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29-658: The Enoree rises in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Greenville County about 2 mi (3 km) northwest of the town of Travelers Rest , and flows generally southeastwardly across the Piedmont region, through or along the boundaries of Spartanburg , Laurens , Union and Newberry Counties, past the communities of Taylors and Whitmire and through the Sumter National Forest . It flows into

58-542: A physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Highlands range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsylvania through Maryland , West Virginia , Virginia , North Carolina , South Carolina , Tennessee , and Georgia . The province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which divide near the Roanoke River gap. To

87-462: A massive texture and missed the main episode of Mesoproterozoic compression. At the time of their emergence, the Blue Ridge were among the highest mountains in the world and reached heights comparable to the much younger Alps . Weathering , erosion , and mass wasting over hundreds of millions of years has resulted in much shorter peaks. At the foot of the Blue Ridge, various tribes including

116-422: A professor and geologist at George Washington University , provide greater insight into the petrologic and geochronologic history of the Blue Ridge basement suites. Modern studies have found that the basement geology of the Blue Ridge is made of compositionally unique gneisses and granitoids , including orthopyroxene-bearing charnockites. Analysis of zircon minerals in the granite completed by John Aleinikoff at

145-630: Is located on the west side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Province extends from southeastern New York in the north through northwestern New Jersey , westward into Pennsylvania through the Lehigh Valley , and southward into Maryland , West Virginia , Virginia , Kentucky , Tennessee , Georgia , and Alabama . They form a broad arc between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Appalachian Plateau physiographic province, which includes

174-593: The Allegheny and Cumberland plateaus. They are characterized by long, even ridges , with long, continuous valleys in between. The Valley and Ridge Province was formed during the Alleghanian orogeny , a mountain-building event that occurred between 325 and 260 million years ago. The rocks in the region were subjected to immense pressure and heat, causing them to deform and fold. The softer parts of these rock units (chiefly shale and limestone) were eroded to form

203-636: The Catawba word enuree , which has been translated as 'it is little crow'. Anthropologist John R. Swanton proposed that the river obtained its name from the Eno who possibly lived on or near it during the prehistoric era. A hydroelectric dam at Van Patton Shoals rapids provided power to nearby Woodruff from 1907 until its demolition in 1968. 34°26′00″N 81°24′42″W  /  34.433260°N 81.411793°W  / 34.433260; -81.411793 Blue Ridge Mountains The Blue Ridge Mountains are

232-507: The New River , and the Potomac River , are older than the present mountains, having cut water gaps that are perpendicular to hard strata ridges. The evidence points to a wearing down of the entire region to a low level with little relief, so that major rivers were flowing in unconsolidated sediments unaffected by the underlying rock structure. The region was then uplifted slowly enough so that

261-478: The New York–New Jersey Highlands . The petrologic and geochronologic data suggest that the Blue Ridge basement is a composite orogenic crust that was emplaced during several episodes from a crustal magma source. Field relationships further illustrate that rocks emplaced prior to 1.078–1.064 billion years ago preserve deformational features. Those emplaced post-1.064 billion years ago generally have

290-716: The Ridge and Valley Province or the Valley and Ridge Appalachians , are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Highlands division. The physiographic province is divided into three sections: the Hudson Valley, the Central, and the Tennessee. The river valleys were areas of indigenous settlements for thousands of years. In the historic period, the Cherokee people had towns along many of

319-729: The Siouan Manahoacs , the Iroquois , and the Shawnee hunted and fished. A German physician-explorer, John Lederer , first reached the crest of the Blue Ridge in 1669 and again the following year; he also recorded the Virginia Siouan name for the Blue Ridge ( Ahkonshuck ). At the Treaty of Albany negotiated by Virginia Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood with the Iroquois between 1718 and 1722,

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348-499: The U.S. Geological Survey has provided more detailed emplacement ages. Many of the features found in the Blue Ridge and documented by Tollo and others have confirmed that the rocks exhibit many similar features in other North American Grenville-age terranes . The lack of a calc-alkaline affinity and zircon ages less than 1.2 billion years old suggest that the Blue Ridge is distinct from the Adirondacks , Green Mountains, and possibly

377-607: The Blue Ridge Mountains is Roanoke , located in Southwest Virginia , while the largest Metropolitan Statistical Area is the Greenville metropolitan area in Upstate, South Carolina . Other notable cities in the Blue Ridge Mountains include Charlottesville , Frederick , Hagerstown , Chambersburg , Asheville , Johnson City , and Lynchburg . Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians The Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , also called

406-691: The Blue Ridge: the Brushy Mountains and the South Mountains . In Virginia the Southwest Mountains are an anticlinal range that similarly parallels the Blue Ridge. The Blue Ridge extends as far south as Mount Oglethorpe in Georgia and as far north into Pennsylvania as South Mountain . While South Mountain dwindles to hills between Gettysburg and Harrisburg , the band of ancient rocks that form

435-647: The Broad River from the west in Newberry County, 15 mi (24 km) northeast of the town of Newberry . According to the Geographic Names Information System , the Enoree River has also been known historically as: The name Enoree is thought to be derived from a Cherokee word meaning river of muscadines . Linguist Blair A. Rudes alternatively suggested that the name Enoree derives from

