 ft at confluence of "Beaverdam Run", along US-209 near the Parkerton rail yard below, and two hiking-biking trails now depart along the pathways up to

once the uproad and downroads of the United States' and North America's second railroad,

Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway The Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway, also known as the Mauch Chunk and Summit Railroad and occasionally shortened to Mauch Chunk Railway, was a coal-hauling railroad in the mountains of Pennsylvania that was built in 1827 and operated until 1932 ...

is also located at the base of the mountain.

Name

Mt. Pisgah is named for the biblical mountain in

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

from which

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

first saw the promised land.

References

* Alan R. Geyer (1979) "''Outstanding Geologic Features of Pennsylvania''", Geological Survey of Pennsylvania * Tom Thwaites (1997) "''50 hikes in Eastern Pennsylvania''", Third edition * Art Michaels (2003) "''Pennsylvania Overlooks a guide for Sightseers and Outdoor People''", Penn State Press {{DEFAULTSORT:Pisgah, Mount Mountains of Pennsylvania Landforms of Carbon County, Pennsylvania