THE BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAIN LANDS are part of the larger Appalachian Mountains range which consist of the southern & northern sections which divide near the Roanoke River Gap. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States, starting at its southern-most portion in the North Georgia Mountains continuing through WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA then ending northward in Pennsylvania. To the west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, between it and the bulk of the Appalachians, lies the Great Valley, bordered on the west by the Ridge and Valley province of the Appalachian range lands. The mountains are well known for their bluish color when seen from a distance. Trees put the "blue" in Blue Ridge, from the isoprene released into the atmosphere, thereby contributing to the characteristic haze on the mountains and their distinctive color. Within the Blue Ridge Province are two distinct sections; the Shenandoah in the northern section and the Great Smoky Mountains in the southern section. The Blue Ridge Mountains also contain the Blue Ridge Parkway, a 469 mile long scenic highway that connects the two parks and is located along the ridgelines of the Appalachian Trail. Although the term "Blue Ridge" is sometimes applied exclusively to the eastern edge or front range of the Appalachian mountains, the geological definition of the Blue Ridge province extends westward to the Ridge and Valley area, encompassing the Great Smoky Mountains, the Great Balsams, the Roans, the Brushy Mountains (a "spur" of the Blue Ridge) and other mountain range lands. The Blue Ridge Mountain lands extend as far north into Pennsylvania as South Mountain. While South Mountain dwindles to mere hills near Harrisburg, the band of ancient rocks that contain extensive mineral properties forming the core of the Blue Ridge, continues northeast through the Hudson River highlands, eventually reaching the Berkshires of Massachusetts and the Green Mountains of Vermont.

The Blue Ridge contain the highest mountains in eastern North America. About 125 peaks exceed 5,000 feet in elevation. The highest peak in the Blue Ridge mountains (and in the entire Appalachian chain), is Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina at 6,684 feet. There are 39 mountain peaks in North Carolina,north Georgia and Tennessee higher than 6,000 feet; by comparison, only New Hampshires's Mt. Washington rises above 6,000 feet in the northern portion of the Appalachian chain. The Blue Ridge Parkway runs 469 miles along crests of the Southern Appalachians and links two national parks; Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains. In several places along the parkway, there are many metamorphic rocks with properties of folded bands of light and dark colored minerals, which sometimes look like the folds and swirls in a marble cake.

The Blue Ridge Mountains in north Georgia make up the state's highest mountain range. The range of rugged ridges and rounded, weathered peaks varies in elevation from 1,600 to 4,700 feet and harbors spectacular mountain scenery, as well as some of the world's richest biological diversity. In addition, the range contains Georgia's wettest areas, with higher elevations getting more than eighty inches of rain annually on average. The Blue Ridge Mountains consist of a nearly unbroken chain of mountains stretching from Virgina through western North Carolina and extending nearly 100 miles into north Georgia. It makes up the southernmost part of the Appalachian mountain chain, a vast complex of ranges that extends from north Georgia through New England. Northwest Georgia consists of several smaller ranges- the Cohuttas, the Unakas, and the Cumberland Plateau. They are separated from the Blue Ridge by geologic formations with properties known as the Hightower-Jasper ridges and the McCaysville Basin in north central Georgia, along a boundary roughly marked by Georgia Highway 5. The Blue Ridge's southern boundary is along the Brevard Fault, at an elevation of 1,700 feet, where the Piedmont province begins. The Blue Ridge occupies all or portions of these counties in north Georgia and western North Carolina: Dawson, Fannin, Gilmer, Habersham, Lumpkin, Pickens, Rabun, Stephens, Towns, Union, White, Clay, Graham, Macon, Swain and CHEROKEE COUNTY, NC.

The Blue Ridge Mountains' crest, for much of its length, forms the drainage dividing line known as the Eastern Continental Divide, which separates rivers flowing eastward into the Atlantic Ocean from those flowing westward to the Gulf of Mexico. For instance, Georgia's Chattahoochee River basin, whose waters flow into the gulf, rises near the borders of Union and Towns counties. The Etowah River, which also flows to the gulf, rises in Lumpkin county. The headwaters of the Savannah River, which flows to the Atlantic, are the Chattooga River, which rises in the Blue Ridge near the juncture of the Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina borders. Most of the Blue Ridge Mountain lands are part of the 750,000 acre Chattahoochee National Forest, managed by the U.S. Forest Service. Within its bounds are Georgia's highest peaks. The highest, Brasstown Bald (4,784 feet), is partly in Towns County and partly in Union county. Instead of rising to a distinctive peak, Brasstown Bald is unusual in that it is a barely discernible rise in Wolfpen Ridge, which extends for miles to the north and south. Other tall peaks include Rabun Bald (4,694 feet) in Rabun county and Tray Mountain (4,430 feet) in Towns and White counties. The southern terminus of the famed Appalachian Trail is on Springer Mountain (3,782 feet) in Gilmer county; Blood Mountain (4,461 feet) in Union County is the highest peak on north Georgia's portion of the trail. The Blue Ridge Mountain lands also have impressive gorges and canyons, including Tallulah Gorge, which spans the border between Habersham and Rabun counties and is one of the state's most visited tourist destinations. Spectacular waterfalls include Amicalola (the tallest east of the Mississippi River), Anna Ruby, Hiwassee, and Toccoa. The Chattooga, Toccoa, Tugaloo, and other rivers in the region are popular recreation areas, particularly for whitewater rafters, canoers, and kayakers. These rivers provide the waters for a number of man made lakes, including Lake Burton, LAKE CHATUGE, and Lake Rabun, that also enhance the recreational opportunities in the area. Two much larger lakes, Lanier and Hartwell, are situated in the foothills just south of the Blue Ridge Mountains land area. Some of Georgia's and western North Carolina's most visited state parks are found in the Blue Ridge Mountains, including Amicalola Falls, Black Rock Mountain, Tallulah Gorge, Gorges, Stone Mountain and Hanging Rock. The mountains also are home to several pristine wilderness areas, including Blood Mountain, Brasstown Bald, Ellicott Rock, Joyce Kilmer, Linville Gorge and Southern Nantahala. Georgia's and NORTH CAROLINA'S BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAIN LANDS are part of a longer geologic system that forms an almost unbroken wall running down the eastern edge of the Blue Ridge province from Virginia. Rarely more than a few miles wide in Virginia, western North Carolina, and South Carolina, the Blue Ridge mountain range turns to the west and widens up to sixty miles in some places within Georgia.