464-629: The Iroquois ceded lands they had conquered south of the Potomac River and east of the Blue Ridge to the Virginia Colony . This treaty made the Blue Ridge the new demarcation point between the areas and tribes subject to the Six Nations, and those tributaries to the colony. When colonists began to disregard this by crossing the Blue Ridge and settling in the Shenandoah Valley in the 1730s, the Iroquois began to object, finally selling their rights to

493-473: The colonial era, including Cumberland Gap , Braddock's Road , and Forbes Road . These were later improved as America's first National Roads, including Wilderness Road , Cumberland Road , Lincoln Highway , designated as U.S. Route 40 and U.S. Route 30 in later years. Early settlers of Ohio Country tended to enter it via the Ohio River ; river systems were the most important transportation corridors. It

522-613: The core of the Blue Ridge continues northeast through the New Jersey and Hudson River highlands, eventually reaching the Berkshires of Massachusetts and the Green Mountains of Vermont . The Blue Ridge contains the highest mountains in eastern North America south of Baffin Island . About 125 peaks exceed 5,000 feet (1,500 m) in elevation. The highest peak in the Blue Ridge (and in

551-654: The entire Appalachian chain) is Mount Mitchell in North Carolina at 6,684 feet (2,037 m). There are 39 peaks in North Carolina and Tennessee higher than 6,000 feet (1,800 m); by comparison, in the northern portion of the Appalachian chain only New Hampshire 's Mount Washington rises above 6,000 feet (1,800 m). Southern Sixers is a term used by peak baggers for this group of mountains. The Blue Ridge Parkway runs 469 miles (755 km) along crests of

580-731: The mountains and their perceived color. Within the Blue Ridge province are two major national parks: the Shenandoah National Park in the northern section and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the southern section. The Blue Ridge Parkway , a 469-mile (755 km) long scenic highway, connects the two parks and runs along the ridge crest-lines, as does the Appalachian Trail . Eight national forests include George Washington and Jefferson , Cherokee , Pisgah , Nantahala and Chattahoochee . Although

609-456: The range lacks the tree line found at lower elevations in the northern half of the Appalachian range. Statistical modelling predicts that the alpine tree line would exist at above 7,985 feet (2434 m) in the climate zone and latitude of the southern Appalachians. The highest parts of the Blue Ridge are generally vegetated in dense Southern Appalachian spruce-fir forests . The area is host to many animals, including: The largest city located in

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638-533: The rivers in western South Carolina and North Carolina, as well as on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains in present-day Tennessee. Similarly, the Catawba people occupied areas along the upper Catawba River in Western North Carolina , to the east of Cherokee County . The ridge and valley system presents an important obstacle to east–west land travel even with today's technology. It

667-490: The southern Appalachians and links two national parks: Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains . In many places along the parkway, there are metamorphic rocks ( gneiss ) with folded bands of light-and dark-colored minerals, which sometimes look like the folds and swirls in a marble cake. Most of the rocks that form the Blue Ridge Mountains are ancient granitic charnockites , metamorphosed volcanic formations, and sedimentary limestone. Recent studies completed by Richard Tollo,

696-676: 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 Blacks , and other mountain ranges. In North Carolina, two lower elevation ranges to the east, referred to as foothills , are also often included as "spurs" of

725-455: The valley, on the west side of the Blue Ridge, at the Treaty of Lancaster in 1744. The Blue Ridge Mountains have stunted oak and oak-hickory forest habitats , which comprise most of the Appalachian slope forests. Flora also includes grass, shrubs, hemlock and mixed-oak pine forests. While the Blue Ridge range includes the highest summits in the eastern United States, the climate is nevertheless too warm to support an alpine zone , and thus

754-522: The valleys and the harder parts of the folds (quartzites) formed the mountain tops and ridges. The ridges represent the edges of the erosion-resistant strata, and the valleys portray the absence of the more erodible strata. Smaller streams have developed their valleys following the lines of the more easily eroded strata. A few major rivers, including the Delaware River , the Susquehanna River ,

783-536: The west of the Blue Ridge, between it and the bulk of the Appalachians, lies the Great Appalachian Valley , bordered on the west by the Ridge and Valley province of the Appalachian range. The Blue Ridge Mountains are known for having a bluish color when seen from a distance. Trees put the "blue" in Blue Ridge, from the isoprene released into the atmosphere. This contributes to the characteristic haze on

812-540: Was a nearly insurmountable barrier to European-American migrants who walked or rode horses traveling west to settle the Ohio Country , and later the Northwest Territory and Oregon Country . In the era when animal power dominated transportation, there was no safe way to cross east–west in the middle of the range; crossing was only possible nearer its extremes except for a few rough passages opened mid-range during

841-646: Was difficult in the late 19th and 20th centuries to construct railroads and modern highways through this area. The eastern head of the Ridge and Valley region is marked by the Great Appalachian Valley , which lies just west of the Blue Ridge . The western side of the Ridge and Valley region is marked by steep escarpments such as the Allegheny Front , the Cumberland Mountains , and Walden Ridge . The Valley and Ridge

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