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Great Balsam Mountains

Blue Ridge MountainsLandforms of Haywood County, North CarolinaLandforms of Jackson County, North CarolinaMountain ranges of North CarolinaSouthern Sixers
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Haywood Jackson Overlook, October 2016 1 (cropped)
Haywood Jackson Overlook, October 2016 1 (cropped)

The Great Balsam Mountains, or Balsam Mountains, are in the mountain region of western North Carolina, United States. The Great Balsams are a subrange of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which in turn are a part of the Appalachian Mountains. The most famous peak in the Great Balsam range is Cold Mountain, which is the centerpiece of author Charles Frazier's bestselling novel Cold Mountain. Other notable peaks include Richland Balsam, which is the highest peak in the range, Black Balsam Knob, and Mount Pisgah. The crest of the range is known as the Pisgah Ridge, and for the majority of its length forms the border between Haywood County to the north, Jackson County to the southwest, and Transylvania County to the southeast. The far eastern part of the range forms the border between Buncombe and Henderson Counties. Several towns are located in the valleys surrounding the range, including Brevard, Cullowhee, Waynesville, Canton, and the southwest suburbs of Asheville. The Blue Ridge Parkway runs along its length and at Richland Balsam (milepost 431), the Parkway is at its highest point (6053 feet). Large portions of the range are part of Pisgah or Nantahala National Forest, making the area popular for recreation. The Middle Prong and Shining Rock Wildernesses are located in the center of the range and are both part of Pisgah National Forest. Several waterfalls are located in the range, such as Looking Glass Falls, Moore Cove Falls, and the waterfalls of Graveyard Fields.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Great Balsam Mountains (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 35.366666666667 ° E -82.983333333333 °
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Haywood County



North Carolina, United States
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Website
haywoodcountync.gov

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Haywood Jackson Overlook, October 2016 1 (cropped)
Haywood Jackson Overlook, October 2016 1 (cropped)
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Nearby Places

Green Hill Cemetery (Waynesville, North Carolina)
Green Hill Cemetery (Waynesville, North Carolina)

Green Hill Cemetery is a historic cemetery located in Waynesville, North Carolina, where the town's first doctors, lawyers, politicians, preachers, and business people are buried. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The cemetery is owned and operated by the Town of Waynesville.Colonel James Robert Love, who donated the land and founded Waynesville and is a hero of the American Revolutionary War, is buried on the highest hill in the cemetery. The white chief of the Cherokee people, William Holland Thomas, is buried there. He was also the founder of Thomas' Legion, a group of local mountaineers and Cherokee who fought during the American Civil War in Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina. This placed the cemetery on the North Carolina Civil Wars Trail.Some of the other notable pioneers are Congressmen James Moody and William T. Crawford and hotel owner and town promoter S. C. Satterthwaite. The cemetery hold the graves of individuals who succumbed to the Spanish flu of 1918. Buried there are five brothers who were Confederate soldiers that died during the American Civil War. William Greer, the chauffeur to five presidents, including John F. Kennedy on the day of his assassination, is buried at the cemetery.Thomas Wolfe's father, William Oliver Wolfe, was a tombstone supplier and provided the cemetery's eight pieces of "funeral art", made of stone imported from Italy. An old mill stone was used in the grave marker for Barber's Orchard owner, R.N. Barber. There are other distinctive artistic grave markers in the cemetery. Local author and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Caroline Pafford Miller, is buried at Green Hill.