The southernmost Blue Ridge Mountains enjoy one of the world's most botanically rich mixtures of temperate climate plants, with northern U.S. species mixing with their southern kin. Biologists contend that the Blue Ridge mountain range lands and its parent chain, the southern Appalachians, have the greatest mixture of temperate climate plants in the world, except for eastern temperate Asia, located at about the same latitude. Forests account for over 80 percent of the land cover in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina and north Georgia, a higher percentage than in other regions of the states. Agriculture and other land uses are limited primarily to the flat floodplains of creeks and rivers. Examples of forest types found in the Blue Ridge include broadleaf deciduous cove forests on moist, cool north-facing slopes; stunted oak forests of ridges; and oak hickory forests that comprise the bulk of the Appalachian slope forests. Shrub, grass, and heath balds, and hemlock and mixed oak pine forests also are significant. Black bear, grouse, songbirds, turkey, wild boar, whitetail deer, many species of amphibians and reptiles, thousands of species of invertebrates, and a variety of small mammals are found in the Blue Ridge Mountain lands. The area also is generally part of the Appalachian flyway for birds, especially tanagers, thrushes, vireos, and warblers. This richness in flora and fauna is presumed to be the result of several factors, including rainfall, climate, and soil types. The common crystalline rock types include gneiss, quartzite, and schist, covered by well drained, acidic, brownish, loamy soils. Many areas average more than 60 inches of rainfall a year; higher elevations may get as much as 80 inches. Temperatures in mountain valleys average six to eight degrees cooler than the nearby Piedmont in the summer months. At higher elevations the difference can be ten to twelve degrees.

The Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto was the first European to travel into the Blue Ridge Mountain lands, probably visiting the Nacoochee Valley and a site near Carters Lake. Naturalist William Bartram was introduced to the diverse plant life of the southern Appalachians by way of western North Carolina's mountains on a well chronicled trip he made through the area in 1775. Bartram found few white settlers in the region which was populated with Cherokee indians. The Cherokees, or their predecessors, are believed to have settled in WESTERN NC'S BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS as early as the mid 1400s, and they developed an agricultural society, raising crops of corn, beans, and melons. They also hunted deer and bear, and used many native plants for medicinal purposes. By the end of the eighteenth century, English, German, Scots-Irish, and other European settlers began arriving in Cherokee territory in significant numbers. The Cherokees were friendly at first but fought with settlers when provoked.

After gold was discovered in Lumpkin & White counties in the late 1820s, the ensuing gold rush of the 1830s, along with a more general western migration by land-hungry settlers, precipitated the eviction of the Cherokees and their forced migration to Oklahoma on the infamous TRAIL OF TEARS in 1838-39. The cooler climate and scenic beauty of the region led to the establishment of antebellum summer resorts in Clarkesville, Cleveland, and Tallulah Falls.. Many southern Blue Ridge Mountain communities, which were relatively removed from the market economy of Georgia's plantation system and included very few slaves, were divided in their loyalties when the state seceded from the Union and the Civil War (1861-65) began. Parts of the region suffered from intense guerrilla warfare as a result of those divisions, as did other parts of southern Appalachia. After the Civil War, the copper industry developed along the Tennessee-Georgia-Western NC border, causing great damage to the forests because of the large amounts of timber needed to fuel copper smelters. Even greater forest damage resulted from the lumber industry that emerged at the end of the nineteenth century. Mountain forests were stripped bare of trees by major logging operations centered near the north Georgia mountain towns of Dahlonega, Ellijay, and Helen , as well as by numerous smaller sawmills. Similar devastations of other forests around the nation prompted the creation of a national movement to restore and preserve forests. Georgia and WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA'S BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAIN LANDS were some of the first acquired by the US government for this purpose. The Chattahoochee National Forest was established in 1937. Since then, one of the most important benefits of the Chattahoochee forest has been a clean water source for metropolitan Atlanta.

It was also during the late nineteenth century that the production of illegal alcohol-particularly corn whiskey and apple or peach brandy generated moonshine "wars" throughout the southern mountains.. These wars extended well into the twentieth century and were particularly intense in western North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountain lands where IRS agents or "revenuers" did battle with rural residents who resented the intrusion on their mountain property and resisted paying federal taxes on this traditional agricultural staple. WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA'S BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS have a rich cultural heritage associated with the southern Appalachians. Out of that heritage came many varieties of folk art and music, including bluegrass. Bluegrass music is a unique sound that features mostly acoustic instruments and combines elements of both traditional Scottish and Irish folk music. Music, arts, crafts and other aspects of mountain culture and folk life are celebrated at the JOHN C CAMPBELL FOLK SCHOOL fall festival held every October near the communities of BRASSTOWN and MURPHY NC.